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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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Bluey reaches Africa

17 Jul 2023

Updates received from Bluey's tag over the weekend show that he has flown 545 km (338 miles) south west from southern Spain, taking him across the Mediterranean and into Morocco.

By Saturday evening (15 July) he was close to the town of Midelt, on the high plains between the Middle Atlas and High Atlas Mountains. The latest signals show him 38 km (24 miles) east of Midelt but all of the recent signals have been of low quality so we'll need to await further transmissions to be more confident of his exact location.

Bluey pushes on to southern Spain

13 Jul 2023
Bluey has flown 343 km (214 miles) south to southern Spain. He is close to the town of Tahal in Andalusia. Last year he stopped approximately 25 miles south-west of his current location but soon pressed on across the Mediterranean and then the Sahara. 

Bluey reaches Spain

12 Jul 2023

Over the last few days Bluey has powered south over France and into Spain. By yesterday morning he had reached the countryside surrounding the small village of Ribatajadilla in the municipality of Sotorribas, in Cuenca province, Castilla–La Mancha, Spain.

Last year Bluey arrived in southern Spain on 8 July and by 11 July he was crossing the Sahara so if he follows a similar plan this year we can expect him to move on very soon. 

Bluey forges south through France

10 Jul 2023

Over the last few days Bluey has flown 416 km (259 miles) south. He stopped briefly on Saturday night near Valence-en-Poitou in the Vienne department in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, but soon pressed on. 

By midnight last night he had reached Castillon-la-Bataille in the Gironde department in Nouvelle-Aquitaine in south-western France. 

Bonjour to Bluey

23 Jun 2023

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.  

Bluey moves south

08 Jun 2023

Over the last couple of days, Bluey has left Knepp and flown approximately 15 km (9 miles) south-east towards Shoreham-by-Sea in West Sussex. After popping briefly into Buckingham Park, he has been exploring the area around the village of Upper Bleeding. It’ll be interesting to see whether this is the start of his migration or if he will head back towards Knepp. 

Welcome back Cuckoo Bluey

07 Jun 2023

In early May we were surprised to receive a photograph of a satellite-tagged Cuckoo on the Knepp Estate in Sussex. This was unexpected, because although we have previously tagged birds at Knepp, we had lost contact with them all, either because they had died or the tag had failed.

So it was with great excitement that the team approached their nets early on the morning of 18 May after watching a tagged Cuckoo fly towards them. They had indeed caught the tagged bird and they soon discovered that this was Bluey, originally tagged in May 2022 at Knepp.

We tracked Bluey south across the Sahara to the border region between Mali and Senegal but lost contact with him in late July 2022. The diagnostic data from his tag did not suggest any sort of tag malfunction so we concluded that he had perished.

It was a joy to hear that he was alive and well back in Sussex. He appeared to be in good health, so the team removed his original tag and fitted him with a new tag; hopefully, this one will last longer. The map on this page will show his movements since having his new tag fitted in May 2023. We are hoping that we’ll be able to find out why his original tag failed.

Since being tagged, Bluey has remained on the Knepp Estate. 

Farewell Bluey

19 Oct 2022
It has been almost three months now since we last heard from Bluey and sadly we must conclude that he has perished. Having made it across the Sahara and reached south west Mali, the updates stopped despite the diagnostic data from his tag not suggesting any malfunctions. Having taken the westerly route across the Sahara which we know is associated with a higher mortality rate for our tagged Cuckoos it is sad but not so surprising to report this ending. Bluey has added valuable data to our growing knowledge of Cuckoo migration. 

Bluey moves east into Mali

28 Jul 2022
Having spent the last few weeks in south eastern Senegal, Bluey has flown 167km (104 miles) south east over the border into south western Mali. He is now 33km (20 miles) south of the rural town of Kenieba in the Kayes region of SW Mali.  

Bluey completes his desert crossing

12 Jul 2022
Bluey has continued his journey south, flying 429km (267 miles) south from his last location in Mauritania, crossing briefly over Mali and arriving in Senegal. By 06:21 this morning he was in the south eastern corner of Senegal, approaching Niokolo-Koba National Park. Hopefully he will now find some good places to rest and recover from his desert crossing. At the moment 3,174km (1,972 miles) separate Bluey in west Africa from Joe in Chad. 

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