Cuckoo o’clock
Our ecologist Penny Green shares the journey of a tagged Sussex Cuckoo, tracking its migration to aid conservation and reveal the wonders of its travels
Having seen a 30% decline over the past 30 years, Cuckoos have sadly found themselves on the UK’s Birds of Conservation Concern red list. The British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) has been satellite-tagging Cuckoos since 2011 to provide detailed locations on its migration routes as it flies between the Congo rainforests and here, and back again, each year. The data are regularly fed back from the tags and help us better understand the pressures the Cuckoos face on migration, and how different migration routes can affect their chances. The data collected over the years are aiding Cuckoo conservation.
As part of this project the BTO catches a few Sussex Cuckoos each year for satellite-tagging, and we were delighted to be able to provide a good candidate from Wiston – a male which had been frequenting the Well Bottom area, just next to Findon Park Vineyard south of Chanctonbury Ring. We convened very early on a calm mid-May morning, under the cover of darkness, to unfurl the nets and set up an irresistible scene to lure the Cuckoo in; a 3D-printed female Cuckoo in a bush and the sounds of males singing and the female’s bubbling call soon tempted an unwitting male into the mist net.
A metal ring was fitted to the bird’s leg and a solar-powered rucksack-like tag was fitted to its back – he is trialling a model of tag sponsored by the French government which will relay data back to the BTO when it comes in to 5G range.
Due to data ownership I’m restricted from sharing the graphics of our Cuckoo’s amazing journey so far, but I can describe what he’s been up to! Caught and tagged on 12th May he spent a majority of his time locally around the Downs between Findon and Wiston, and in the Weald at Wiston, Ashurst and Bines Green. On the night of 20th June his migration started under the cover of darkness, heading south-east over north Brighton and out to sea at Seaford making landfall at 02:40am east of Dieppe. Later that day he made a fly-by east of Paris and the following day continued to push south-east, at an altitude of over 3,000m, flying over Vosne-Romanée and its iconic Grand Cru Pinot noir vineyards. This Cuckoo obviously has excellent taste in vineyards, having spent some time around our Pinot noir vineyards too!
By breakfast on 23rd June he was well on his way to crossing the Alps. After a bit of R&R in northern Italy it was time to carry on south – the last reading was a few days ago in Corsica.
We can’t wait for the next data download as this will hopefully confirm that he has safely made the perilous journey over the Sahara desert.
For more information do take a look at the excellent BTO Cuckoo blog (but please note our Cuckoo isn’t on there due to the different tag type): https://www.bto.org/get-involved/volunteer/projects/cuckoo-tracking/updates
