Updates from our Cuckoos

Since our last update JAC has reached Havant on the south coast of England. The last transmission showed him between Nevill's Park and the Fat Face distribution centre. We are due another transmission soon, will he still be touring Havant or will he be in France? Last year he arrived in northern France on 24 June and remained here for approximately a month.

Victor II has flown 338km (210 miles) south from his last location in the Pas-de-Callais department of northern France to a forest outside Dampierre-en-Burly in the Loiret department of northern central France. Last year he flew straight from northern France to the French Riviera but didn't make this journey until 18th July.  

New updates received at around lunchtime today show that JD has crossed the Pyrenees and is now in northern Spain. He is in the Castejón Mountains in the Cinco Villas comarca, Aragon, Spain, approximately 30 km (19 mi) north of Zaragoza.

New updates from Bluey's tag show that he has flown 305km (189 miles) south across the Channel and into France. At lunchtime yesterday he was 58km (36 miles) north-north east of Le Mans. 

Over the last couple of days Victor II has departed from his breeding grounds in Scotland and flown 250 km (156 miles) south to his current location approximately 6 miles east of Barnard Castle. Last year he made this first move on 14th June so he is being very consistent with his timings. 

Cuckoo Charles exploded out of the starting blocks and updates received on 1st June showed that he had already flown 280 km (174 miles) south across the Channel and into France. He has subsequently moved another 30 miles south and is now on some farmland between the towns of Dourdan and Etampes in the Metropolitan area of Paris. 

Having stopped briefly just south of the city of Tours, Cooper has continued south and by 10am this morning had reached the Occitanie region of southern France. He is now approximately 11 miles due east of the historic city of Cahors.Cooper has already covered 764 km (475 miles) since leaving England. 

Cuckoo Joe has already flown 1,105km (687 miles) south on the first leg of his migration. Having stopped briefly east of Paris, new signals received early this morning show that he is now in the hills above the French Riviera resort of Sainte-Maxime.

Cuckoo Cooper was the heaviest Cuckoo tagged in 2022 and one of the heaviest we have tagged during the lifetime of the project. Tipping the scales at 136 grams he is still well within the normal range for a male Cuckoo and a full 5 grams lighter than our heaviest ever bird, Karma, who was 141 grams. Cooper was tagged at Lucas Castle in the New Forest and named by the Cooper family who clubbed together to fund his tag. 

Bluey is one of two birds tagged on the same morning at the amazing Knepp Estate in West Sussex in May 2022. Cuckoo catcher in Chief Lee Barber was just finishing tagging Charles when he glanced up to see the ringing team running off towards the net. They soon returned with huge smiles and a full bird bag. This was the second Cuckoo to be tagged and was also a great weight. During the tagging of Bluey, the ringing team ran towards the nets again and then again. It turned out they had caught a smaller male and a female Cuckoo. Having a female Cuckoo around isn't desirable for tagging as they can distract the males, so we were particularly lucky to catch three male Cuckoos on that morning at Knepp. This was all done to the backdrop of the classic Knepp avifauna dawn chorus, Turtle Dove and Nightingale. 6 year old Cuckoo Sponsor Erin chose the name Bluey after her favourite TV character who is brave, cheeky and full of energy - let’s hope these traits take him far!