At last! Lyster the laggard is on his way

Britain's laziest bird has finally left the country. Lyster, one of five cuckoos fitted with satellite navigation trackers by the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO), departed from Norfolk on Sunday night and is now to be found resting up in central France.

The first of the five migratory birds, Clement, left East Anglia on 3 June and has since made it all the way to the south of the Sahara, where he is resting.

The birds are part of an experiment that hopes to work out where exactly cuckoos go in winter, which has so far remained a mystery. Their progress can be followed on the BTO website, which is updated daily.