Updates from our Cuckoos

After about a week on the Adriatic coast close to Ravenna in northern Italy, Cuach Torc has flown 530 km (329 miles) south-east, across the Adriatic Sea.

Having initially made landfall on the border between Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, he has since moved further inland into Bosnia and Herzegovina.

He is now nearby the town of Bileca in East Herzegovina, close to the border with Montenegro. Those who have been following the project for a few years will recall that one of our Welsh Cuckoos, David, was a regular visitor to Montenegro on his way south. 

Cuach Cores has spent the last few days in the area close to the River Elvo, between Salussola and Carisio in the Province of Vercelli, in the Italian region of Piedmont. 

Over the last few days, Joe has flown almost 600 km (373 miles) south from Troyes in north-central France to Provence on the south coast.

After a brief stop close to the village of Roumoules in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region on Friday evening, he pressed on towards the coast. By the evening of Saturday 24 June, he had reached Provence, and has spent the time since close to the wineries of Le Baou d'Infer and Domaine Sainte Marie – he is clearly a Cuckoo of impeccable taste!

Last year Joe stopped off approximately 25 km further north-east, close to Saint-Maxime. He stayed there for a couple of weeks before flying straight across the Mediterranean and the Sahara to Chad, arriving on 4 July. 

KP is on the move! He left his breeding grounds yesterday afternoon and flew 86 km (53 miles) east. He spent the rest of the day in or around Castleblagh Forest, close to the village of Ballyhooly in County Cork.

A couple of further updates received late last night suggest that he may since have moved on, in a south-easterly direction towards Youghal. Will he stop again before crossing the sea, or is he aiming for Cornwall – or even France?

New updates received from Bluey’s tag over the last 24 hours show that he has flown approximately 280 km (175 miles) south, crossing the English Channel and arriving in France.

He is now in a forest close to the town of La Loupe, in the Centre-Loire Valley region, approximately 78 km (48 miles) north-east of Le Mans. 

Last year Bluey arrived in France on 16 June, when he was 58 km (36 miles) north-north-east of Le Mans.  

Over the last couple of days Joe has left his breeding grounds in Norfolk and flown 510 km (317 miles) south-east, across the English Channel and into France.

By 8:30 a.m. yesterday (Thursday 22 June) he had reached the outskirts of the town of Troyes in the Grand Est region of north-central France, where he remained for the rest of the day.

Last year Joe made his move south about a week earlier, and by 15 June he was already on the French Riviera. 

Sayaan has completed his crossing of the Gulf of Genoa, and made landfall this morning in Italy, close to the town of Ferriere, in the Province of Piacenza in the region Emilia-Romagna. He is currently on the slopes above the valley of the river Nure. 

Over the last 24 hours Cores has flown 277 km (172 miles) north-east from his last location near Rustrel in the south of France. He crossed over the Alps to his new location, just south of the town of Buronzo in the Province of Vercelli, in the Italian region of Piedmont. 

Over the last couple of days, Sayaan has made rapid progress south through France and over the border into Italy. By around 5 p.m. last night, he had reached Finale Ligure on the Gulf of Genoa, part of the Italian Riviera.

He didn’t stop there for long, however, as our last few data points show him out to sea, heading across the Gulf of Genoa towards the town of Sestri Levante in eastern Liguria.

It’ll be interesting to see whether he stops on the Mediterranean side or moves across to the Adriatic, as Torc has done over the last few hours. 

Since our last update, Cuach Torc has flown 381 km (237 miles) east from his last location on the France/Italy border to his current location, close to the city of Ravenna in northern Italy.