Updates from our Cuckoos

As of yesterday, Chris was still on the banks of the River Lark, near to Mildenhall, Suffolk. He seems to have settled in this area and not chosen to head north into Thetford Forest to the site that he was tagged a year ago.

 We still haven't heard from Kasper, and whilst we are beginning to fear the worst we still haven't given up hope. On January 6, whilst in southern Congo, we lost Kasper for a month before he popped up on 7 February in the north west tip of Congo, close to the border with Cameroon. 

 At 05.46 this morning, Lyster was in a small patch of woodland on the south east edge of Chedgrave in the Norfolk Broads. He is 16km south of his previous location near Ranworth. It is amazing just how much ground he has covered since he arrived in the Broads.

Chris's tag is due to come back online today. The last signals recieved on 8 May showed that he was still south west of Barton Mills and Mildenhall, Suffolk. He is 16km south east of his original tagging site at Santon Downham. He seems to be focussing on patches of isolated woodland on the south bank of the River Lark.

Data received from Chris' tag yesterday shows a location of Thetford Forest, the site where Chris was tagged in June 2011. In the eleven months and 10,000 miles since he was last in Norfolk, Chris has been followed by thousands of well-wishers. The drama of his journey is only matched by how much he, and his comrades, have taught us about Cuckoo migration, neatly summarised here.

With Chris having been heading slowly northwards towards the Alps at the weekend and with conditions favourable for onward migration, we were keenly anticipating the resumption of transmissions from his tag. Locations received early on Tuesday morning (1 May) showed that he was between Epping and Chipping Ongar in Essex! This places him about 5km (3 miles) east of Epping Forest.  He had migrated 950km (592 miles) in a north-westerly direction during the previous 48 hours.

We had been mildly concerned over the low temperature of Lyster’s tag, at the time we received the one location from south of Paris late on Friday. This, however, gave way to relief yesterday morning when his tag began transmitting again and locations showed he was in Norfolk!  He had moved 530km (330 miles) almost due north since late on Friday.  The sensor data from his tag indicate he was probably actively migrating at the time the Paris location was received.  Since he was last in Algeria (25 April) he has moved approximately 1880km (1170 miles) almost due north in less than 5 days.

We have received no further data from Martin since 9th April, and sadly must now assume that he is dead.

Martin made it as far as Lorca in southern Spain, where we last heard from him. In that last transmission his tag temperature dropped from a normal 30-32 degrees Centigrade to 11.7, a gradual change over the course of a night. While fearing for the worst, we did hope that he might pop up further north. We are now convinced that this is very unlikely, and must announce Martin's demise.

Martin has bequeathed a wealth of knowledge that has improved our understanding of Cuckoo migration. Of our original band of five, Martin was the first to return to Europe. As the only Cuckoo over two years old, he was looking good to be the first bird to return. He may have fallen victim to some severe weather conditions, which the other birds avoided by crossing the Mediterranean a little later.

No further data have been received from Kasper's tag, however we have not given up hope. The last, partial, signal we received from him (11th April) showed a low charge on his tag. It is possible that, like Lyster before him, he is spending some time in Algeria foraging for food before attempting the Mediterranean crossing. His solar-powered tag would therefore not charge up if he is in the undergrowth. We hope that once he has moved on, and his tag has had a chance to charge, we will see Kasper pop up soon.

Chris is still in northern Italy, but is on the move. His last transmission on 29th April came from just outside Milan, around 30 miles north-west of his previous location. We hope that the next set of data, due tomorrow, will show that he has crossed the Alps.