With no further transmission from Kasper's tag we have had to accept that his journey has come to an end.

It has now been forty-eight days since we heard anything from Kasper, the longest period he has gone missing for. Although he has gone missing before, only to reappear, we fear that this time we have lost him for good. We can't say what has happened to him. He might have perished in the same poor weather that Martin experienced, or his tag might have failed completely. He might even be back in the Norfolk Broads with Lyster. We just don't know.

 We still haven't recieved anything from Kasper. Whilst it is looking grim, we still haven't given up hope.

 We still haven't heard from Kasper, and whilst we are beginning to fear the worst we still haven't given up hope. On January 6, whilst in southern Congo, we lost Kasper for a month before he popped up on 7 February in the north west tip of Congo, close to the border with Cameroon. 

No further data have been received from Kasper's tag, however we have not given up hope. The last, partial, signal we received from him (11th April) showed a low charge on his tag. It is possible that, like Lyster before him, he is spending some time in Algeria foraging for food before attempting the Mediterranean crossing. His solar-powered tag would therefore not charge up if he is in the undergrowth. We hope that once he has moved on, and his tag has had a chance to charge, we will see Kasper pop up soon.

 No further transmissions have been received from Kasper, who was last heard from in Algeria. We have heard from Lyster, who has remained in Algeria for a number of days after his Sahara crossing, so hopefully Kasper is doing the same and we will hear from him soon.

We have had no further transmissions from Kasper's tag since the last 8 days ago but he has now been joined by Lyster in Algeria. There is around 350km ( 225 miles) between them.

There was a brief message from Kasper over-night but without any location information. The battery charge was about one third full and it's cool and wet at the moment in the uplands of Algeria so this could explain the lack of signals.

Over the Easter period we had Kasper crossing the Grand Erg Oriental Desert but frustratingly we didn't know if he made it! However on the 9 April we found him in the north-west Atlas mountains in Algeria in the Foret de Charef. This typical Atlas habitat (see http://www.panoramio.com/photo/9456326) looks ideal staging habitat.

After 12 days with no messages from Kasper’s tag, positions received in the morning of 7 April showed he was in northern Algeria, having almost completed his desert crossing. He was moving north across the Grand Erg Occidental Desert, taking a path midway between those taken by Martin and Chris, heading more or less straight towards Algiers. Later today he should become the third of the Cuckoos to complete the northwards desert crossing.

We last received a location for Kasper on 26 March. As he was the first of the Cuckoos to head into West Africa at the beginning of his journey, we might expect him to follow Martin across the Sahara in the next few days.

Kasper's tag transmitted yesterday and showed that he has remained at his position within Ivory Coast. There have been no further movements from the other Cuckoos so he remains the most westerly - for now at least!

Sometime between the evening of 18 March and the early hours of 21 March, Kasper has moved 500km (304 miles) almost exactly due west into Ivory Coast. He passed Chris and Martin on his way and is now the most westerly Cuckoo. He is 21km (13.5 miles) south-east of the city of Bouaké, the second largest city in Ivory Coast.  He is now just 140km (87 miles) and 185km (115 miles) west of Martin and Chris respectively.

Kasper's last transmission on the 18 March showed that he has remained on the north-west shore of Lake Volta, Ghana.

 At 09.21 this morning, Kasper was still on the north-west shore of Lake Volta, Ghana. He has been in this location for almost a month.

A signal received from Kasper's tag shows that he, like Lyster, has remained on the north-west shore of Lake Volta.

Positions for Kasper received overnight 6/7 March showed that he remains near Lake Volta. Lyster is also now in Ghana, just 30km (18 miles) to the SSW - this is the closest any of the Cuckoos have been to each other since leaving the UK.

 Kasper's tag was picked up by the satellite at 17.20 on 4 March, it showed that he had moved 28km (17miles) south west from his previous position. He is now just west of the northern end of Lake Volta, Ghana. As the first cuckoo to leave Congo, will Kasper be the first to tackle the northward crossing of the Sahara? The next few weeks will tell.

We received a transmission from Kasper's tag yesterday (28 Feb) at 21.12 which showed no further movements and indicated that he was still at the northern end of Lake Volta, Ghana.

Transmissions received yesterday between 7pm and 9pm show that Kasper has continued his journey. He has travelled 390km (242 miles) west from his location in Nigeria and is now in Ghana. He is currently at the northern end of Lake Volta, the largest reservoir by surface area in the world, and the fourth largest one by water volume.
 

Kasper transmitted at 09.17 today but hasn't moved any further from his previous location.

Since first hearing from Kasper again on the 7 February, he has since moved over 1,500km (950 miles) north west into Nigeria where we received a signal on the 9 February. Yesterday (12 February ) a new transmission showed that he had moved a further 100 miles south west towards the coast.

It will be interesting to see if he continues to take a coastal route back north, given that he crossed the Sahara near the widest point on his journey south.

The fact that all five of our Cuckoos made it all the way to Africa without any losses was a pleasant surprise to us but we now haven’t picked up any messages from Kasper's tag since 6 January.

There are a few possible reasons why this might be, including tag failure, poor tag charging due to the weather or Kasper staying under the forest canopy, or he could have been taken by a predator.
At the moment, we can only sit and wait to see if there is a further transmission. There is still a chance that his tag might spring back to life and beam us a signal, albeit slimmer as time passes.
 

The cloud cleared and the strong sunshine meant that the Cuckoo’s tags charged but, interestingly, they did not charge to very high levels, suggesting they are spending time under the forest canopy or in other dense vegetation. We haven’t received a transmission from Kasper since the 6th January and we are starting to get a little concerned as this is the longest gap since transmissions for any of the Cuckoos.

We last heard from Kasper on 6 January. With the cloudy conditions that our birds are experiencing at the moment we think that Kasper’s tag might not be charging too well. The forecast for the weekend is for much less cloud and more sunshine, this should help to charge the tag, so we could hear from Kasper then.

 Kasper is still in the southern savannah, north of Brazzaville. The last good transmission we had from him was on 27 December at 08.34, so we should hear from him again very soon.

Kasper is the most southerly of the Cuckoos – he is currently in a patch of gallery forest 50km north of Brazzaville. This area is at the southern end of the Teke Plateau and is where the forest would naturally give way to savannah due to decreasing and more seasonal rainfall patterns. He has been there since 23 October and was the first Cuckoo to cross the equator.

The last transmission from Kasper, at 05.49 on the 15 December, reports that he is still in his previous position, and is still the most southerly of our cuckoos.

Kasper is still the most southerly of our cuckoos and a weak transmission from him on Thursday 8 December at 01.13 shows him still on the southern edge of the rainforest where it meets the southern savannah.

Kasper is still the most southerly Cuckoo. A transmission received at 08.36 on Monday 28 November shows him in the area north of Brazzaville, Congo, where he has been since 23 October.

Kasper last transmitted on the 13 November at 21.25 but there have been no significant movements from his previous location.

The last transmission from Kasper was received on 1st November and shows that he is still north of Brazzaville, Congo. He has been joined south of the equator by Lyster!

Kasper was the second of the Cuckoos to move into Congo, transmitting from here for the first time on 25 October. He is further south within Congo than Chris, who arrived here on 12th Oct, and than Lyster, the new arrival into Congo, who joined them on the 29th. Kasper is currently 58km north-west of Kinshasa.

Kasper is still transmitting from the Congo rainforest in Gabon.

Having been in the Bayan Dutsin Forest reserve in northern Nigeria for more than two months and with his tag having increasing difficulty charging, we were beginning to have concerns for Kasper. Just as on several occasions with Cuckoos on stop-overs north of the Sahara, however, the problems with tag-charging preceded a sudden movement south. A new location received in the morning of Tuesday 18 October placed him in northern Gabon, about 1° north of the equator, east of Equatorial Guinea and about 50km west of the border with Congo. He has moved 1,360km SSE from his previous position in Nigeria.

Kasper’s current location places him in a remote area of unbroken, closed rainforest with numerous watercourses. He is now our third Cuckoo in the Congo rainforest, with Chris and Martin each about 575km to his east and north-east respectively. These are the three Cuckoos that entered Africa via the central Mediterranean flyway. It will be very interesting to see if Clement and Lyster – the two Cuckoos that took the western route into Africa – follow them….. 

No change – Kasper remains in the same location and his tag is still not charging well. 

Transmissions received early on Tuesday 11 October placed Kasper still in the Bayan Dutsin Forest Reserve but the tag on his charge was very low.

On 3 October Kasper remained around the Bayan Dutsin Forest Reserve. We didn’t receive any good locations from him during the last transmission cycle earlier today – the charge on his tag was very low. It has not been charging well for a while, possibly because Kasper has been spending his time under the canopy of the forest reserve.

Three low quality messages from Kasper on 26 September show that he is still in the Bayan Dutsin Forest Reserve, Nigeria.

The latest message from Kasper shows that he is still in the Bayan Dutsin Forest Reserve, and making very short feeding forays around his immediate vicinity.

No change in Kasper's position. He remains near the forest reserve and makes trips around the surrounding farmland.

Kasper has remained in the area around the Bayan Dutsin Forest Reserve in northern Nigeria since the last update. He has clearly found good foraging conditions – we are interested to see how long he will remain there.

On Tuesday afternoon (9 August), Kasper was still in the Bayan Dutsin Forest Reserve area.

On Sunday morning (7 August) Kasper was still in northern Nigeria about 40km (25 miles) from the border with Niger. He appears to be settled in the Bayan Dutsin Forest Reserve, where he has been for at least a week, hopefully having found good foraging conditions. The temperature today is 25°C with scattered cloud and the possibility of thunderstorms.

Yesterday evening (Thursday 28 July) we picked him up 200km (122 miles) south of his previous location, apparently stationary just west of the Challawa Gorge Dam in northern Nigeria. When we last picked him up, in the early hours of this morning he was 35km (21 miles) ENE of here, 30km (18 miles) SW of the city of Kano. We don’t know whether he continued his slow nocturnal movement from here or whether he has settled in this area – we should find out when his tag resumes transmissions on Sunday morning.

Kasper remains in an area of farmland and scattered bushes in southern Niger, approximately 18 km from the Nigerian border.

Kasper has moved a few km’s north, and has settled in an area with trees surrounding small pools near the village of Aguié in southern Niger. He has been in this area since Tuesday (19 July) at least.

Kasper successfully completed his desert crossing in the early hours of Sunday (17 July), having moved 1,070km (670 miles) due south in just over two days. He stopped just inside Niger, very close to the border with Nigeria, between the towns of Maradi and Zinder. The google earth map shows that the area is well served by seasonal watercourses and although this is still an arid region, it should be green enough now to provide plenty of food for Kasper as he recuperates from his epic journey.

Since his stopover north of Rome, Kasper has moved a total of 3,200km (2,000 miles) slightly west of due south in just five days.

In terms of travelling the longest distance between transmission periods, Kasper has just smashed the record, travelling approximately 2,200 km (1367 miles) in a SSW direction, placing him firmly in the Sahara. The last transmission period placed him near Rome at 0300 GMT on the 12th July and as Cuckoos are thought to be night migrants he probably stopped there during the day of the 12th before continuing his flight on either or both of the nights of the 12th and 13th July.

We next pick him up in Algeria, in the middle of the Sahara desert at about 8 in the evening of the Thursday 14th July. He is in the middle of the Parc National de l'Ahaggar a mountainous area with spectacular Saharan landscapes (try googling it!). There is very little vegetation in this area – mostly rocks and sand - so presumably we can't expect him to hang around too long in this inhospitable environment. Our next transmission is expected on Saturday night so check back on Sunday morning to see if he has transmitted.

As expected, Kasper’s tag sprung into life again when he moved on. In the early hours of yesterday morning (12 July) we received a location for him about 30km (18 miles) NW of the outskirts of Rome (43km (27 miles) from Vatican City). He had moved 270km (170 miles) SSE from his previous position. He is our most southerly Cuckoo, except for Clement, having departed the area in which he was tagged at the same time as him.

Kasper has remained in the same area until at least 30th June. His tag does not appear to be charging particularly well so we are only getting intermittent, low accuracy fixes. The single fix we received was of such low accuracy we are not sure if he has moved or not!

A low accuracy location received this morning (30 June) suggest that Kasper has remained in the same area 50km (30 miles) west of Bologna.

By Saturday (25 June) morning Kasper had moved a further 80km (50 miles) SSW – taking him to some foothills with remnant patches of woodland 50km (30 miles) west of Bologna. This takes him into a landscape very similar to those in which previous recoveries of BTO-ringed Cuckoos in autumn have come from – presumably there is very good staging habitat here that allows cuckoos to feed up well before continuing their migrations.

New positions for Kasper received this morning (23 June) showed he had moved a further 565km (353 miles) south-east since Monday morning! He is now in northern Italy between Parma and Venice a little to the east of the parts of Piedmont and Lombardy in which several BTO-ringed Cuckoos have been found.

He has now moved 1100km due south-east from the location at which he was tagged. The two places he stopped en route lie directly on this trajectory and he appears to have crossed the Alps in eastern Switzerland.

Kasper has left the Antwerp area and by the morning of Monday (20 June) he was a further 300km (190 miles) south-east, on the border of France and Germany 45km (27 miles) south-east of Luxembourg. In the last ten days since leaving the location at which he was tagged he has moved 540km (336 miles) south-east.

As of 1600hrs on Friday afternoon, we have received no new locations for Kasper. His tag should start to transmit anytime now - at 1000hrs on Saturday any new locations from this transmission period will appear on the maps.

Two fairly accurate locations received for Kapser in the afternoon of 15 June suggest that he remains in the same vicinity of Antwerp docks.

Although we initially wondered whether Kasper might have made part of his journey to Antwerp docks via a boat, our colleague Lyndon Kearsley who lives close by, says he thinks this is unlikely. The area is apparently a ‘migrant trap’ that funnels migrants that have arrived on the coast down towards the docks. Many of the areas between the industrial installations are managed for conservation and so make very good habitat for birds. Apparently the area is good for Cuckoos throughout the breeding season - perhaps Kasper has been lured by these? The particular area that Kasper is in is out of bounds to the public so Lyndon is waiting for further news on his whereabouts in the hope that he might be able to track him down in the field.

Having remained in the same area since he was tagged, Kasper surprised us all by turning up on the morning of Monday 13 June 240km (150 miles) to the south-east in an area of wooded scrub in the middle of an oil storage facility in Antwerp docks! We wonder whether he might have made part of this journey on board an Antwerp bound oil tanker? Kasper is the third Cuckoo to move away from his tagging location and the first to do so in a directly south-easterly direction.

Kasper remains in the Hickling Broad and Horsey area.

Kasper remains in the same general area although the last location received (0940 hrs 8 June) was a little to the south-east, in the area that Martin has been hanging out in.

Kasper has been the least mobile of the Cuckoos so far and has remained in the same area since his capture. He is spending most of his time in the Hickling Broad and Horsey areas, where positions received on the morning of Monday 6th June placed him.