The last few weeks have been quiet and for those who had not yet completed their desert crossings, it looks like the challenging conditions have claimed more of our tagged Cuckoos.

Unfortunately no further signals have been received from Knepp. From the temperature data and movements at the time, he was alive on 12 July, when we last heard from his tag. Though the battery charge had been low for a few days, there is no evidence of long term battery decline so we can't be sure what has happened to him - either he, or the tag, appear to have died suddenly. 

Lambert, who was still in France, has not moved on south and signals on 21 August showed high temperature fluctuations across the day, indicating the bird's body temperature and behaviour were not regulating it. We've heard nothing since then, and his tags battery charge had suddenly dipped, all of which leads us to believe he has likely died.

Unfortunately the challenging conditions have also impacted on Nussey who has already attempted two trips to Africa and retreated to Europe.  Abnormally low temperatures were received at the time of the last messages (16 August), having previously been fine. He was not migrating at that time, so the low temperatures were not due to high altitude, and the battery was also much lower than previously, further suggesting he was dead.

The droughts and exceptionally high temperatures in Europe appear to have proved difficult for our Cuckoos this year, however the five south of the Sahara are still regularly transmitting. Valentine, PJ, Carlton II and Tennysons' tags have all sent signals during September and the last signals received from Senan's tag were at the end of August and show him still in Burkina Faso.

There have been no further signals from Knepp since 12 July when the battery in his tag was functioning well. Given that there is no evidence that his battery was failing, his sudden disappearance just a day after arrival at his last known position means we are now seriously concerned that we won't hear anything more from Knepp. 

Knepp is now 595 km (370 miles) south west of his last location in south west France and is just 1.5 km (1 mile) south of the shore of the Valparaíso Reservoir in the province of Zamora, Castile and León, Spain. He is very close to the village of Villardeciervos. Knepp also stopped in this area last year but was 26 km (16 miles) south west of here, nearer the town of Trabazos, where he stayed until July 28 before crossing into Morocco. 

Having flown 382 km (237 miles) south west from his last location south of Paris, Knepp is now near Mirambeau in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region in southwestern France.

During the evening of 14 June we received a series of locations from Knepp's tag that showed he was in Picardy, northern France. By the early hours of 15 June he had moved a further 152km (94 miles) south. He is currently just over 50km (35 miles) southwest of Paris and just to the east of the town of Vierville. He is the first of our tagged Cuckoos to leave the UK this year.

Since arriving back on the Knepp Estate in late April, Knepp has been faithful to the site. During the last week or so he has been spending a lot of his time close to the village of Whitehall. Knepp was the first of our satellite tagged Cuckoos to arrive back in the UK on 25 April, in the past a few of our Cuckoos have headed back to Africa during the first week of June. Might Knepp be one of these? Watch this space.

Updates received early this morning brought the news that the first of our satellite-tagged Cuckoos had made it back to the UK. Cuckoo Knepp, tagged on the Knepp Estate in Sussex last May is back in Sussex! We last heard from Knepp on April 17 when he was on the northern edge of the Atlas mountains in eastern Morocco. He was in the northern Sahara, near the oasis settlement of Ain Bni Mathar. Since then he has flown 1,880 Km (1,170 miles) north to reach his breeding grounds on the Knepp Estate. We hope that this is the first complete migration loop of many which we will follow Knepp on.

A few days ago we wondered if Knepp might be preparing for his desert crossing and we now know that this was the case. late at night on 14 April Knepp popped up on the northern edge of the Atlas mountains in eastern Morocco. The area he is in is still part of the northern Sahara but he has found the oasis settlement of Ain Bni Mathar. He is around 115km (70 miles) from the Mediterranean coast.

Knepp has moved 321km (199 miles) north and west within Ivory Coast. We will have to wait until we hear from him again to see if this is the start of his push across the desert. He is currently in an area of farmland in the northwest of the country and just south of Tiorotierivogo.

During the last week Knepp has headed back east and is now close to the River Comoe in eastern Ivory Coast. He is 281km (175 miles) east of his last location in Ivory Coast. We are seeing a few of our tagged Cuckoos making interesting movements at the moment. Presumably this is in response to the intensity and location of the rains that are currently moving around the region.

Lambert has flown 643 Km (400 miles) north west from Cameroon to south-eastern Nigeria. He is now 180 km (111 miles) South of Raymond, another Knepp Cuckoo, who is also in Nigeria. 

After spending a few days close to the border with Ghana, Knepp has moved 215km (134 miles) further west. He is now to the west of the Ivory Coast capital, Yamoussoukro in an area of small fields and plantations.

The poor location we received from Knepp’s tag on 4 March suggested that he was on the move, and now we know he really was. We received another poor location on 6 March which put him in central southern Nigeria but it wasn’t until 11pm on 8 March, when we received a couple of good quality locations from his tag, that we knew where he was.  Knepp is in Ivory Coast, 2,353km (1,462 miles) from his stopover site in Gabon.

Around breakfast on 4 March we received a poor location from Knepp’s tag that placed him in central Cameroon, 569km (353 miles) north and west of his most recent location in Gabon. We will have to wait for good quality locations from his tag to confirm this but it does look like he has started his move into West Africa.

We have received seven locations from Knepp’s tag over the last ten days or so, that show he is alive and well but not moving very far in the bit of rainforest he has been in since the beginning of February.

Like several of our tagged Cuckoos, Knepp is in dense rainforest and, judging by the low battery charge on his tag is spending much of his time under the canopy. We last heard from his tag on 13 February and he was still settled to the north of Mwagne National Park, Gabon.

A location received from Knepp's tag during the early evening of 30 January showed that he is on his way back. He has flown 800km (500 miles) from northwest Angola, over DRC and Congo into Gabon. He is currently in northeast Gabon in rainforest just to the southwest of Mwagne National Park.

Knepp has begun his long journey back to the UK. During the last week or so, Knepp has headed north within Angola and is now 96km (59 miles) north of his mid-winter location. 

On the last day of 2018 Knepp moved back inland and is now in the location he moved south and west from a few weeks ago. He seems to have followed the rain north and east.

Over the weekend Knepp moved south and west towards the coast. He is now 16km (10 miles) from the coastal village of Ambriz. It looks like he has moved to the southern edge of the rains. It is currently 27 degrees and dry where he is.

Knepp has moved a little further south, 75km (47 miles) in all, and is now mid-way between the coastal towns of N'zeto and the capital, Luanda, albeit 42km (26 miles) inland.

During the last few days Knepp has moved further south in Angola. He is now just to the northeast of the coastal town of N'zeto and currently further south than any of our other tagged Cuckoos. He is 6,606km (4,105 miles), as the crow flies, from the Knepp Estate in Sussex; his summer location.

During the last few days Knepp has moved further south into Angola and is currently just a little further south than Bowie, one of our other tagged Cuckoos - 31km (19 miles) separates them.

Locations received from Knepp's tag on 5 November showed that he had moved out of Gabon and was in Angola, flying through Congo and Democratic Republic of Congo on the way. He is currently in the northeast corner of Angola and 50km north of Bowie, another of our satellite tagged Cuckoos. During this movement Bowie has flown 610km (379 miles). He is to the south of Booue and the Ogooue River.

Two weeks ago Knepp made his move east and south out of Nigeria. During this time he has covered a distance of over 1,300km (800 miles) to reach Gabon, where he has joined three more of our tagged Cuckoos, Victor, Bowie and Robinson. All four Cuckoos are within a 20 mile radius of each other in an area of dense rainforest.

Knepp is still settled in central Nigeria close to Robinson. Both are still in the Kaduna region. It is still pretty wet and thunderstormy in this area.

During the last two weeks Knepp has flown over 1,000km (600 miles) east, through Ghana, Togo and Benin and on into Nigeria. He is currently in the Kaduna region and only 15km (9 miles) from Robinson, a fellow Knepp Estate Cuckoo. Even though it is currently around 30 degrees, they have both just experienced a large thunderstorm and heavy rain.

Along with all of our other satellite tagged Cuckoos, Knepp is resting and refuelling after his desert crossing. He has been settled in Burkina Faso for the last twenty days. At some stage soon we expect him to begin heading further east towards the Congo Basin.

Knepp successfully crossed the Sahara on the evening of 2 August but having arrived in southerwestern Mali he didn't hang around. He has since moved east and crossed into Burkina Faso, joining Victor, Selborne and PJ, who are all also in Burkina Faso. There has been quite a bit of rain during the last week in this area and the temperature has mostly been in the low to mid 20's, which sounds perfect for the invertebrates that these Cuckoos will need to fill up on after their mammoth desert journey.

Having spent 19 days in Spain, close to the Portuguese border, Knepp has now headed south. On the evening of 28 July his tag showed that he had crossed the Straits of Gibraltar and was in Morocco. He is currently in the Rif Mountains to the east of Chefchaouen.

Knepp is very close to the Portuguese border. Another 5km (3 miles) and he would have crossed the border into Portugal and added a new country to those that our tagged Cuckoos have visited so far. He is currently close to the Spanish town of Trabazos.

After spending a couple of weeks around Voves in northern France, Knepp has moved south and west. He is currently in western France close to a block of woodland north of La Ferriere-en-Parthenay, 223km (138 miles) from his northern stopover.

Knepp has left his tagging location on the Knepp Estate in Sussex and is currently in northern France. He has spent the last few days moving around the extensive area of farmland to the north of Voves.

Knepp is currently moving around the southern part of the Knepp Estate, Sussex, close to where he was tagged, presumably still searching for female Cuckoos.