Updates from our Cuckoos

A series of new updates received from Senan's tag over the weekend show that he has crossed the Mediterranean, flying 610 km (380 miles) north from Algeria to Spain. He is now in the province of Cuenca, Castile-La Mancha, in eastern central Spain. As we have reported before, we think Senan's tag may stop transmitting any day so we are delighted to receive another update and will be keeping our fingers crossed that he will check in again over the next few days. 

Over the weekend Valentine flew the final leg of his return migration, covering 625 km (390 miles) from central France back to the BTO Nunnery Lakes Nature Reserve in Thetford, Norfolk. He is the third of our tagged Cuckoos to successfully complete their migration this year. One of our staff members spotted a tagged Cuckoo on the reserve this morning so it probably was Valentine!

Valentine has pressed on through France since our last update, covering 325 km (202 miles) in a north-westerly direction into Central France. By 21:50 last night he was in a forested area, approximately 6.5 km west of Dun-sur-Auron. 

By 8pm last night PJ had arrived back in the King's Forest in Suffolk, just south west of Thetford. This marks the completion of PJ's fourth complete tracked migration cycle.  

Over the last couple of days Valentine as left Tunisia and flown 867 km (539 miles) over the Mediterranean in a north-westerly direction, making landfall at 1730 just south of Martigues. Since then has has flown a further 112 km (70 miles) north west and by 2230 last night he was in the southern part of the Ardeche Gorges nature reserve in the Gard department of southern France.

Carlton II didn't linger for long at the Burnham Beeches Golf Club, by 3pm yesterday afternoon he was passing Bungay in Suffolk and by 530pm he was close to Great Yarmouth. The last updates received early this morning show him just a few miles north-west of his breeding and tagging site at Suffolk Wildlife Trust's Carlton Marshes nature reserve and close to the village of St Olaves.  This completes Carlton II's migration which covered a distance of approximately 16,700 km (10,377 miles) from Suffolk to Gabon and back again. 

PJ didn't stop for long in the South Downs. Having arrived near the village of Treyford at around 4pm yesterday, by 8pm he was on the move again. By the time his last update arrived at 11pm last night he had flown a further 104 km (65 miles) north east and was near Nazeing in Essex. Hopefully when we receive the next update we will see that PJ is back on his breeding grounds in Suffolk again. 

After a brief stop in the south of France, PJ has pressed on north, crossing the Channel and arriving in England this morning. By 3pm he was just north of Chichester and by early evening he had settled near the village of Treyford in the South Downs. Last year PJ arrived back in England on 26th April. We have now tracked PJ over four complete migrations between England and Africa.  

Since our last update Carlton II has continued to enjoy the quiet of the parks and golf clubs of Berkshire, moving north east towards Slough. The latest updates show him briefly visiting Stoke Park Golf Club near Farnham Royal before moving on to Burnham Beeches Golf Club in Burnham. Perhaps his next stop will be at the Buckinghamshire or Harefield Place Golf Clubs just north of Uxbridge?  

We've had several more updates from Senan now, all showing him in the Tlemcen province of north-western Algeria, close to the border with Morocco. He is currently approximately 10 km (6.25 miles) south west of the town of Sidi Djillali.