Updates from our Cuckoos

Over the weekend, Cleeve left the Cranwich Heath area in Norfolk, and headed south.

A 306 km (190 miles) overnight flight took him to the Essex coast, where he then continued across the Channel to Dunkirk. From here he flew south-east, into northern France and is currently just to the east of the city of Arras.

Cleeve was filmed by a BBC TV crew when tagged on 10 May 2024, and was the star, alongside Hannah Stitfall, of a One Show feature about the BTO Cuckoo project!

Joe has really covered some ground since the last update, just four days ago. After leaving the area around the Somme, he has flown approximately 868 km (540 miles) to the Mediterranean coast and is now close to the glamorous ‘jet set’ resort of Saint-Tropez.

Will Joe be the first of our tagged Cuckoos to cross into North Africa?

Cuach Torc has powered some 483 km (300 miles) south-east through France in recent days and is now in Switzerland!

After a couple of days in and around the UNESCO Entlebuch Biosphere reserve at the foot of the Alps, close to Lucerne, he has now crossed over the high peaks and is heading towards the Italian border.

After spending several days around Châteaubriant, Cuach Cores finally got going again, and made a remarkable journey of around 823 km (511 miles) over the weekend.

Along the way, he spent a little time in the same area as Sayaan, near Dijon, before he moved determinedly south-east, past Grenoble and into the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region. He is just 113 km (70 miles) from the Mediterranean coast, from where he should cross into North Africa to begin the next leg of his journey.

Sayaan is making steady progress and has travelled around 167 km (103 miles) in recent days.

Currently in the Côte-d’Or area, he is exploring a commercially forested area just 16 km (10 miles) to the west of the city of Dijon, the capital city of the Burgundy region of eastern France.

Having spent the past few weeks around Cranwich Heath, just north of Thetford in Norfolk, Joe has now set off on his ‘autumn’ migration. Heading south-east, he passed Colchester, then cut down to the Kent coast before setting off across the Channel, leaving UK soil between Folkestone and Dover.

Having made landfall around the Somme Estuary, after a flight of around 265 km (164 miles), he is now resting and feeding before continuing his journey through France.

Since being tagged in June 2022, this is the third successive autumn migration where Joe will be tracked, providing us with yet more invaluable data.

Having spent the breeding season in and around the Knepp Estate in West Sussex, Sayaan has now headed south. He left the English coast at Worthing on the exact same date as he did last year! 

He cut across the Channel and arrived in France, just south of Dieppe after a journey of 380 km (236 miles). Sayaan then continued towards Paris, skirting the north-east of the French capital, and is currently just north of the city of Sens.

Remarkably, Sayaan is now around just 50km (31 miles) to the west of Cuach Torc!

Since our last update, Cuach Torc has moved from the south of Bayeux and flown around 355 km (220 miles) to an area close to the River Seine, and the medieval town of Troyes, in the Champagne region.

By this time last year Torc had already travelled as far as northern Italy – when might he be saying ‘Au revoir’ to France and ‘Ciao’ to Italy this year?

Cuach Torc didn’t linger in Cornwall for long, and as we expected, soon headed for France, passing between Guernsey and Alderney on the way.

A flight of 325 km (200 miles) saw him heading into north-west Normandy, where he is currently exploring the sprawling agricultural region just to the south of Bayeux.

Having made a move to the County Waterford coast from Killarney National Park several days ago, Torc has now finally set off from Ireland, after a stay of 45 days.  

He flew a relatively short distance of 276 km (171 miles) to Cornwall, where he is currently just to the east of Falmouth. The second of our tagged birds to head south after the breeding season, his next move should see him making the 180 or kilometres (110 miles) to France in the coming days.