Wilfrid

Wilfrid's movements

22 Apr 2025 - Wilfrid wings his way

Once again, Wilfrid went quiet for a short while, leaving us guessing as to his whereabouts following his arrival in central Spain in early April. Our last signal placed him near Guadalupe, then over the weekend we received notification of his arrival in Suffolk – our first tagged bird to return!

He is back in the same area near Worlingham Marshes, within the Broads National Park, where he was tagged in early June last year, further highlighting just how site-faithful these birds are!  

02 Apr 2025 - Where's Wilfrid?

We hadn’t received any signals from Wilfrid since March 20, when he was still in south-east Guinea. Any concerns that we may have had for his wellbeing and whereabouts were joyously dashed yesterday when it became clear that he’d made significant progress since his last check-in.

At some point in the last 11 days he headed north in earnest, clearing the Sahara and arriving in the Extremadura region in central Spain! Currently just north of Guadalupe, he has covered at least 3,500 km (2,174 miles) since leaving Guinea and in excess of 7,000 km (4,350 miles) since departing his wintering grounds in Angola.

Of all our tagged Cuckoos, Wilfrid was the one who wintered the furthest south this year and he is now by far the most northerly of our birds!

05 Mar 2025 - Wilfrid’s Way Out West

Having spent the last few months deep in the forests of north-west Angola (furthest south of all our tagged Cuckoos), Wilfrid is now clearly feeling the urge to head back north.

He has made a massive leap, covering multiple African countries, passing through Gabon and western Cameroon before arriving in Nigeria a few days ago.

From here, he has continued his journey, sweeping past a further four countries until arriving at his current location in south-eastern Guinea. He has already covered approximately 3,700 km (2,300 miles) since leaving his wintering quarters in Angola.

05 Nov 2024 - Wilfrid's southward sojourn

Of all our tagged Cuckoos, Wilfrid is the bird who has gone furthest south at this time, and he is currently in north-west Angola, close to the mouth of the mighty Congo River.

He has travelled in excess of 9,000 km (5,592 miles) since leaving his Suffolk breeding grounds in July!

19 Aug 2024 - Wilfrid nears Nigeria

After fuelling up and resting for a while in Senegal, Wilfrid moved eastwards, passing through Mali and into Burkina Faso.

In the past few days he has continued on into southern Niger, and our latest signal shows him currently on the border with north-west Nigeria. He is just to the north of the Gagere River, approximately 100 km (62 miles) from the city of Maradi.     

Past updates from wilfrid