Updates from our Cuckoos

Caught at Burgh Castle, Norfolk on 9 May 2012, Cuckoo Reacher is an adult male that is at least two years old. Since being tagged he has moved 25km (15 miles) north and settled in the Norfolk Broads area.

A transmission from Lyster's tag yesterday shows that he has headed back in the same direction he came from. He has travelled around 15km (10 miles) and is once again close to the River Chet in an area known as Hardley Flood, northeast of Loddon. This area consists of shallow lagoons and reedbeds which act as a spillway for the River Chet.

Chris is the first Cuckoo to leave the UK and is currently in Belgium, close to the Netherlands border.

Having been recorded back in the UK on 1 May 2012 in Essex he quickly moved back to Thetford Forest, the area where he was originally tagged. He remained in this area until 9 June when we had a series of poor quality fixes. These were inconclusive but when he transmitted again yesterday he was near the town of Hoogstraten in Belgium. How long is summer? Well for Chris it was less than 6 weeks!

It's interesting to note that Chris was the first bird to leave the area in which he was tagged last year – sometime between 3 - 5 June 2011 - moving down to Sussex for a few days. He then turned up in the Netherlands approximately 20km (12 miles) NNE of Maastricht on 17 June 2011.

His current movement took him on the correct bearing to reach the same staging area as last year but he stopped approximately 85km short. Will he end up in the same place this year?

The last transmission received from Chris's tag was on the 2 June which showed that he was still south-west of Mildenhall close to the River Lark. 

Lyster's tag last transmitted on the morning of the 5 June and showed that he was close to the village of Hempnall. He has moved around 16km /10 miles from his previous position near Nogdam End.

It has now been forty-eight days since we heard anything from Kasper, the longest period he has gone missing for. Although he has gone missing before, only to reappear, we fear that this time we have lost him for good. We can't say what has happened to him. He might have perished in the same poor weather that Martin experienced, or his tag might have failed completely. He might even be back in the Norfolk Broads with Lyster. We just don't know.

Lyster continues his tour of the Broads and is now back in the Yare valley. As of yesterday evening he was approximately three-hundred metres north east of Nogdam End and 10km (6.5 miles) south west of Acle.

Chris is still on the south bank of the River Lark, Suffolk. He has moved a little to the east and is now close to Icklingham. He has now been on the edge of the River Lark for twenty-six days.

 A location from Chris's tag this morning showed that he was still near Mildenhall, Suffolk, on the southern bank of the River Lark. Female cuckoos have been heard in this area and might explain why he seems reluctant to leave.

 As of two days ago Lyster was back in the Broads, just west of Acle. He really is covering a lot of ground, presumably in search of female cuckoos. Anecdotal evidence suggests that females are in short supply at the moment.