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Updates from our Cuckoos

Read the latest updates from our Cuckoos on their epic migration between the UK and tropical Africa, or track their movements in real-time on our Cuckoo migration map.

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Breaking news on Idemili

13 Jul 2012

After spending a month at her tagging location in Brechfa Forest, Idemili followed her male colleagues and moved eastwards to Surrey. She was in Wales on the evening of the 9th July and we next heard from her in Surrey on the morning of the 11 July.

We thought all was well but received a phone call today (13 July) from the Wildlife Aid Foundation in Leatherhead to say she had been picked up yesterday (12 July) in a garden in Tolworth, Surrey. She was underweight and had some wounds to her wing and some feathers were missing from her head indicating she had been attacked by another bird.

She survived the night and is taking mealworms, crickets and water so there is hope that she will recover. Whilst the bird hospital have confirmed that she shows no evidence of damage from the tag, Dr Chris Hewson, lead scientist on the project at the BTO, will visit Idemili tomorrow (14 July) to remove her tag while she recuperates, and to assess her physical condition. She is in excellent hands at the hospital and we will be keeping a close eye on her as she recovers.

To find out more about the Wildlife Aid Foundation, or to support their work, take a look at their website here.

Tracking female Cuckoos

11 Jul 2012

We are really excited to be following a female British Cuckoo for the first time. It might seem strange that we have only tagged one female Cuckoo but this has been more by circumstance than design. The aim of BTO scientists was always to catch and fit satellite tags on five female birds this year, with a view to determining whether or not the migration of female birds differs from that of male cuckoos. However, females have proved surprisingly difficult to catch this spring, a combination of the seemingly late arrival in some areas (when the Scottish males were being tagged not a single female was heard) and the unusually wet and windy weather didn't help with the task.

115589 receives a name

11 Jul 2012

115589 is the last English Cuckoo to receive a name. He has been named John in memory of the late John Tully who was a long-standing BTO Member, Regional Organiser (Avon), Chair of our Regional Network Committee and superb ornithologist.

Roy leaves the UK

11 Jul 2012

Roy has travelled 1080km (that's around 670 miles) to reach Germany! His last tag transmission was on the 8 July from North York Moors National Park but by the evening of the 10 July he was close to the town of Regensburg in the south-west of Germany.  This means Wallace is the last Scottish Cuckoo to leave, and with good reason to believe Lyster has left too, he becomes the last of all our male Cuckoos to leave the UK.   

Lyster has left - we think!

11 Jul 2012

On the afternoon of the 7 July we received a transmission from England. Then early yesterday morning (10 July) we received a series of locations with uncertain accuracy all placing him in the Champagne-Ardenne region 25km (15 miles) north of Troyes.

These new points won't show on the map yet, but should update over the next few days as we receive further transmissions to verify the uncertain locations from this morning. The distance between his last location in England and this new location was 490km (303 miles). This means that all our English Cuckoos are now on their way south!

Last Welsh Cuckoo named Lloyd

11 Jul 2012

Our last remaining un-named Cuckoo has finally received a name. 115597 will now be known as Lloyd. He has been named after John Lloyd, a long-standing BTO Regional Representative and our Honorary Wales Officer. In Welsh Lloyd becomes Llwyd and means 'grey', the colour of male Cuckoos

115593 named after folk hero

09 Jul 2012

Our last Scottish Cuckoo has been given a name. 115593 will now be known as Roy after Rob Roy (Robert Roy MacGregor), Scotland's own version of Robin Hood. Rob Roy was born at Glengyle, at the head of Loch Katrine where the Cuckoos were tagged, in what is now Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park.
 

Wallace in England

05 Jul 2012

Signals received on 4 July showed that Wallace had skipped over the border into England. He moved 62km (39 miles) ENE transmitting from the area surrounding Harwood Forest in Northumberland.

Wallace heads back to Scotland

09 Jul 2012

Having moved to dead on the border between England and Scotland 14km (9 miles) NE of Gretna on 30 June, Wallace had hopped across it by 3 July. By 4 July he had moved 62km (39 miles) ESE and appeared to be moving around the area surrounding Harwood Forest in Northumberland. He didn’t stay there long though and by 6 July he had moved 172km (107 miles) WNW back to the location that he had occupied during the second half of June! This is the second time Wallace has moved south only to retrace his steps back north – we can only assume that the new locations he has visited have not been suitable and he has decided to cut his losses and return to the presumably superior feeding grounds here.

Scottish Cuckoos remain still

09 Jul 2012
There has been no significant progress over the past week in the migrations of the Cuckoos tagged in Scotland, with the exception of Roy’s movement to the North York Moors National Park. Chance is still in Germany, BB in Italy and Mungo is in Switzerland. Wallace is the only Cuckoo still in Scotland – but only just! He made an excursion out of the country at the end of June, only to return back north - further details and discussion of this intriguing excursion are in his blog.

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