Hampshire Cuckoo blazing the trail home
Our
tracking studies have revealed that at this time of year UK-breeding
Cuckoos start to leave their wintering areas in the Congo basin and move
out into West Africa. This year, Hampshire Cuckoo Selborne is leading
the charge. Selborne was named by the Hampshire Ornithological Society
in 2016 when he was tagged in the New Forest.
On
the evening of 31 January Selborne's tag showed that he was in Ghana.
Having spent a week there he headed west again, 687km (426 miles) into
Guinea, overflying Ivory Coast on the way. It looks like his route into
west Africa included a shortcut across the Gulf of Guinea, a sea
crossing of 1,100km (689 miles). He is now just under 5,000km (3,000
miles) from his New Forest breeding site, as the Cuckoo flies. We expect
the other Cuckoos to follow soon so stay tuned to the Cuckoo pages for the latest updates.
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