THREE cuckoos captured in Nottinghamshire woodland are being tracked as they fly more than 5,000 miles to the depths of the African rainforest.
In a bid to understand their migration habits, two native British cuckoos were caught at Sherwood Pines Forest Park, and a third in Warsop Vale, and were tagged with a £3,000 satellite tracking system.
They were released in Sherwood Forest last month, and experts are now able to follow them as they fly south for the winter months.
One of the cuckoos, named Dudley, has already crossed the Sahara Desert and is currently on the edge of the rainforest in eastern Nigeria.
The other cuckoos, which haven't yet been named, are in Morocco and Belgium.
It is believed they will end up in the Congo rainforest.
Paul Stancliffe from the British Trust for Ornithology, which is leading the project, said: "We're currently seeing a decline in the UK in the number of breeding cuckoos, and we have lost almost three-quarters in the last 25 years.
"Over the next few weeks we will be able to find out more about their habits when they migrate, and hopefully learn more about what could be driving the decline.
"Cuckoos actually spend most of their time outside the UK and we don't know a lot about what they do or where they go when they're not here.
"We think they will end up in the Congo, but we don't know that for sure. This project will help us find out more."
The cuckoos might not even make it across the desert, But the information they provide as they make their way will prove vital to scientists.
Erin McDaid, of Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust, which is also involved in the project, said: "Many people have heard about the fact that birds migrate, but when you realise a bird that was recently in our area is now as far away as Africa, can be quite a surprise. It opens your eyes to how amazing our native cuckoos are.
"The information we learn from this project will help us improve their breeding areas and create better habitats for them. We can also then work to ensure their habitats on migration routes are protected."
Andy Lowe, West Notts Conservation Officer for Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust, helped catch the birds at Sherwood Pines. He said: "Cuckoos are only here for about six weeks so we only had a short time to catch them. We used a cuckoo call playing on an MP3 player to lure them into nets.
"The fact we can watch them as they migrate will help us learn so much."
Follow the birds on their journey at bto.org/ cuckoos.
