Updates from our Cuckoos

As we’d anticipated, KP moved northwards from Western Sahara and into Morocco in recent days.

Covering around 476km (295 miles) he is currently just at the western edge of the High Atlas Mountains, not far from the walled city of Taroudant, approximately just 113km (70 miles) south-west of Marrakesh.

After entering Morocco via the very western edge of Algeria, Joe headed up to the Atlantic coast, and stopped for a while close to the town of Safi.

He then forged onwards a further 518km (321 miles) and swiftly became the first of our Cuckoos to arrive in Europe, making landfall near the town of Bordeira, in the Algarve, Portugal.

Cuach Torc has carried on northbound through Morocco in the last couple of days and is currently in the lush, agricultural region around the city of Settat just 60km (37 miles) south of Casablanca.

Will Torc be the first of our Cuckoos to cross into Europe?

After a spell in Ivory Coast, Joe has forged 2,240km (1,391 miles) north and is now just crossing into western Algeria, on the borders with Western Sahara and Morocco.

His current location puts him just c500km (310 miles) due east of the Canary Islands!

Along with Cuckoos KP and Joe, Sayaan has spent a few weeks in the south-eastern region of the Ivory Coast, and like them has now sprung northwards.

In a journey that has covered around 2,184km (1,357miles) he has already crossed the bulk of the Sahara Desert and is now in Western Sahara, heading for Morroco.

Having spent the best part of the last month in south-eastern Ivory Coast, KP has now headed 483km (300 miles) north-west into the Sikasso Region of southern Mali. His next move should see him pushing across the Sahara.

Bluey finally reoriented and has now headed north once more, travelling approximately 470km (292 miles) from southern Guinea into western Mali.

He is currently close to two vast open-pit gold mines near the town of Sadiola, in the Kayes region of Mali.

Trent has now joined the race north, as we'd anticipated. A journey of around 1,450km (900 miles) has taken him from Guinea, through south-west Mali and across much of Mauritania.

He is currently approaching the border of Western Sahara and is on a route that should see him crossing into Morocco soon.

It had been 12 days since we last heard from Cuach Torc, when he was still in western Ghana.

That all changed yesterday, when his transmitter revealed that he is now some 2,364km (1,469 miles) to the north in Algeria, just 22km (13 miles) from the Moroccan border. This puts Cuach Torc firmly in the lead, and the first of our tagged Cuckoos to cross the Sahara.  

After making landfall in Mali last week, it seems Bluey had a change of heart and u-turned, flying a surprising 323km (200 miles) south, back into southern Guinea, close to the border with Sierra Leone.

Fingers crossed he reorientates himself soon, and sets off back on a northerly route toward the Sahara.