Raymond moved to southern Mauritania on 5 August and signals received since show he has remained there, in the Trarza Desert. This prolonged static period in the desert, and the temperature data from the tag which shows big fluctuations rather than a more constant temperature, suggests that sadly, Raymond has perished on his desert crossing. Raymond was tagged in 2018 and so had already contributed a complete migration cycle to our data bank, nevertheless it is sad to have lost him when he appeared so close to reaching his stop-over location in Senegal. 

We were a bit concerned about Raymond, who appeared to have spent the evening of 5 August on the desert floor, in a pretty inhospitable looking area, only 50km from good habitat along the Senegal river.

However, Chris Hewson has been looking at the conditions there and it appears the spot where Raymond has stopped is the first place he would have reached since his mid-desert crossing that has had any rain this year, so he may have sensed that and decided to ditch. Hopefully soon we'll find he has moved to somewhere more lush looking.

The latest signals to arrive from Raymond's tag arrived on Saturday 3 August and showed that he had flown 1,295 km (804 miles) south west and was in or over Western Sahara. Hopefully the next update from Raymond's tag will show that he has successfully completed his desert crossing, possibly landing in Senegal, like Carlton II. 

Signals received on the morning of 30 July show that Raymond had successfully made it to northern Africa from the south of Spain. He's currently located 95km (60 miles) to the south-east of Fes, Morocco after a journey of 595km (370 miles).   

Raymond has flown 370 km (230 miles) south and is now just north of Huescar in Granada, Spain. 

Blazing into the lead at this early stage of the journey is the third Knepp Cuckoo, Raymond. From the island Île d'Oléron, south west of La Rochelle, Raymond continued down the coast. Signals received on the morning of 22 June revealed that he had covered a further 525km (325 miles) and was close to Sigüenza, a city in Guadalajara, central Spain. 

We thought that Raymond could leave the UK any day now and he has. A series of locations received from his tag during the evening of 20 June showed that he was on the west coast of France, just to the north of Bordeaux. From the information received he seems to have spent around three hours on the Ile de Oleron before continuing south over the Atlantic parallel with the coast.

The last location we received, at around 10:30 on the evening of 20 June, showed that he was still heading south 24km (15 miles) offshore of the French coast. It will be interesting to see where he next makes landfall. He is already 654km (406 miles) from the Knepp Estate, Sussex.

Since arriving back in the UK Raymond has been on a bit of a wander around Sussex. More recently, however, he has been spending his time on the edge of the Downs just to the north of Portslade and to the east of Steyning. In 2018 Raymond left the UK on 22 June - we could be waving him off any day now.

Since arriving back Raymond seems to be fairly settled in the area just to the south of the Knepp Estate. However, he is covering a lot of ground and has been as far west as Pulborough and east as far as Hurstpierpont. His most recent location showed that he was almost midway between Dial Post and Partridge Green.

Finally at 20:59 last night we received an update showing that Raymond had flown the final 198 miles from northern France back across the Channel to the Knepp Estate in Sussex. All three birds tagged at Knepp last year have now successfully completed their migrations to Africa and back again.

Sussex Cuckoos Knepp and Raymond have already made it back to the Knepp Estate where they were tagged last year. Arriving fashionably late to the party, we hope, will be the third Sussex Cuckoo, Raymond. Also tagged on the Knepp Estate, Raymond spent the winter in Congo, approximately 750 Km (466 miles) north of Lambert and Knepp. Since crossing the Sahara Raymond has been making steady progress north. Over the last few days he has flown 555 Km (345 miles) north east from La Higuera in the province of Avila, Castile & Leon in Spain and is now near Lencouacq in Nouvelle-Aquitaine in south-western France. He now has just 766 Km (476 miles) of his 14,000 Km (8,700 miles) journey to go until he is also back at Knepp.

Raymond has been making steady progress north since crossing the Sahara. In the last few days he crossed into Spain, stopping briefly near Puebla de Don Rodrigo, a municipality in Ciudad Real, Castile-La Mancha. He has since flown a further 130 Km (80 miles) north to his current location 117 Km (73 miles) west of Madrid, near La Higuera in the province of Avila, Castile & Leon in Spain. Raymond has another 1,250 Km (777 miles) to fly before he reaches the Knepp Estate where he was tagged. 

He's had us holding our breath waiting to see if he was going to make his move north and finally Sussex Cuckoo Raymond has crossed the Sahara. At 19:23 on April 29, Raymond was still south of the Sahara, in west central Ivory Coast. By 16:27 yesterday (May 1) he was in the middle of his desert crossing and had reached northern Mauritania. By 3:03 this morning (May 2) he was over the Middle Atlas mountain range in Morocco and by 08:35 he had reached his destination, 30 Km (19 miles) from the north coast of Morocco, near the commune of Iferni. This means that over the last 57 hours, Raymond has covered 3,031 Km (1,883 miles) at an average speed of 33 mph, crossing some of the most inhospitable places on earth. He now has "just" another 1,811 Km (1,125 miles) to go before he arrives back at his breeding grounds on the Knepp Estate. 

Raymond is still in Nigeria but has moved west towards the border with Benin. This movement has seen him fly 446km (277 miles). He is on the north bank of the Ogun River and close to the town of Aba Tuntun. The area he is in is a mix of open forest and cultivated land.

Raymond has flown 181 Km (112 miles) north west towards central Nigeria. He is now 1,230 Km (765 miles) east of the third Knepp Cuckoo, Knepp who is way out west in Ivory Coast.

An update received from Raymond's tag at 02:55 yesterday morning suggests that he has departed Cameroon and has flown 515 Km (320 miles) west and crossed the border into Nigeria. We will have to await another update to learn whether Raymond has stayed in Nigeria or was en-route to another destination further west.

Over the weekend, Raymond moved west, crossing the border into Cameroon. He is currently in gallery forest to the west of the Lom River and the town of Maraba, and 382km (237 miles) from his stopover site in CAR.

Raymond is still in CAR, however, in the last few days he has moved 162km (100 miles) to the west. He is still in the gallery forest to the north of the rainforest but much closer to the border with Cameroon.

At breakfast on 21 February Raymond was still between the Congo and Sangha rivers, deep in the Congo rainforest. By breakfast on 23 February is was almost 600km (370 miles) to the north in Central African Republic. He is now in the much more open gallery forest beyond the northern edge of the rainforest.

Having spent over two months on the northern edge of the Teke Plateau, Raymond has moved 245km (152 miles) east towards the Congo River. He is currently between the Congo and Sangha rivers, in dense rainforest. The battery charge on his tag is now much better, so we should hear from him much more frequently.

Raymond is still settled on the northern edge of the Teke Plateau, between the rivers Ngoko and Alima. Locations received from his tag on 10 February show that he is moving around in the gallery forest between these two rivers.

Raymond hasn't moved far since he arrived on the Teke Plateau but he has been providing lots of information. His largest movements have been around 2km at most, with the majority around 500 metres. The battery charge on his tag is at the lower limit of what we would like but the tag still appears to be working well. The current weather is showers and the temperature is 30 degrees.

During the last couple of weeks Raymond hasn't moved very far and is confining his flights to the edge of forest blocks on the plateau, no further and a few hundred metres or so in distance.

During the last few days we have received a series of locations from Raymond's tag that show he has crossed the border from Gabon and is in Congo, on the Teke Plateau. During the project we have seen a few of our Cuckoos spend the mid-winter on the plateau, however, this year Raymond is currently the only one. The weather on the plateau is a pleasant 28 degrees with light showers. It will be interesting to see if Raymond remains here or joins our other Cuckoos in Angola.

The last location we have for Raymond in Togo was on 16 November. On 21 November we received nine locations from his tag between 04.30am and 08.55am that showed he was in central western Cameroon. On the 23 November he had moved to northeastern Gabon before moving further south. He is currently very close to the border with Congo in the very southern tip of the Mwagne National Park.

During the last week or so Raymond has slowly moved east and south out of Burkina Faso. He is currently in Togo, very close to the border with Ghana, and in the Assouakoko Forest. During this time he has flown 580km (360 miles).

Raymond has now been in Burkina Faso for over two months. During the last few days we have received a number of locations from his tag that show he is alive and well and still to the north of the Po Forest.

Raymond is currently our most westerly Cuckoo, and although he has moved north he is still in Burkina Faso, just to the north of the Po Forest in an area of fairly open country scattered with small trees. It is currently 30 degrees C with light south-westerly winds, which should be ideal if he decides to begin his journey east.

Since crossing the desert, Raymond has headed east through Mali and into Burkina Faso. He is one of five of our satellite tagged Cuckoos that are currently in Burkina Faso. He arrived in Burkina Faso on 21 August and is now just to the south of a town called Boudiedara.

At 04:05am on 8 August we received a series of good quality locations from Raymond's tag that showed he had successfully completed his desert crossing and was on the eastern edge of the Reserve de Faune du Ferlo Nord. He is the last of our Cuckoos to cross the desert this year.

Locations from Raymond's tag during the hours of darkness on 5 August showed that he was crossing the desert, and that he was in central western Mauritania and about half-way across. His tag should have powered back up overnight on 7th August but we haven't heard from him yet. This is not unusual and we hope that when we do next hear from him he is safely across the desert.

Raymond really isn't hanging around, he only spent a few days resting near Olvega before moving another 106km (66 miles) south and west. He is in a lovely area of wooded hillsides north of Aragosa.

Since leaving the Knepp Estate it seems that Raymond has the bit between the teeth. Having spent only a couple of days in northern France, by 22 June he was on the move again. Locations received mid-afternoon on 24 June showed that he had crossed the western end of the Pyrenees and continued south into Castilla y Leon in northern Spain. He is currently moving around wooded hillsides close to Olvega.

Raymond has left the Knepp Estate in Sussex and is in northern France, just to the north of Cergy and 35km (21 miles) northwest of Paris.

Of the three Cuckoos tagged on the Knepp Estate, Sussex, just over a month ago, Raymond is the only one still in Britain. How long will it be before he too makes his move across the Channel?

Tagged on the Knepp Estate on 18 May, Raymond is still moving around the southern part of the estate, maybe interacting with Knepp, one of our other Cuckoos currently on the Knepp Estate.