So many of us take comfort from seeing the first snowdrops of the year, spotting Hawthorn and Blackthorn bushes in flower and hearing the dawn chorus of bird song growing as each day passes. Thanks to the amazing technological advancements of recent years, we can now even watch spring coming thousands of miles away by following the movements of tagged animals. Our partners at the BTO have been doing just this with Cuckoos.
Meet Cuthbert Cuthbert was caught by the BTO’s Cuckoo Tracking Team at Wheatfen Broad in Norfolk, with the kind permission of the site’s owners, the Ted Ellis Trust. Phil Atkinson, one of the BTO’s scientific staff, led the catching operation, which involved setting special nets; these have a fine mesh that gently holds a bird that flies into it. The Cuckoos are attracted to the net through the use of a decoy (either a stuffed female Cuckoo or a 3D printed model) and the playback of Cuckoo calls.
Male Cuckoos like to sit on tall trees and sing the ‘Cuck-oo’ song that everyone is familiar with. To catch them you need to get them to come down low to the height of the net. The ideal site is a low isolated bush well away from any tall trees. We place two nets around the bush in a V-shape and play a recording of the female’s bubbling call and the male’s ‘Cuck-oo’ in the middle. Thinking a female and possibly a rival are in the area, the male will come to investigate, often dive-bombing in low within seconds of the recording tape being played.
Cuthbert was one of two male Cuckoos caught that morning at the site. The other bird, an immature male, was underweight and so was not tagged. At 119 g Cuthbert was in excellent condition for tagging, and so was fitted with the lightweight harness and satellite tag.
Tracking Updates
Cuthbert has successfully completed his crossing of the mighty Sahara!
By 7pm last night he had flown 1,107 km (688 miles) south from his last location in Western Sahara and had reached southern Mauritania. He flew on another 145km (90 miles) so that by midnight he had crossed the border into Senegal. He is now in the Senegal River valley in north-eastern Senegal, approximately mid-way between the towns of Bakel and Matam. It is 80°F in this area, with heavy thunderstorms. He may remain here for a little while before pressing east towards his non-breeding grounds in the Congo or Angola.
Good news on the Cuckoo front
Cuthbert has finally left Spain. Over the last few days he has flown 300 miles south and is now in southern Portugal. He is just west of the village of Lousal in the Alentejo Province of Portugal. It looks most likely that Cuthbert will cross the Straits of Gibraltar to Morocco and proceed south across the sahara along the western edge.
A turn in the wrong direction - not enough food?
70 Km (44 miles) north, taking him out of Portugal and back into Spain. He is just north of the small town of Fornelos de Montes in Galicia. Interestingly another Scottish Cuckoo, George 2, has also moved north and he’s gone from Spain into France. This may be a sign that these birds were not finding sufficient food where they were.
Portugal holidays
Cuthbert has flown across to the West Coast of northern Spain, making a stop for around 24 hours in the hills above Sanxenxo in Galicia. He has since flown 44 miles south, taking him over the border into Portugal. He is currently on the banks of the Limia river, just downstream from Ponte de Barca and approximately 45 miles north of Porto. Nicholas’ Cuckoo, Nick 2, meanwhile is crossing the Sahara!
Tandem flying
Cuthbert has flown 238 miles south-west through Spain and is now just outside the town of Sotillo de la Adrada in the province of Ávila, Castile and León. He is more or less neck and neck with Nicholas’ sponsored Cuckoo, Nick 2!
It's going to be a risky trip through Spain & onto the western Sahara
Cuthbert has motored on south since our last update, covering 756km (470 miles) in a south-westerly direction through France. He crossed the border near Hendaye in the south-western corner of France and is now in northern Spain. The latest data show him in the hills a few miles west of the town of Tolosa in the Basque province of Gipuzkoa. The BTO know from their tracking work that Cuckoos migrating via Spain and then the western Sahara are less likely to survive the migration south than birds taking the easterly route via Italy, so we’ll be keeping our fingers crossed for Cuthbert’s onward journey.
Cuthbert has finally set off on his epic migration south!
Updates received from his tag show that he has flown 334km (208 miles) south-west. This journey has taken him from his breeding grounds in the Norfolk Broads, across the English Channel to France. He is now close to the town of Etretat in Normandy, famous for its amazing cliffs and rock formations.
He’s not expected to hang around for long here before pressing on south. It’ll be interesting to see whether his journey takes him south-west via Spain or south-east via Italy.
Cuthbert is still staying close to home...
Out of this year’s 15 Cuckoos, Torc, Cores, Sayaan, Joe & Cleeve have all left the UK but there are still a number around the country who haven’t yet departed
First two are on their way...
Two of the Cuckoos launched earlier this month have already made it across to Europe:
Cores (CO) left Ireland, arriving in north-west France a week ago. He’s moving slowly south-eastwards into the Loire-Atlantique region & is currently just north of the medieval town of Châteaubriant. From here, he will likely head towards Italy and head down to Africa via an eastern route.
Torc (TO) left County Waterford coast, stopped over briefly in Cornwall, then headed for France, passing between Guernsey and Alderney on the way. After a 200 mile flight, he was tracked to north-west Normandy
Not much activity yet!
Cuthbert has now been released, but is currently sticking close to home, with the other Cuckoos doing the same.
Meet Cuthbert!
Cuthbert is one of nine birds, from the Scottish Highlands, East Anglia and Worcestershire, joining the BTO Cuckoo Tracking Project this year
Setting mist nets to catch a Cuckoo
📷 Mike Toms
Setting the lure - a stuffed female Cuckoo
📷 Mike Toms
Attaching a satellite tag to a male Cuckoo
📷 Mike Toms
A Cuckoo carrying a satellite tag
📷 Neil Calbrade
Cuthburt
Tag number: 262937
Ring number:DE53595
Sex: Male
Age: 4
(Adult, hatched before the current calendar year, but exact age unknown)
Date and time of capture:
24/05/2024 at 04:30 hrs
Location: Caught at Wheatfen Broad, Surlingham, Norfolk
Wing length: 226 mm
Weight: 119 g
Scientific Name: Cuculus Canorus
Distribution: Throughout Britain and Ireland
Habitat:
Breeding Cuckoos are found in a range of habitat types, although they reach highest densities in upload and marginal habitats. Dartmoor, Exmoor and the New Forest in England, together with Brecon Beacons in Wales, hold relatively high densities but abundance peaks in western and northern Scotland and in western Ireland.
UK Breeding:
BTO data show that UK Cuckoo population have been in decline since the early 1980s. The species was added to the UK Birds of Conservation Concern Red List in 2009. Data from BTO/JNCC/RSPB Breeding Bird Survey show a continuing strong decline in England, but not in Scotland, where a moderate increase has occurred.
Related Birds:
Cuckoos mostly lay their eggs in the nests of Meadow Pipit, Reed Warbler, Dunnock and Pied Wagtail.
More About The Project
The Cuckoo, this iconic harbinger of Spring, is in steep decline in England and so understanding more about their lives is very important.
By attaching birds with satellite tags, BTO scientists are able to follow the migrations of Cuckoos in almost real-time. Having wintered in tropical Africa, the tagged Cuckoos are starting their migrations north, some having already completed the first leg of their migration out to Guinea in West Africa. They will feed up here for a few weeks, in preparation for crossing the mighty Sahara Desert.
We hope you’ll be just as fascinated as we are by the amazing adventures of these incredible travellers. We are very happy to have a good number of Cuckoos here at Vine House Farm and have been enthusiastic supporters of this project since the beginning. You can follow the movements of all of the tagged Cuckoos as they migrate north on the BTO website by visiting www.bto.org/cuckoos
Other Birds at Vine House Farm
If you have an interest in birds and their migration patterns, you may also be interested in identifying the different birds in your garden. Our comprehensive bird library covers all the main bird species you’re likely to see.
Our knowledge combines our own expertise with carefully researched facts and figures, and we frequently reference the data for the latest updates.
Each bird fact file contains information regarding its identification, bird sound, nesting, breeding, history, population, and food. With videos and plenty of images, you will be able to identify your garden birds.
