Updates from our Cuckoos

By the afternoon of 22 July, Waller had left France, crossed over Switzerland and made it in to Italy. His location was just west of Lake Como. This journey covered 460km (285 miles). He is about 85km (52 miles) north of Livingstone, another of the Scottish Cuckoos.  

Ken has made rapid progress since leaving Sussex sometime after the 18 July. By the evening of 20 July he had made it as far as the west coast of southern France, and by the early hours of 23 July he was in southern Spain! His last position was 70km (45 miles) south-east of Seville.  This means he covered 1,850km (1150 miles) in around 8 days. He is the fourth East Anglian Cuckoo to take the Spanish route this year. Chris, tagged in year 1 of the project, is the only East Anglian Cuckoo so far this year to take the Italian route. Nelson,  tagged this spring in East Anglia, remains in France and we are waiting to see which way he goes next.  

Poor quality transmissions from Tor on 23 July show that he is in Corsica, along with Sussex the Cuckoo.  It looks like Dart and Tor could cross from these islands to Africa but we will have to wait and see what they do next. 

Dart has flown south for a summer holiday to Mallorca, adding a new island to those visited by our tagged Cuckoos. He has travelled 500km (310 miles) from Italy to the south coast of Mallorca and is currently north of Cala Figuera. Two of the other Devon Cuckoos have travelled to Spain, while poor quality transmissions from Tor on 23 July show that he is on Corsica, along with Sussex the Cuckoo.  It looks like Dart and Tor could cross from these islands to Africa but we will have to wait and see what they do next. 

Chris has left the Po watershed and by the 22 July had travelled 765km (475 miles) to the north-west of Sicily. Last year, after a short stop in the Po Watershed, he also had a short stop  in Sicily  before embarking  on his crossing of the Sahara Desert just two days later. This year he arrived in Italy on 4 July and has spent more time at this stopover than he did last year, when he spent a larger amount of time in Belgium before heading south.  

By the 19 July, Derek had left his position in France and flown 570km (325 miles) south-west and in to Spain, becoming the third Norfolk Cuckoo to take this route this year. He is just inside the Castile and Leon border with La Rioja, near to Quintanar de la Sierra. 

From his position in France on 14 July, David has now journeyed east 1010km (630miles), travelling across Italy and the Adriatic Sea to Montenegro. He was the first Cuckoo we recorded in Montenegro last year, arriving there on 27 June 2012 via Germany. Roy, one of the Cuckoos tagged in Scotland, also made a stop here on 10 August. It is interesting to note that David has ended up here again this year, having travelled south to France and then east, rather than east first and into Germany first as last year. As his first stop when he left Devon was very close to the area in France he visited in the spring, while he was waiting for conditions in the UK to get better after his reverse migration, he could have learnt a new route from this previous experience. 

Having surprised us by leaving his tagging location in a north-westerly direction and heading to Lincolnshire, Ken has now finally begun his long journey south. A series of locations received during the day on 18 July show that he is now in East Sussex, north-west of Arlington Reservoir.