Updates from our Cuckoos

Scottish Cuckoo Ellis arrived in the lush tropical rainforests of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) in early October and has remained there ever since. A new update received on Saturday 18 Feb 2023 showed that he had started his spring migration back to the UK. He has flown 3,250km (2,000miles) west from DRC to Guinea in West Africa. This is the first big step in his return migration. Last year he arrived in Guinea on 13 Feb and remained until 27 March when he embarked on his crossing of the Sahara. By 20 April he was back in Scotland. Heavy rain is expected in eastern Guinea later this week and Ellis will be planning on these rains providing plenty of food for him to build up his fat reserves before tackling the next leg of his journey north.  

Ellis arrived in the rainforests of the Democratic Republic of the Congo at the end of September and he has stayed there ever since. He is in the same area that he spent last winter. Last year he moved to Cameroon on 24 January and by 31 Jan he was in Ghana. He then passed through Ivory Coast to Guinea where he spent a few weeks before crossing the Sahara in late March. If he follows the same pattern as last year we should see Ellis starting his spring migration very soon.  

Since our last update, Ellis has flown 780km (486 miles) south east from Central African Republic over the border into the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). He is now in the heart of the Congo Basin in north west DRC where he may well stay for the next few months.

New updates received late last night show that Ellis has flown 825km (512 miles) south east from his last location in Nigeria over Cameroon and into Central African Republic (CAR). He is now in western CAR. Last year Ellis stopped briefly in CAR on the 14th & 15th September en-route to his wintering destination in the Democratic Republic of the Congo where he remained until 23rd January, so we expect him to move on from CAR very soon.   

Ellis has left Niger behind and flown 305km (190 miles) south east into Nigeria. He is now 11.5km (7 miles) west of the town of Darazo in Banchi State, north-east Nigeria. 

Ellis continued south over the desert to reach the border between Niger and Nigeria. He is now in the Sahel region of Niger, approximately 13km (8 miles) north east of the Nigerian city of Daura. It is the rainy season here so there will be a flush of invertebrate life to provide ample feeding opportunities for Ellis. 

New updates from Ellis' tag this morning show that he has flown 3,000km (1,864 miles) south from his last location near Pisa in Italy. Having crossed the Mediterranean and flown the length of Libya, he is now in central Niger, approximately 230km (142 miles) due east of the Saharan city of Agadez. He is still in the desert so when we next hear from him hopefully he will have safely completed his crossing.  

Ellis has continued his journey south through Italy, and by 22:30 on Saturday night was passing Pisa. Last year he only made a very brief stop in Italy before pressing on to Libya, arriving there on 8 July. He had completed his crossing of the Sahara to Nigeria by 12 July last year so he is running a little later this year. 

Ellis has left the Nurburgring behind and flown 700km (435 miles) south from Germany into Italy. By 18:17 this evening he was just outside the town of Brugnato in Liguria, approximately 14km (9 miles) north west of La Spezia. 

After a few weeks in the Netherlands, new updates received from Ellis' tag this morning show that he has flown 341km (212 miles) south into western Germany. By 10:13 this morning he was just south of the Nurburgring motor racing circuit. If he follows last year's timetable he will now move quickly through Germany and Italy before crossing into Libya and on across the Sahara to Niger.