Updates from our Cuckoos

From France, via Corsica, Ash appears to now be in Italy. He joins Hennah, who had also been in France and perched in the Pyrenees close to the France/Spain border but who also recently changed direction and headed to Italy to take this more easterly route. Whortle, Peter, Waller, and Livingstone are all also currently in Italy. 

Waller and Chester have remained in the same areas of France in which they first transmitted, close to Reims and Le Mans respectively, as has 134955 who is a little further south. Ash, meanwhile seems to be heading south despite being the latest of the four to arrive.  

With three un-named birds left we are letting you choose what to name one of our Sherwood Cuckoos!  Anyone who sponsors a Cuckoo before the end of June will be entered in to a draw. We’ll then pick one entry at random and will contact the winner who can then suggest a suitable name*. Find out how you could name a Cuckoo. 

Ash and Waller have left the UK and traveled to Europe, joining 10 other birds, and on 22 June were in northern France. 

By the very early hours of 4 May Waller was back in Scotland, just inside the border near Duns, Berwickshire. He had cut across the UK from the Channel Islands to the south-west, right across to the eastern Scottish coast and travelled 650km (400 miles). From here he followed the coast to a location near Edinburgh, before heading west to Oban by the afternoon of 5 May.

By 6 May he was in the area of Fort William and flying over the area near Ben Nevis, the highest mountain in the British Isles. He is close to Loch Eli and has yet to return to his tagging grounds, which are about 70km (50 miles) further north. 

Waller is almost back. Having left his last location in Spain, he flew over the Cantabrian Mountains and across the Bay of Biscay and by 29 April he was in Berson, just north of the port city of Bordeaux on the Garonne River in the Gironde department in southwestern France. The latest signals shows him a further 550km (340 miles) further north and, after a brief rest on the Channel Islands yesterday evening, he continued on his way again and the last transmission was over  the sea.  The next signals should reveal that he has made it to land and will be on, or closer to, his tagging ground on the Isle of Skye. 

48 hours after the last signal, Waller had made it to Europe and was in north-western Spain, just west of the city of Valladolid, having travelled 680km (420 miles). He continued for another 90km (60 miles) and is now north-west of Leon and almost as far north as Skinner, who is about 85km (55 miles) to the north-east. Chris is also not far behind! Who will be first back to the UK?  

Waller has certainly had a  busy weekend!  By midday on Friday 11 April he had moved 590km (365 miles) to southern Mali , just south of the desert.  The next signal received was late on the 13 April which showed him in 2265km (1410 miles) further north, just inside the border of Morocco, having successfully crossed the desert! He continued moving onwards through the late evening and early morning of the 14 April, overflying the High Atlas mountains and covering another 450km (280 miles). By 3am he was just east of the northern city of Tangier (this point is not yet shown on the map). He is the second of our Cuckoos to have crossed the desert, but Chris was a close third! 

Waller had been in the west of Ivory Coast but has backtracked about 330km (200 miles) in to centre of the country and is now in the protected area of the Parc National d'Abokouamekro, to the west of Lake Kossou, the largest lake in Ivory Coast. Presumably feeding conditions weren't good in his westerly location and so he has moved on to find somewhere more suitable. 

Waller has continued a further 515km (320 miles) west and is now in the west of Ivory Coast, close to the borders with Guinea and Liberia.