Updates from our Cuckoos

After several days in the Finistère area of Brittany, Cuach Torc has now left north-western France and has made his way to south-west Ireland.

His journey of approximately 550km (341 miles), saw him taking a direct route across the Celtic Sea, past the Isles of Scilly and Bishop’s Rock lighthouse, and into Killarney National Park, where he joins Cuckoo cohort KP!

Since our last update two days ago, Sayaan has covered the last 385km (239 miles) to his summer residence in West Sussex. Making a direct flight north east, he cut across Normandy before crossing The Channel and arriving in the UK near Worthing.

He is currently back at the Knepp Estate, where he was originally tagged. Since leaving the UK on 19 June 2023 Sayaan has taken a wide circular route which has seen him pass through a remarkable 21 countries!   

After a relatively brief stop on the Algerian / Tunisian border, Cores took a direct route of around 850km (528 miles) across the Mediterranean, arriving in southern France near the town of Montpellier.

He has continued a further 450km (280 miles) north and is now in central France, preparing for the last leg of his journey. When will he join KP in Ireland?

KP finally made landfall on the southern coast of Ireland, just to the south of Dungarvan in County Waterford.

After a short while he headed west through County Cork and is now in Killarney National Park, County Kerry, where he was originally tagged on 17 May 2023.

Since arriving in Breckland, Norfolk three days ago, Joe has been touring around the Thetford Forest area and is currently exploring the fields and hedgerows roughly 10km south east of Downham Market.

Rather than following a more land-based route, KP suddenly left northern Spain and set off due north, crossing the Bay of Biscay and continuing his flight over water, covering some 1,090 km (677 miles)!

Skirting past the Isles of Scilly and pushing north, at the time of his last signal KP was just 70km (43 miles) from the south east coast of Ireland. Once he makes landfall will he head straight to Killarney National Park, where he was tagged on 17 May last year?

With a little encouragement from the southerly winds moving up through the continent, Trent powered north covering around 1,068km (663 miles) over the weekend.

Ater crossing the Channel he spent some time in Somerset before moving north again and is currently in the Malverns in Worcestershire. He is around 1km (.6 mile) away from where he was originally caught and tagged in May 2023!

Demonstrating just how site-faithful these Cuckoos can be, Joe has arrived back in the Brecklands in  Norfolk, less than 20km (12 miles) from where he was tagged in early summer 2022. He is just five days later than his return to the same area in 2023.

Since leaving the Bordeaux region a few days ago, he has covered around 950km (590 miles), flying due north, crossing the Channel close to Bayeux and hitting UK soil around Bognor Regis.

Sayaan has now crossed from Spain into France and is currently near the small picturesque town of La Gacilly, in Brittany.  

He avoided a Pyranees crossing, taking a direct route from the north Spanish coast across the Bay of Biscay and arriving in the Parc Naturel Régional de Brière, by the Loire estuary, covering some 656km (407 miles).

After a rather slow start, Cuach Cores has really sprung into life and in just a few short days has covered an astonishing 3,500km (2,175 miles) from Ghana, through Burkina Faso, Mali and Algeria. He is now poised to cross the Mediterranean near the Tunisian coast.    

Which direction will Cores take? He could veer west across to eastern Spain, head north to France via Sardinia or maybe take a more leisurely route up through Italy? Given the logical route from his current location to Ireland, a more direct sea crossing is most likely, but that comes with its perils! After such a lengthy desert crossing we hope that he’ll take time to rest and feed.