Patch's progress

It's been a wee while since we heard from Patch, the Meopta and Forest Optic/PWC sponsored cuckoo. He remains the most northerly of the cuckoos tagged as part of the BTO's fascinating Out of Africa project - and for a while, his long stay in northern Italy was beginning to concern me. Obviously with all migratory birds there would be a few casualties along the way, but here at Patchwork Towers we've had our fingers crossed that all will be well with Patch and he will safely complete his epic journey south.

His progress can be followed here (and the rest of the tagged cuckoos can be followed here). I've been checking in every day to see how he's getting on, but for quite a while it appeared that his little blue marker hadn't moved at all. However, on zooming right in to the map, you can see that Patch had obviously just found somewhere to his liking (I should imagine it's a nice part of the world... ) and was resting up before crossing the Mediterranean.

 
Although it's not yet showing on the map, Patch's summer break is now over and he has travelled to the south of Italy, where he'll probably rest up a little more before crossing the Straits of Messina. Look out for all those Amur falcons...

The BTO's work on cuckoos is really opening our eyes with regard to there migratory and wintering habits. However, it doesn't come cheap - the satellite tracking equipment is very expensive, so if you've got some money kicking around, and you care about science and conservation, please have a think about visiting here...