Victor 2

Victor 2

Victor II has been named by Ann Masters, in loving memory of her late husband. Ann fondly remembers competing with her husband each year to see who heard the first Cuckoo, and hopes that this work will inspire a love of nature for future generations.

Status : Presumed dead
Tagged : Wed, May 19, 2021 - 06:30
Age when found : Adult
Tagging Location : Loch Katrine, Perthshire, Scotland
Satellite Tag No. : 213804
Wing Length (mm) : 229
Sex : Male

Victor 2's journey from 19th May 2021 to 19th April 2023

Updates on Victor 2 's movements

Victor II's post-mortem results

07 Jul 2023

We have now received the results of the post-mortem kindly performed on Victor II by Vets at the Autonomous University of Barcelona. Victor II was tagged on 21 May 2021 in Scotland and found dead in a field of Orange trees in Pobla Llarga (Valencia) on 19 April 2023. Fortunately his body was found and quickly recovered so that it could be sent off for a post-mortem.

The post-mortem, carried out by Vet Ignacio Marco Sanchez, reveal that Victor II was very thin. The recorded loss of body condition suggests to us that he wasn't able to recover from the Sahara crossing, likely due to poor conditions in Spain where it had been extremely dry.

Furthermore, the post-mortem also reported that Victor II had haemorrhages on his head and neck, possibly suggesting that he had collided with a tree in the orange grove. One explanation for this may be that in his weakened state he would have been a more likely target for a predator and may have hit a tree in an attempt to escape an attack.

It is very useful to receive such detailed information about the condition of one of our birds at the end of its life and we are grateful to the finder, Juan Carlos Regojo for facilitating these investigations. Victor II contributed data from two almost complete migrations to Africa and back and gave us even more information after his death.     

The end of the road for Victor II

20 Apr 2023

We have been following Victor II since he was tagged on the shores of Loch Katrine in Perthshire, Scotland on 19 May 2021. He was so close to giving us two complete migrations to the Congo Basin and back but was found dead yesterday near Valencia and quickly reported by the finder to us. We have since been corresponding with the finder to secure the return of his tag and are urgently trying to arrange a post-mortem. 

While we are of course very sad to have lost Victor II, he may well have more to teach us. It is rare for us to have the opportunity to learn the cause of death of our Cuckoos. If we can arrange a post-mortem it could provide us with useful information about his general condition as well as the cause of death. We will examine his tag for wear and tear and hopefully arrange for it to be reconditioned and reused. We will of course update you with any new information we are able to glean over the coming weeks. In the meantime we bid farewell and thanks to Victor II and focus our attention on our three remaining birds - Joe, JAC and Ellis. 

Victor II out of Africa

14 Apr 2023
New updates received last night show that Victor II has flown 530km (330 miles) north east from his last location in north east Morocco, over the western part of the Mediterranean and into Spain. By 18:30 last night (Thursday 13 April) he was close to the town of La Pobla Llarga in the province of Valencia. He stopped off in Spain last year too, arriving on 15 April and pausing for a couple of days close to the city of Lleida in the west of Catalonia, before heading north towards Andorra and then on into France. Last year he arrived back in the UK on 1st May.

Victor II has completed his desert crossing

13 Apr 2023
We are relieved to report that since our last update Victor II has flown 1,255km (780 miles) north, taking him from Mali to north east Morocco, completing his desert crossing. When we last heard from him he was 45km (28 miles) south west of city of Nador. Will he linger in north Africa or press on to Europe?  

Victor II is crossing the Sahara

10 Apr 2023
New updates received from Victor II's tag early yesterday morning showed that he had set off on his desert crossing. At around 5am he was flying over east central Mauritania and by mid morning he was in north western Mali. By that time he had covered 1,830km (1,137 miles) and was 125km (78 miles) north west of the remote salt mining centre Taoudenni. This means he is in the hottest region and one of the driest regions on the planet where the average temperature is over 40 degrees C (104F) and average rainfall is between 1 and 2 cm per year. Clearly not a place Victor II will want to linger in. Last year he turned up in northern Spain on 15 April so hopefully when we next hear fom him he will have completed his crossing and be in north Africa or even Europe.  

Victor II in Ivory Coast

24 Mar 2023

Victor II has spent approximately 2 weeks in central Ivory Coast. Earlier this week he flew 60km (37 miles) south west and is now 16km (10 miles) due east of the capital city Yamoussoukro. This is the stop over site he used last year before he crossed the Sahara on the 13th April. Be prepared to see him cross in the next few weeks.

Victor II joins Joe in Ivory Coast

13 Mar 2023
New updates received from Victor II's tag over the weekend show that he has flown a further 722km (450 miles) west from Benin to Ivory Coast. He is now in central Ivory Coast, approximately 76km (47 miles) north east of the capital Yamoussoukro and 165km (100 miles) west of Cuckoo Joe. He is now very close to the stop over site he used last year when he spent approximately a month in Ivory Coast before crossing the Sahara. 

Victor II moves west

09 Mar 2023
A couple of new updates received early this morning (9 Feb) show that Victor II has finally departed the Congo rainforest. He has flown 1,510km (940 miles) north west to south west Benin, a week ahead of last year's schedule. Last year he stopped slightly further west, in eastern Ghana, before progressing on to Ivory Coast where he stayed until 14 April when he set off across the desert. We expect him to proceed further west, perhaps to Ivory Coast over the next few days.  

Victor II is in Gabon

30 Jan 2023
Victor II spent last winter in Gabon and the Republic of the Congo and he has done the same this winter. Last year he moved into northern Gabon on 1 Feb and he remained here until 14 March when he progressed west to Ghana. He then moved quickly to Ivory Coast where he remained until 14 April when he began his desert crossing. If he follows last year's timetable we will see Victor II moving further north in Gabon any day. 

Victor II moves south in Gabon

07 Nov 2022
Victor II has flown 164km (102 miles) south and is now in the Ogoone-Lolo Province of eastern Gabon, in the rainforest approximately 62km North west of the town of Okondja. 

Victor II reaches Gabon

01 Nov 2022
After a week in Cameroon, Victor II has flown 713km (443 miles) south east to eastern Gabon. He is now close to Mwagne National Park. Last year he wintered further east in the Republic of Congo with some time also spent in southern Gabon so it'll be interesting to see if he continues on his current trajectory over the border into Congo.  

Victor II reaches southern Nigeria

19 Oct 2022
Having spent the last couple of months in southern Niger, Victor II has recently flown 1,041km (647 miles) south east to south eastern Nigeria. He is now approximately 36km north west of the city of Calabar in Cross River State. Last year he stopped for a couple of weeks around this time just over the border in Cameroon before pressing on to the Congo via Equatorial Guinea. He had arrived at his wintering grounds by the end of October so we expect him to move on from Nigeria soon.  

Victor II crosses the Sahara again

08 Aug 2022
Over the last few days Victor II has finally left the Austrian Alps and flown into Africa. By Thursday morning (4 August) he was passing over central Italy and by Saturday evening he was flying over the Libyan Sahara. He has since flown south west into Niger and by yesterday evening (7 August) he had reached southern Niger. Over the last few days he has flown approximately 3,663km (2,276 miles) and he is now approximately 130km east of the town of Dakoro. Last year Victor II arrived in southern Niger on 30 July and remained here until the end of August when he moved further south within the country. He then remained here until moving to Cameroon in mid October. He is currently close to the area he stopped off in last year so hopefully he will find some good places to rest and recover from his arduous desert crossing.  

Victor II still in the Alps

15 Jul 2022
Victor II is currently on the slopes below the Rötspitze, a 3,495 m (11,467 ft) peak in the Hohe Tauern mountain range on the border between Austria and Italy.

Victor II still in the Austrian Alps

11 Jul 2022
Over the last couple of days Victor II has moved approximately 15km south and his latest update showed him in the valley of the river Ziller which flows from Lake Zillergründl approximately 6km further upstream. Is he preparing to cross the Alps into Northern Italy?

Victor II visits the Alps

04 Jul 2022
Victor II is taking an interesting route south following his departure from northern France last week. By Friday evening he was in the area around Lake Emosson, 16km north of Chamonix. Since then he has flown 411km (256 miles) east-north east along the northern edge of the Alps to his current location in the mountains around Lake Zillergründl in south west Austria, approximately 52km (32 miles) south east of Innsbruck. Last year Victor II arrived in the south of France on 19th July and departed on 27th July, moving via Algeria across the Sahara to Niger where he arrived on 30 July. This year he is clearly ahead of schedule and his move east is unusual, presumably driven by weather and lack of food. Hopefully he will find suitable feeding opportunities so that he can prepare for the next leg of his journey. Conditions in southern Europe have been very hot and dry and this may well be impacting the movements and ultimately the fates of some of our Cuckoos. 

Victor II moves south in France

23 Jun 2022
Victor II has flown 338km (210 miles) south from his last location in the Pas-de-Callais department of northern France to a forest outside Dampierre-en-Burly in the Loiret department of northern central France. Last year he flew straight from northern France to the French Riviera but didn't make this journey until 18th July.  

Victor II near Barnard Castle

17 Jun 2022
Over the last couple of days Victor II has departed from his breeding grounds in Scotland and flown 250 km (156 miles) south to his current location approximately 6 miles east of Barnard Castle. Last year he made this first move on 14th June so he is being very consistent with his timings. 

Victor II has made it back to Scotland

03 May 2022
Victor II has flown the final 365 km (227 miles) from Cheshire to his breeding grounds in Scotland. By 11.15 this morning he was back on the shores of Loch Katrine where he was tagged on 19 May last year. He left on 13 June last year so he may only be here for 6 weeks or so before setting off again. 

Victor II is back in England

01 May 2022
New updates received this morning show that Victor II has flown 575 km (357 miles) north from his last location in northern France to England. He has spent the last few hours close to the town of Winsford in Cheshire. So if you are in or around Winsford today and you hear a Cuckoo it could well be Victor II! He has approximately 365 km to fly before reaching his breeding grounds in the Trossachs. 

Victor II reaches northern France

29 Apr 2022
Over the last few days Victor II has made good progress north, leaving northern Spain and progressing up through France. By Tuesday evening he has reached Nouvelle-Aquitaine in south western France. He didn't hang arorund though and by midnight last night he had flown a further 255 km (159 miles) north and was in the Perche National Park between Normandy and the Loire Valley. When we next hear from him, will he be back in the UK? Stay tuned to find out!

Victor II reaches northern Spain

16 Apr 2022
Victor II has made good progress on his journey north, leapfrogging both PJ and JAC on his way. By yesterday evening (15 April) he was close to the city of Lleida in the west of Catalonia, Spain. He may be taking a break here as just ahead of him are the Pyrenees. 

Victor II is crossing the Sahara

13 Apr 2022
Victor II has started his desert crossing. Updates received from his tag between 04:47 and 06:48 this morning (13 April) showed that he had flown 1,121 Km (697 miles) north from his last location in Ivory Coast. He had flown over the south western corner of Mali and was in or over south eastern Mauritania. He was 65 Km due east of the town of Nema. There isn't much here for a Cuckoo so hopefully when we receive the next updates we will see that Victor II has completed his desert crossing and has arrived in northern Morocco or Algeria. 

Victor II makes it to Ghana

15 Mar 2022
New updates received from Victor II's tag this morning (15th March) show that over the last couple of days he has flown 1,545km (960 miles) north west to Ghana, via Nigeria. He is now in south eastern Ghana, on the eastern shores of Lake Volta. 

Victor II

06 Jan 2022
Victor II has moved out of Gabon, departing on Christmas Day and flying 231 km (144 miles) north east into the Republic of Congo. He has returned to the same area that he visited at the end of October, on his way south.

Victor II in Gabon

08 Nov 2021
Victor II has flown 265 km (165 miles) south west, over the border from Republic of the Congo into south eastern Gabon. He is now close to the Passa River in the Bateke Plateau National Park. The park covers an area of approximately 2,000 square km and is a UNESCO world heritage site at the transition between rain forest and savannah. Camera trap studies over recent years have shown the presence in the park of 12 mammal species that are threatened with extinction, including chimpanzee, leopard, elephant, giant pangolin and western lowland gorilla. They also captured the first definitive proof of Lion in Gabon (in 2015). 

Victor II flies to the Congo

02 Nov 2021
Victor II has swapped Equatorial Guinea for the Republic of Congo after flying 485 km (301 miles) south east. He is now in the forest, approximately 8 km north of the town of Ewo in the Cuvette-Ouest department of Western Congo.  

Victor II visits Equatorial Guinea

27 Oct 2021
Victor II has flown 461km (287 miles) S-SE from his last location in Cameroon. He is now 35 km (20 miles) east of the planned new capital city of Ciudad de la Paz in eastern Equatorial Guinea. He is in thick forest close to the Piedra Nzas natural monument, a protected area designated in 2000.  It will be interesting to see whether he remains here or moves on before settling for the winter. 

Victor II arrives in Cameroon

12 Oct 2021
New updates received at around 6am this morning show that Victor II has flown 1,061 Km (660 miles) south-south east from Nigeria to northern Cameroon. He is now close to the Nta Ali Forest Reserve.

Victor II moves towards Nigeria

01 Sep 2021
Victor II has flown 155 Km (97 miles) south west within Niger, towards the border with Nigeria. He is now 150 Km north of PJ who is over the border in Nigeria.

Victor II reaches the Sahel

03 Aug 2021
By Friday night Victor II had flown 1,500 km (960 miles) south, crossing the Sahara and reaching the sahel in Niger. He has remained here, close to the town of Abalak in the Tahoua Region of southern Niger.

Victor II is attempting to cross the Sahara

28 Jul 2021
Updates received from Victor II at 07:30 this morning show that he has left France and crossed the Mediterranean. He has flown 1,423Km (885 miles) south and reached north eastern Algeria. He is currently over the Grand Erg Oriental (Great Eastern Sand Sea), one of the driest landscapes on earth. This "erg" or dune field is vast, stretching over an area of approximately 600 kilometers by 200 kilometers, an endlessly stretching horizon of sand. Ahead of him is Tassili n'Ajjer national park, a vast sandstone plateau, the highest peak of which is Adrar Afao at 2,158 m (7,080 ft).  Fingers crossed for Victor II!

Victor II poised to cross the Mediterranean

19 Jul 2021
A new update from Victor II's tag at 04:55 this morning shows that he has flown a further 240 km (149 miles) south and reached the hills above Cavalaire-sur-Mer on the French Riviera. It'll be interesting to see how long he stops here for before crossing the Mediterranean, will he become our fourth Cuckoo to reach Africa this year? Stay tuned to find out!

Victor II heads south

17 Jul 2021
New updates from Victor II's tag yesterday evening (Friday 17 July) suggest that he has flow 615km (382 miles) south to south eastern France. The locations we have received so far have been low quality so we will need to await further updates to me confident of his location. He appears to be approximately 6km north west of the town of Saint-Marcellin in the Rhone-Alpes region. 

Introducing Victor II

17 Jun 2021

Victor II was tagged during a dawn catching session adjacent to the north-west shores of Loch Katrine. He was a welcome catch after a blank day, as catching proved trickier than expected despite the large numbers of Cuckoos around. This was partly due to the habitat - finding suitable catching places without large trees, power and phone lines or pylons overhead wasn't easy and the presence of real females made our dummy and lures less desirable! Since being tagged Victor II has moved south, making a brief stop in Essex before crossing the Channel into France where he is now near Saint-Pol-sur-Ternoise in northern France.

Meet the 2021 Cuckoos

17 Jun 2021

After being unable to tag any Cuckoos in 2020 due to COVID-19 restrictions, we are delighted to be able to introduce eleven new Cuckoos this year!

The tagging teams faced some very early starts as usual to tag the Cuckoos, but they were rewarded with birds who were interested enough in the female lure to be caught, weighed and tagged (with the exception of a location near Loch Katrine where there were a number of female Cuckoos around, making our lure less convincing!).

Some of these newly-tagged birds have already begun their migration south, with one in France, one in the Netherlands and one of the Scottish birds is already down in Essex.

Keep an eye on the individual birds' blogs for updates on their progress.

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