Norfolk Cuckoo Attenborough has been a particularly fascinating bird to follow his year as he made that extraordinary movement from Spain to Greece. Sadly though we think that route may have signaled the end for Attenborough, possible because he was unable to build up sufficient fat reserves to fuel his crossing of the Sahara. He made it as far as the Tibesti Mountains in northern Chad, where his journey ended. We don't know exactly what happened to him but those of you who have been following the project for a while may recall that this is the same area that we lost Cuckoo Chris. Attenborough's travels will of course contribute useful data to our growing understanding of Cuckoo migration.
Updates from our Cuckoos
Read the latest updates from our Cuckoos on their epic migration between the UK and tropical Africa, or track their movements in real-time on our Cuckoo migration map.
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The end of the road for Attenborough
22 Aug 2021
Attenborough is braving the Sahara
05 Aug 2021
Between 04:02 and 08:54 yesterday morning we got several updates from Attenborough showing that he has finally left Greece and is crossing the Sahara. He has covered 1,651 Km (1,026 miles) so far and is now on the northern edge of the Tibesti mountains in southern Libya. After his extraordinary detour from Spain to Greece, it was a relief to see him on the move again. He has around 1,000Km to fly before reaching the other side of the desert, fingers crossed!
Attenborough's magical mystery tour
16 Jul 2021
Having made it as far as Spain, we were surprised to see the next few updates from Attenborough reporting him first over the sea just west of Sicily and then from the Ionian sea approaching Greece. The most recent updates show Attenborough 10km (6.25 miles) south of the town of Kalavryta in the mountainous east-central part of the regional unit of Achaea, Greece. It is 2,115km (1,315 miles) from Attenborough's last location in Spain to his first location in Greece, we have never seen such a dramatic eastwards movement from any of our tagged Cuckoos. It will be fascinating to see what the next updates tell us about Attenborough's whereabouts!
Attenborough roaming in Spain
05 Jul 2021
Having flown from southern France into Spain and reached Calatayud in the Province of Zaragoza, Attenborough has been roaming around the province of Soria. He first visited Cihuela before moving further north and west to his current location close to Gomara. He is now approximately 23 km (14 miles) south east of the city of Soria.
Attenborough pushes on into Spain
03 Jul 2021
Attenborough only spent a few hours in southern France before pressing on over the border into Spain. He was still in France at 8pm last night but by 4:30am this morning, he was 250 km (156 miles) south of his last location. It looks as if he is making a stop near the town of Calatayud in the Sistema Ibérico mountain range in the province of Zaragoza, Spain.
Attenborough wings his way through France
02 Jul 2021
Over the last 48 hours Norfolk Cuckoo Attenborough has left Normandy and headed south. By 10 am this morning (Friday 2nd July) he had flown 619 km (385 miles) south and was between Bayonne and Hasparren in the Basque Country region of south west France. This movement puts him just south of Calypso who is 513 km east of him, near Marseille.
Introducing Attenborough
17 Jun 2021
The net was set in the dark and as dawn broke the team were treated not just to calling Cuckoos but half a dozen Hobbys, which were feeding low over the disused gravel pits where they were tagging. The first Cuckoo caught was the one tagged, being a good weight, and still carrying a few juvenile feathers - this is Attenborough! Attenborough is still at his breeding grounds in Norfolk.
Meet the 2021 Cuckoos
17 Jun 2021
After being unable to tag any Cuckoos in 2020 due to COVID-19 restrictions, we are delighted to be able to introduce eleven new Cuckoos this year!
The tagging teams faced some very early starts as usual to tag the Cuckoos, but they were rewarded with birds who were interested enough in the female lure to be caught, weighed and tagged (with the exception of a location near Loch Katrine where there were a number of female Cuckoos around, making our lure less convincing!).
Some of these newly-tagged birds have already begun their migration south, with one in France, one in the Netherlands and one of the Scottish birds is already down in Essex.
Keep an eye on the individual birds' blogs for updates on their progress.
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