Record-breaking cuckoo dies during project to solve migration mystery
Bird had been fitted with tracker in effort to understand why Scotland population is bucking UK trend
The British Trust for Ornithology is watching the movements of 11 other cuckoos fitted with satellite devices
SALTIRE NEWS AND SPORT
A record-breaking cuckoo that was part of a project to monitor the challenges the birds face on their African migration has died on its way back to Scotland.
The bird, named Ellis, was fitted with a tracker by the British Trust for Ornithology to try to identify why the UK population is falling while cuckoos that breed in Scotland are thriving.
The birds leave Britain in the autumn. They winter in the equatorial rainforests of the Congo before returning to their breeding grounds in the spring.
Last year Ellis became the quickest on record to cross the Sahara desert and one of the fastest to complete the 10,000-mile round trip when it touched down at Loch Arklet in the Loch Lomond & the Trossachs National
