Updates from our Cuckoos

During the late afternoon of 30 June we received transmissions showing that Senan had left the UK and completed his crossing of the English Channel.  Locations revealed that he was in northern France,  just south of Wierre-Effroy and around 10km (6 miles) inland from the west coast, 190km (116 miles) from Norfolk. Further locations yesterday show that he is now 790km (490 miles) further south, near Marmande, to the south-east of Bordeaux.

We’re delighted to introduce some new faces to the project! Catching the birds has been challenging this year with seemingly less competition for females and so less interest in the female lure used, but thanks to the persistence of our super tagging team, we do have four new male Cuckoos to introduce to you.

Three of these newly-tagged birds are already on the way, crossing the Channel and moving into France within the last few days. Take a look at the individual blogs to find out more.

One of two birds tagged on the BTO reserve in early June, Valentine has also set off on his southward migration. By the early evening of 23 June, Valentine was northeast of Canterbury. A couple of further poor quality transmissions indicate he carried on and embarked on crossing the English channel, just south of Folkestone, but we will have to wait for the next cycle of transmissions later today to reveal how far south he has travelled. He is the 7th of our tagged Cuckoos to start their migration. 

We didn’t have to wait long to find out as, by the 20 June, Thetford Cuckoo Thomas was on his way south! Late that evening he was flying over the English Channel, at least 110 Km (65 miles) from his tagging location. The next set of transmissions on 22 June, show he had journeyed another 695km (430 miles) and was located north of Auvergne in the Livradois-Forez Regional Nature Park. Not yet finished he appears to have continued southwards and by the 23 June he was close to Ales.  All-in-all he had taken a huge trip of 950km (590 miles) since the evening of the 20 June.

Nussey, tagged at the end of May, was the first of the 2019 Cuckoos to leave the country, transmitting from northern France on 11 June. He has spent the last two weeks in the area of Brionne, 55km (35 miles) southeast of the port of La Havre.

The first male to be tagged this year, in mid-may, Tennyson was happily transmitting from the Mundford area, not far from his tagging site at Cranwich Heath until the 18 June. However, signals received on the evening of the 24 June show that he had begun his journey, travelling  765km (475 miles) to reach central France. He is currently 30km (19 miles) to the west of Limoges, north of the commune of  Oradour-sur-Vayres and within the area of the Périgord-Limousin Regional Nature Park.

One of two birds tagged on the BTO reserve in early June, Senan has yet to move far from his breeding site.

Blazing into the lead at this early stage of the journey is the third Knepp Cuckoo, Raymond. From the island Île d'Oléron, south west of La Rochelle, Raymond continued down the coast. Signals received on the morning of 22 June revealed that he had covered a further 525km (325 miles) and was close to Sigüenza, a city in Guadalajara, central Spain. 

We thought that Raymond could leave the UK any day now and he has. A series of locations received from his tag during the evening of 20 June showed that he was on the west coast of France, just to the north of Bordeaux. From the information received he seems to have spent around three hours on the Ile de Oleron before continuing south over the Atlantic parallel with the coast.

The last location we received, at around 10:30 on the evening of 20 June, showed that he was still heading south 24km (15 miles) offshore of the French coast. It will be interesting to see where he next makes landfall. He is already 654km (406 miles) from the Knepp Estate, Sussex.