Updates from our Cuckoos

We hoped Chris would have made the big jump over the weekend but persistent bad weather has kept him in Italy. We have received lots of data from him, on Saturday and again this morning, so we know that he is making small movements around northern Italy. There is a band of bad weather running directly across Chris' route to Norfolk, hopefully this will clear soon enabling Chris to complete the final leg of his journey. The adverse weather conditions seem to be a major factor in this year's migration, with many migratory species appearing in lower numbers than we might otherwise expect for the end of April. 

Locations received for Lyster early on the 16 April showed that he was 260km (160 miles) NE of his previous position and only 80km (50 miles) from the Tunisian border. He appears to have settled in a date plantation and has not yet finished his desert crossing. Could bad weather be responsible for this early stop? His tag should transmit again tomorrow morning (18 April) and as the wind is due to drop overnight, he may have moved on by then.

We have had no further transmissions from Kasper's tag since the last 8 days ago but he has now been joined by Lyster in Algeria. There is around 350km ( 225 miles) between them.

Martin was the first of our Cuckoos to return to Europe, but we have not received a signal from him since his last movement in Spain on 6 April. The weather may have had something to do with him staying put for a few days with thunderstorms, hail and strong northerly winds.

We heard from Chris's tag on the evening of the 14 April but there has been no further movement from his previous position in Italy. He is poised for his return to the UK and could arrive anytime.

During the afternoon and early evening of 13 April, we received a series of locations for Lyster - the first since 1 April.  They showed that he had emerged from Ghana and had almost completed his desert crossing! As with the three Cuckoos that had preceded him across the desert he was located in northern Algeria, his route having taken him between the paths taken by Chris and Kasper. He was between the Grand Erg Oriental and Occidental deserts and during the eight hour period that the locations spanned, he did not appear to be moving. His tag is due to start transmitting again this evening (Sunday) when we hope to find out how he has fared during the remainder of his mammoth journey across the desert.

There was no signal from Martin yesterday (11 April) and we shall be concerned if there is nothing in the transmission period that starts tomorrow. As far as we know he is still in Lorca.

There was a brief message from Kasper over-night but without any location information. The battery charge was about one third full and it's cool and wet at the moment in the uplands of Algeria so this could explain the lack of signals.

As far as we know, Lyster is still in Ghana. The last transmission period should have been yesterday (11 April) and we really would like to see some signs of activity tomorrow. If we do,  he'll be on a much later schedule than other birds, as he was last summer.

Today's transmissions from Chris show that he has not moved far since 10 April. He may need to refuel for a week before the last leg of the journey from  Italy to Norfolk.