Meet the Scottish superbird who won a 10,000-mile race to be the first tagged cuckoo to fly from Africa to the UK this year

A Scottish cuckoo has completed an epic 10,000-mile journey from the rainforests of central Africa to a loch in the Trossachs to become the first tagged bird of its species to return to the UK for the spring nesting season.

The superbird, named Ellis, is one of a number of cuckoos which have been fitted with transmitters to track their movements as part of a project by the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO).

Eliis, who was tagged last year, set off from the Congo basin and arrived in Ghana on 1 February.

On 31 March he crossed the Sahara and pushed on northwards into Spain.

He became the first of the BTO’s current group of cuckoos to make it back to the UK on 18 April, when he touched down at his breeding grounds on the shores of Loch Arklet, in Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park.

And a second Scottish bird, Victor II, was not far behind.

He left his wintering area in Gabon on Christmas Day and moved gradually northwards until reaching Ghana on 15 March.

His own Sahara crossing began on 13 April, before stopping off in England on 1 may and then finally landing at Loch Katrine – not far from Ellis’s territory – two days later.

Ellis's epic journey from the Congo rainforests to Loch Arklet in Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park. Picture: Google Earth

The cuckoo – named for its distinctive call – is currently on the Red List of Birds of Conservation Concern in the UK due to population declines.

BTO researchers have been satellite-tracking cuckoos since 2011 in a bid to find out why they are disappearing.

The two Scottish birds are among 12 currently being monitored and which will shortly up sticks and set off back to Africa.

The British Trust for Ornithology has been tracking cuckoos since 2011 in a bid to discover why the species is suffering major declines. Picture: Neil Calbrade/BTO

Tom Stewart, from the British Trust for Ornithology, said: “Across the UK, we’ve lost over 70 per cent of our breeding cuckoos since the late 1960s.

“The picture is different in Scotland, however, where recent decades have seen significant increases.

“Although the reasons for this are unclear, the tracking data has revealed that birds breeding in different parts of the UK take different routes on migration.

“Understanding the pressures they face on these long journeys, often through regions impacted by drought, could hold the key to explaining what’s going on.

Scottish bird Victor II was also tagged last year, and successfully returned from Africa to his nesting grounds at Loch Katrine on 3 May. Picture: BTO

“Insect declines may also play a part.

“We’re tagging more cuckoos this year to add to our growing knowledge of these beguiling birds and to help safeguard their future here in the UK.”

Cuckoos are unusual birds, known as ‘brood parasites’.

Instead of building their own nests, females lay their eggs in the nests of other species – especially meadow pipits, dunnocks and reed warblers – with the eggs produced to mimic those of the invaded bird.

This makes it more difficult for scientists to monitor breeding success for cuckoos.

Ellis, tagged in 2021, became the first tagged cuckoo to return to the UK this year after flying 10,000 miles from the rainforests of Congo to arrive at his nesting grounds in the Trossachs on 18 April. Picture: BTO

It’s not known whether Ellis or Victor II have fathered any chicks since they were tagged in 2021.

Mr Stewart added: “It isn’t easy to track how many eggs a female cuckoo lays because they are deposited in the nests of other birds.

“We know that the eggs of each female cuckoo are adapted to look like those of one host species – one bird will lay eggs that look like those of a meadow pipit, another that look like those of a reed warbler and so on.”