Updates from our Cuckoos

When we last heard from Coo on 3 May, everything seemed OK with him. He had arrived back on his breeding grounds and was moving around quite widely. The information from his tag was also indicating that everything was fine but then everything stopped and we have received nothing since. Of course we don't really know what happened but with the failure being so catastrophic and sudden we have to consider that Coo has been predated.

A host of signals received from Coo's tag aroung breakfast time on 1 May showed that he was back at RAF Fylingdales, completing a round journey of almost 15,000km (9,500 miles). Since his arrival he has been flying all over the RAF Fylingdales area, presumably in search of female Cuckoos.

A signal received from Coo's tag early this morning showed that he had travelled a further 260 miles from his last location in France. He has now crossed the channel and is near Battle in East Sussex. The next map update should show us whether he is hanging around in East Sussex or pushing straight on back to the North York Moors.

On the 19 April Coo was still in Spain but by the early morning of 24 April a location received from his tag showed that he had crossed the Pyrenees and was in France, 520km (323 miles) north of his last position in Spain.He is currently in Centre region in an area of woodland just west of Marigny-Marmande.

Since the last update we have received better quality locations from Coo's tag which show that he is now in norther Spain, just south of the Pyrenees and within 10 miles of Vigilamus.

Coo is on his way back! Locations recieved during the evening of 16 April showed him close to a large lake, Hassi el Morra Tahtania, in the northeastern Algerian desert. However, since then we have received three poor quality locations that show he didn't stay here long. The poor locations place him close to Los Menas in southern Spain. We will have to wait for good quality locations to confirm this but it does look like he has crossed the desert and the Mediterranean.

A location received during the morning of the 31 March showed that Coo had flown 401km (249 miles) west and was in Ivory Coast. Another location received from him during the evening of 2 April showed that he was still close to the area he arrived in a few days earlier and was just south of the town of Boussikouamikro-Bongue and in an area of quite wet forest. It might not be too long before he attempts his desert crossing.

Since arriving in Ghana on 5 March Coo seems fairly settled, presumably resting and feeding up for the next leg of his journey home. We last heard from him during the early morning of 24 March, showing that he had moved 52km (32 miles) east and back towards Lake Volta. He is currently close to a large tributary on the northwest edge of the lake.

Coo has moved another 403km (250 miles) west. A series of locations received from him in the evening on 5 March show that he is in Ghana, 78km (48 miles) northwest of Lake Volta.

After going missing for fourteen days, Coo has popped up again. We received a good quality location from him mid-afternoon on 27 Febraury that showed he was in Benin, and on his way back! Coo is the first of our tagged Cuckoos to make the move into West Africa. He is currently 27Km (17 miles) from the border with Nigeria, and 5.5km (3.5 miles) southeast of Gobe.