No further signals have been received from Emsworthy's tag since 19 March. He was still alive when we last heard from his tag - but the charge was very low. We may well here from it again after he's crossed the Sahara but it's possible the battery will have degraded too much for that to happen. 

By 16 March, Emsworthy had left Central African Republic and made it to Ghana. He covered 2070km (1285 miles). He continued on into Ivory Coast by the 19 March, joining Ash, Stanley and Livingstone there. 

It looks like a few of our Cuckoos are setting off on their first spring migration movements. Ash and Emsworthy have both joined Stanley in making a move northwards to the Congo rainforest edge while Derek has been in the area for a few days but only transmitting low quality signals, until now, which hadn't registered on the maps. 

Fred and Jake, two of our Cuckoos tagged in Sherwood Forest, have moved westwards and are now in Congo. Fred recently left the Mbandaka area and has moved about 270km (165 miles) west from his previous location in Democratic Republic of Congo, while Jake, who is about 70km (45 miles) further south, travelled a shorter distance of 155km (95 miles). 

Interestingly, Derek who is slightly further north, had been moving east, the opposite direction to Jake and Fred, until recently but he has backtracked around 65km (40 miles). Emsworthy has also moved, but northwards to the area not long vacated by Fred. These movements may indicate changing conditions which are encouraging the Cuckoos to seek more favourable areas. 

By the 29 December, Emsworthy had moved 190km (120 miles) south-east  to the edge of the freshwater Lake Mai-Ndombe where he has remained since.

Derek and Emsworthy have recently moved westwards and are now south-west of  the Site Lac Tele-Likouala Aux Herbes area. Chris had also been in the area before moving south to Angola, possibly due to dryer conditions in that area this year. 

Six of the tracked cuckoos (Peter, Dudley, Emsworthy, David, Livingstone and Stanley) are already within the Congo rainforest block. The first of these to arrive was Stanley on 16 September, the earliest of the tracked cuckoos ever to arrive there by 12 days! He was followed by Emsworthy on 19 and Livingstone and Dudley on 23. Previous to this year, the earliest Cuckoo had been Chris, who arrived there on 25 September in 2012.

Since then, David arrived on 24 and Peter on 28 September 2014. David was five and four days earlier than in 2012 and 2013 respectively whilst Livingstone was 13 days earlier than last year. It is very interesting to note that all four of the cuckoos who beat the previous earliest arrival date came from northern Cameroon and the adjacent part of Chad, a region that has received over 50mm less rainfall than usual over the past month and more than 100mm less over the past three months.

By the 18 September, Emsworthy had left his location on the border of Nigeria/Cameroon and travelled south-east 640km (400 miles) and was in the Central African Republic (CAR). Since then he has travelled 280km (175 miles) south-west and is on the border between CAR and Cameroon. Poor conditions in the north of Cameroon may have led to him moving on so we hope that he has found better foraging here. 

With most cuckoos now in the Sahel region, we're entering a fairly quiet period in the annual cycle of the tagged cuckoos with less movement than during the migration season.

Birds who completed their desert crossing will spend time in the Sahel recovering their body condition, and some may stay quite a long time. In previous years, cuckoos have stayed in this area for as much as several months, while others spend a shorter amount of time before moving south into the humid zone forests.

The eastern Sahel in Chad and south Sudan has received plenty of rain recently, and thus conditions are likely good for cuckoos. Northern Cameroon was slightly drier than average in August, and so cuckoos such as Derek, Dudley, Stanley, and Emsworthy may be moving on if foraging conditions aren't suitable.

Stanley has travelled south from Niger and is now in Nigeria. He joins Sherwood bird Dudley, in the east of Nigeria, and Devon bird Emsworthy, who is about as far east in Nigeria as you can go, close to Nigeria's border with Cameroon. 

We are still following twenty-two birds. Currently two cuckoos are in France – Walpole and unnamed cuckoo 134957.

Five birds are in and around the Po Valley in northern Italy – BB, Chris, Stanley, Waller and Livingstone.

Six birds are in Spain – Two of these are big movers this week. After finally leaving the UK, Derek hasn’t hung around. After a brief stop in central-western France, he is now in central-northern Spain, just south of Tolbanos de Abajo. It is Maji that has provided the biggest surprise though. He seems to be taking a tour of the European mountain ranges. Having spent a time in the Austrian Alps, he is now in the central Pyrenees!

David is still in Montenegro and Ash is still in Croatia; both of these birds could make the move to Africa any day now.

We now have seven birds in Africa, six of them south of the Sahara. Emsworthy is the latest to arrive here and he is currently just south of Lake Chad, in an area that Chris also favours. Three other Cuckoos – Peter, Hennah and Dudley – are also close to Lake Chad.

Emsworthy has made it to Africa, having flown across the Mediterranean at almost the widest point  and making the crossing around 515 miles (830km), from his last location in southern France. He is now in northern Tunisia, close to Tunis. 

Derek has still not left yet Britain which means that he and Cuckoo 134957, who is in Belgium, are currently our two most northern Cuckoos. Walpole is only a little further south, still in France (along with Emsworthy who is close to the south coast) where they have been since early July. 

While we have three Cuckoos currently touring in France (Walpole, Emsworthy and 134955) there are now just two tagged birds which remain in the UK; Derek and Gowk. While the actual Tour De France will have departed the country soon, it could be a while before we see these Cuckoos move on. Last year Derek didn't leave the UK until 17 July but the latest departure we have seen since the beginning of the project was Scottish Cuckoo Patch, who left on 26 July last year. 

With three un-named birds left we are letting you choose what to name one of our Sherwood Cuckoos!  Anyone who sponsors a Cuckoo before the end of June will be entered in to a draw. We’ll then pick one entry at random and will contact the winner who can then suggest a suitable name*. Find out how you could name a Cuckoo. 

Emsworthy has travelled over the border from France to join Whortle, Livingstone and Peter in Italy. Livingstone and Peter are in the Po Valley, an area that the project has shown to be important to many of our Cuckoos,  while Whortle and Emsworthy are currently close to the valley edge. 

Emsworthy's move this year, from France along and into Italy, looks remarkably similiar to Whortle's movement last year, just before he suprised us by retreating back to France and then down through Spain to Africa.  This year Whortle has headed straight to Italy and not stopped in France as far as we can tell. Will he head through Spain as last year or make the flight to Africa directly from Italy? Which route will fellow Devon Cuckoo Emsworthy take? 

Whortle, Chester and as yet un-named 134952 are the most recent Cuckoos confirmed to have left the UK. All three of these birds have travelled to north-western France, transmitting these updated locations on 19 June.   

Poor quality signals received on the same day indicate that two further Cuckoos have started their journeys. Hennah and Meavy look like they are in France too but until further locations are received to confirm this the maps won't update.

So we have at least 8 and possibly 10 Cuckoos which have left the UK. If the unconfirmed locations are true, then interestingly, all three Dartmoor birds (Emsworthy, Whortle and Meavy) and all three New Forest birds (Peter, Gilbert and Hennah) have left.  In addition one Scottish bird, 2 Nottinghamshire birds and one of the Sussex birds have also left the UK. 

All three Devon birds tagged in 2014 (Emsworthy, Meavy and Wistman) were caught between 04:30 and 08:30 on May 15th at Emsworthy, a Devon Wildlife Trust reserve on the eastern edge of Dartmoor, along with one female cuckoo. Nets were set around an isolated Hawthorn bush on the upper valley slopes. A fifth cuckoo escaped from the net that morning.