SO, finally the gang’s all here. The last of the summer migrants of the year are pretty much here - looking out of my study window a few days ago, I saw the long, curved wings of the swift whizz past. They’re back, and not before time.

Swifts are amongst the last of the migrants to arrive back in this country, along with spotted flycatchers, sand martins and cuckoos, and they are also the first the leave, which is a bit rude, in my opinion.

Because cuckoos are bigger birds, they can be tracked by using satellite transmitters. So, a cuckoo that’s been named Cleeve is known to have arrived back in the Thetford, Norfolk, area, where he was originally tagged, on April 28.

Clever Cleeve left the Ivory Coast, where he had a chilled winter, on April 14, flew up towards us through France and then crossed the coast at Caen, before flying over London till he arrived back at Cranwich Heath.

He wasn’t rushing, spending a few days lolling about in northern Spain.

A cuckoo named Cores, on the other hand, flew from the Central African Republic, also calling in on Spain, before splitting off to the west to arrive home in Ireland, in County Cork, in April 22.

As yet, we can’t undertake the same process with smaller birds, because of the weight of the transmitters. But that will change.

The current technology uses transmitters weighing five grammes that are solar powered. They transmit for ten hours and then go to sleep for 48 hours to recharge.

The transmitters connect with the Argos satellite system (which, by the way, doesn’t arrange home deliveries!) that allows environmental studies.

It really won’t be long before we can track smaller birds and really understand the mysteries of the migration process.