This is one feisty Cuckoo! The last of our tagged birds to leave the UK, Nick II has really ploughed on and is now the second of our birds to tackle the Sahara.

He is currently on the coast of Mauritania, having left Suffolk just 11 days ago! Since our last update, he has flown south through Spain, and cut across north-west Morocco before passing through Western Sahara, and arriving just to the north of Nouakchott, Mauritania’s sprawling and densely-populated capital.  

His next move should see him moving south through Senegal or Mali, before heading to his wintering grounds.

He may have been the last of our tagged Cuckoos to leave UK shores, but Nick II has made steady progress in recent days.

Since our last update, he has flown a further 700 km (434 miles), crossing the western Pyrenees and into central Spain. He is currently in an area close to the River Tagus, just south-east of Madrid. This puts him well ahead of many of the other Cuckoos!

The latest of our tagged Cuckoos to set off, Nick II left Suffolk on 11 July. He headed south, cutting across open water at Orford Ness National Nature Reserve, before skirting the Kent coast and heading out across the Channel from Dover.

From here he continued down past Rouen, bypassed Tours and is now close to Angoulême, a small city by the confluence of the Charante and La Touvre rivers.