Out of Africa and back again

A cuckoo photographed by Amy Lewis for the Sussex Wildlife Trust

Since 1998 there has been a 50 per cent decline in English Cuckoos and in an attempt to discover the reasons, the Sussex Ornithological Society in partnership with the The British Trust for Ornithology has sponsored the satellite tagging of a male Cuckoo named ‘Sussex’.

The Cuckoo was tagged in the Ashdown Forest area and is one of several in the monitoring project.

The tags are solar-powered, transmit for ten hours and then go into ‘sleep’ mode for 48 hours, to allow the solar panel to recharge.

A Cuckoo in flight photographed by Neil Fletcher for the Sussex Wildlife Trust

Whilst Cuckoos have been studied during the breeding season here in the UK, once they head off on migration very little is known about the routes they take or where in Africa they spend the winter months.

In some studies cuckoos have been ringed, but there has only been one ring recovery on a young bird that was found in Cameroon in mid winter 82 years ago.

If the areas where Cuckoos spend the winter months can be pinpointed, then further research can be carried out to see if there are pressures or problems.

Simon Biddle from the Sussex Ornithological Society said:”This is a very exciting project and we are delighted to be assisting the British Trust for Ornithology with sponsoring ‘our’ Cuckoo.

“Anyone will be able to follow the progress of ‘Sussex’ on our website (www.sos.org.uk) and his movements will be tracked in real time.

“This information will be of vital use for scientists involved in Cuckoo conservation and hopefully will show some of the factors that may be influencing the steep declines in the English population.”