UK Nature and Environment

Cuckoos are a widespread and familiar bird across much of the UK, and many people can recognise the famously onomatopoeic song, but sadly we have lost more than a third of our breeding Cuckoos since 1995.

Researchers from BTO have been delving into every aspect of these characterful birds’ lives, trying to better understand the causes behind these continuing, and concerning declines.

Since 2011, more than 130 Cuckoos from around the UK and Ireland have been fitted with state-of-the-art tags which can be located by satellites passing overhead. Based on the frequency of the signals that the tags transmit, scientists can follow the birds’ routes in real time, allowing them to potentially identify significant obstacles and challenges that these remarkable travellers face as they make their epic cross-continental journeys. This spring an additional six birds have been fitted with these tags.