Updates from our Cuckoos
Whortle and Patch yet to leave Europe
Patch in Italy
Patch is making his way south and has travelled from Austria to northern Italy. On 10 August he was still close to Schwaz, Austria but by the afternoon of 12 August he was 260km (160 miles) further south, near Remedello, in the province of Brescia, and just 28km (17 miles) south-west of Lake Garda. Despite this movement, he is still currently the most northerly Cuckoo of our tagged birds .
Patch in Austria
By the 2 August, Patch had moved across the border and into Austria. Signals placed him 17km (11 miles) east of Schwaz, a city in Tyrol in the Austrian Alps. He is the only Cuckoo to have stopped in Austria this year and only Chance the Cuckoo is currently further north than Patch's current position.
Patch on the move
From his last position, Patch has headed south. The latest signals, received yesterday evening, show that he had covered 190km (118 miles) and was north of Mainburg, in the region of Bavaria. We continued to receive transmissions until the early hours of 1 August, which although of poor quality, indicate that he continued south, past Munich and was around the German border with Austria.
Patch leaves the UK
128303 receives a name and heads south
We can now confirm that 128303 has a name and will be called Patch. He has been named on behalf of the Patchwork Challenge and Meopta and Forest Optics, who have sponsored participants in the challenge. It looks like this comes just in time too, while three of our tagged Cuckoos have made it to Africa, signals from Patch’s tag show that he is finally on the move, heading south within England. Transmissions this morning show he is moving around close to the border between south Yorkshire and north Lincolnshire, around 16km (10 miles) south-east of Doncaster.
128303 in England
In the early morning on the 8 July, 128303 was close to Inveraray, having travelled around 125km (75 miles) south. Another 200km (125 miles) in 24 hours and he was close to Gretna, flying over the border and in to England just after this. Signals received in the last few days show that he remains in the area between Carlisle and Brampton. Both Roy and Wallace did a similar thing last year, settling close to the border of England and Scotland before moving on, Roy towards the North Moors National Park and then Germany and Wallace back to Scotland and then to France.
Two Scottish bird remain
These two Scottish birds are still in the area close to where they were tagged and have not yet followed Livingstone south. The Cuckoos from Devon, Wales and Sussex have all left. Who will be the last to leave, Cuckoos from the Norfolk Broads or those from Scotland?
128303 near Dorusduain
128303 was tagged at the same time as Karma. However, since then he has generally stayed further up the glen, especially around the forestry at Dorusduain. It appears that these two birds were lured from different directions when they were caught!
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