The last signals we received from Jake back in June showed that he was still in central France. No further signals have been received since. Looking back, the tag temperature was unusually high during these tranmissions, indicating that Jake had died. We have no idea what the cause of death might have been.

Since we last heard from Jake we have received some good quality signals that show he has moved east. He is currently in central France north of Nevers.

Nine Cuckoos (plus Hennah whose tag has still not sent a good quality location) have now left the UK and seven of these (plus Hennah) are currently in France. The most recent three to have transmitted from France are new Welsh Cuckoo 146760, and Sherwood Cuckoos Jake and Dudley. Jake is currently in Burgundy, while 146760 is further south in the Auvergne region and Dudley is even further south in Toulouse.

It's interesting to note that Dudley left about a week later this year compared to 2014 while Jake left two weeks earlier.

Jake has made it back to England after successfully completeing his Sahara crossing. Ths last good signal we had from Jake's tag was in Benin so we were pleased to see him safely return. 

Jake reappeared in mid-March and was in Benin but it has now been several weeks since we heard anything from his tag. Could he be on the move?

The last signals from Jake's tag were back in mid-January when he was in Congo but recently received signals mean that he is back on the map and all appears to be well. He, like several of the other Cuckoos, has travelled west. His last location was in Benin, close to the border with Togo, in West Africa.   

From time to time we ‘lose’ one or two of our Cuckoos only for them to reappear several days, or even weeks, later. We are never entirely sure why this might be at the individual level but during the course of the project we have noticed similarities between some of the ‘lost’ birds.

We have lost some of our birds just prior to them making a large movement and we think that this might be because they move into denser vegetation in order to feed up before embarking on a long flight. Moving into denser vegetation may mean that the solar panel that recharges the battery for the tag is in shade for periods of time and the battery receives a poorer charge, which in turn results in poorer performance from the satellite tag.

Once the birds have put on enough weight to begin their journey they move into the open and the tag begins charging again and the birds ‘reappear’. We also see the same thing happen, although to a lesser extent, when birds complete a long movement and presumably move into denser vegetation to rest and feed up

There have been a few small movements recently. Fred and Jake have moved west into Congo whilst David has moved into the area that Emsworthy has left. 

These are likely down to changing rainfall conditions which may affect food availability and cause the Cuckoos to seek areas which may be more plentiful in resources. It will be especially important to find a good feeding area before they make any move northwards. There's no consistent direction in which these Cuckoos leave an area and one Cuckoo may move from an area only to be replaced by another moving in from elsewhere, with no obvious reason why.

Fred and Jake, two of our Cuckoos tagged in Sherwood Forest, have moved westwards and are now in Congo. Fred recently left the Mbandaka area and has moved about 270km (165 miles) west from his previous location in Democratic Republic of Congo, while Jake, who is about 70km (45 miles) further south, travelled a shorter distance of 155km (95 miles). 

Interestingly, Derek who is slightly further north, had been moving east, the opposite direction to Jake and Fred, until recently but he has backtracked around 65km (40 miles). Emsworthy has also moved, but northwards to the area not long vacated by Fred. These movements may indicate changing conditions which are encouraging the Cuckoos to seek more favourable areas. 

Jake is still settled in the area of Lake Tumba in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Jake has left Cameroon and made it to the Congo rainforest in Democratic Republic of Congo a further 1650km (1020 miles) south-east. He is now in the swamp forests close to Lake Tumba. 

Both Sherwood birds 134957 and 134955 have moved over 700km (470 miles) east from their locations in Burkina Faso in the last few days and are now in northern Nigeria. This leaves just Chester in Burkina Faso who becomes our most westerly bird by over 960km (595 miles). 

Cuckoo 134597 has moved south, travelling 485km (300 miles) from Mali to Nigeria. He is now only 100km (60 miles) away from Skinner's location.

134957 arrived in Mali in the middle of August and has remained there since. He is the most northerly of all the Cuckoos within Africa and we would expect him to move further south and east soon, towards the Congo rainforest. 

On 10 August 134957 was north-west of Toulouse in southern France. Signals received on 14 August indicated that he had travelled 800km (500 miles) south from there and crossed the Balearic Sea to reach the Algerian coast.  He continued to travel south through Algeria and by 17 August was in Mali, close to the area where Skinner paused his journey for a short time. We will have to wait for further signals to see whether 134957 waits here or pushes on to complete his desert crossing. 

We are still following twenty-two birds. Currently two cuckoos are in France – Walpole and unnamed cuckoo 134957.

Five birds are in and around the Po Valley in northern Italy – BB, Chris, Stanley, Waller and Livingstone.

Six birds are in Spain – Two of these are big movers this week. After finally leaving the UK, Derek hasn’t hung around. After a brief stop in central-western France, he is now in central-northern Spain, just south of Tolbanos de Abajo. It is Maji that has provided the biggest surprise though. He seems to be taking a tour of the European mountain ranges. Having spent a time in the Austrian Alps, he is now in the central Pyrenees!

David is still in Montenegro and Ash is still in Croatia; both of these birds could make the move to Africa any day now.

We now have seven birds in Africa, six of them south of the Sahara. Emsworthy is the latest to arrive here and he is currently just south of Lake Chad, in an area that Chris also favours. Three other Cuckoos – Peter, Hennah and Dudley – are also close to Lake Chad.

Derek has still not left yet Britain which means that he and Cuckoo 134957, who is in Belgium, are currently our two most northern Cuckoos. Walpole is only a little further south, still in France (along with Emsworthy who is close to the south coast) where they have been since early July. 

Signals received yesterday show that Cuckoo 134955 is now in the High Atlas Mountains in Morocco. Dudley, one of the other birds tagged in Sherwood has finished his desert crossing and made it to Nigeria while Cuckooo 134957 is much further north in Belgium. 

Sherwood bird 134957 appears to have moved around within Germany before settling in the most southern area of the Netherlands. The signals from Germany were all of poor quality so do not show on the map but you can see his location to the north-east of  Maastricht in the Netherlands.

With three un-named birds left we are letting you choose what to name one of our Sherwood Cuckoos!  Anyone who sponsors a Cuckoo before the end of June will be entered in to a draw. We’ll then pick one entry at random and will contact the winner who can then suggest a suitable name*. Find out how you could name a Cuckoo. 

The first of three Cuckoos taggged in Sherwood Forest, 134952 was caught flying between young alders near Shirebrook, after having failed to catch three cuckoos flying over our nets at Budby Common earlier that morning. The second two birds, 134955 and 134957 were trapped at Sherwood Pines the following morning, the second bird flying into the nets just as we released the first!