Updates from our Cuckoos

Since arriving in Mali, Valentine has moved 20 km (12.5 miles) west, towards the Sahel river. He is now 22 km (14 miles) north east of the town of Niono in the Ségou region of Mali. The temperature is currently 31 degrees C and it is the rainy season. In Niono, most rain falls during the 31 days centered around August 13, with an average total accumulation of 5.7 inches. Last year Valentine stayed in west Africa until mid-November so we don't expect him to make any more big movements anytime soon. 

Over the last few days Valentine has made a huge movement south, flying 2,840 km (1,764 miles) from his previous location in southern Spain across the Sahara into Mali. At 05:37 this morning he was in southern Mali, approximately 320 km (199 miles) north-east of the capital Bamoko. In 2019 Valentine first stop after crossing the Sahara was a few hundred miles east in Burkina Faso, where he stayed until mid-November.  

New updates received from Valentine's tag early this morning suggest that he may have left France. A single low quality location received at 07:33 this morning place him in south eastern Spain, 41 km (26 miles) NW of the town and seaport of Águilas. He also stopped in southern Spain last year but crossed into northern Africa on 17 July and having cross the Sahara, made his stop over in Burkina Faso. We'll have to await further updates to be sure of Valentine's new location. 

Valentine has flown a further 512 km (319 miles) south and by yesterday evening was in an area of farmland just east of Nimes. Last year his route took him further west down through Spain so it'll be interesting to see whether he flies direct to Africa from France or travels first out to Spain. 

On Friday 3 July Valentine left his breeding grounds in Thetford, Norfolk and flew 588 km (365 miles) south east across the Channel and into eastern France. The latest signal received from his tag at 10 am yesterday morning show that he has remained in the same area, a few miles west of Charmes in the Vosges region in north-eastern France. Valentine's route south last year took him through Spain, by 18 July he was in Morocco and by a couple of days later he was in Burkina Faso having crossed the Sahara. If he follows the same plan this year we can expect rapid progress south from Valentine.  

Over the weekend Valentine flew the final leg of his return migration, covering 625 km (390 miles) from central France back to the BTO Nunnery Lakes Nature Reserve in Thetford, Norfolk. He is the third of our tagged Cuckoos to successfully complete their migration this year. One of our staff members spotted a tagged Cuckoo on the reserve this morning so it probably was Valentine!

Valentine has pressed on through France since our last update, covering 325 km (202 miles) in a north-westerly direction into Central France. By 21:50 last night he was in a forested area, approximately 6.5 km west of Dun-sur-Auron. 

Over the last couple of days Valentine as left Tunisia and flown 867 km (539 miles) over the Mediterranean in a north-westerly direction, making landfall at 1730 just south of Martigues. Since then has has flown a further 112 km (70 miles) north west and by 2230 last night he was in the southern part of the Ardeche Gorges nature reserve in the Gard department of southern France.

We have now received more updates from Valentine's tag which show that his final destination after crossing the Sahara was Tunisia. He is currently 21 km (13 miles) east of the ancient city of El Kef in north western Tunisia.