By: Blonde Two
The Two Blondes are excited about lots of things at the moment. For example,Ten Tors weekend is fast approaching, our Duke of Edinburgh expedition season has taken off with two very different but equally excellent expeditions and we are going to rest our Blonde heads at our favourite camping spot this weekend.
One thing I am particularly looking forward to though is the much anticipated return of the Dartmoor cuckoos. The first of the BTO tagged Cuckoos, Skinner has arrived safely back in the UK (although why he chose Norfolk instead of Dartmoor is beyond me). There is news too of our two remaining Dartmoor Cuckoos. Whortle (like the berries) has crossed from Africa to Spain (if you are about to go on holiday to Spain, listen out for him) and Tor is still thought to be on his way but with intermittent signal. You can watch all of the Cuckoos’ progress here http://www.bto.org/science/migration/tracking-studies/cuckoo-tracking – if you think Blondes are impressive navigators, you should see these guys!
If you want to get involved in mapping the Cuckoos’ return to Devon, look up Devon Birds https://www.devonbirds.org/home they are mapping sightings (soundings) on their website and hopefully I will be able to give them a new Dartmoor one on Sunday night because my favourite Cuckoo lives very close to our favourite camp spot!
Patch was the one that amazed me most, though Chris is absolutely outstanding, this being his 3rd recorded migration – and he probably did one before that, because he was 2 years old when caught. But I digress. Patch has travelled 2,140 miles in 5 days, through Senegal, Morocco, the Western Sahara, Algeria, the Middle Atlas Mountains, the Mediterranean Sea and so into Spain. He flew on average – (oh, my maths!) – 428 miles a day for 5 consecutive days! Stunning!
That is truly amazing – even more so to think that they do it year after year.