Updates from our Cuckoos

Since our last update, PJ has pressed on, crossing the Pyrenees into southern France. His last known location was just north of the town of Mimizan in Nouvelle-Aquitaine in south-western France. When we receive our next update will PJ still be in France or might he already be back in England? Stay tuned to find out!

PJ has switched to a slower mode of migration since arriving in Spain but he is continuing to move north. By late last night he had flown 160 km (100 miles) north east from his last location, and was enjoying Sierra del Rincon, a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve outside Madrid. The most recent update from PJ's tag place him in a river valley between La Hiruela and Puebla de la Sierra. 

By yesterday evening, PJ had left Andalusia, flying 245 km (152 miles) north, over the Sierra Morena mountains and into central Spain. He is now close to the city of Talavera de la Reina and very close to an area he visited for a few days in 2019.  

PJ didn't hang around in Morocco, instead he has pressed on, traveling a further 577 km (358 miles) north over the Mediterranean to Spain. He is now in the Sierra de Hornachuelos Natural Park, close to Retortillo Reservoir in the province of Córdoba, Andalusia. PJ arrived back in the UK between 18 and 30 April in 2017, 2018 & 2019 so we expect him to be on the move again soon. It looks likely that he will be the first of our tagged Cuckoos to arrive back, unless one of the others makes a move very soon.

A series of updates received from PJ's tag early this morning show that over the last 48 hours or so, he has covered another 1,226 km (762 miles) from his last location in Mauritania to his current location in Morocco. In total he has flown 2,840 km (1765 miles) since leaving his stop over location in Ivory Coast. He is now on the southern edge of Barrage Ahmed El Hansali (formerly Barrage Dchar El Oued), a lake on the river Oum Er Rbia at the northern foot of the Middle Atlas mountains near Khenifra. In previous years he has only spent a few days in Morocco before pressing on to Spain.

A series of updates from PJ's tag early this morning show that he has embarked on his desert crossing. Over the last few days he has left Ivory Coast and flown over the southwestern corner of Mali and into Mauritania. The latest update which arrived at 06:22 this morning showed that he has flown 1,825 km (1,134 miles) from Ivory Coast and is now in or over north western Mauritania. PJ was tagged in 2016 and in the three previous spring migrations he has crossed the desert further east, mostly over Mali. In previous years, he has made his desert crossing between 6 and 13 April, so he is right on schedule. The mean arrival data of Cuckoo in the UK is around 20th April and some have already been reported here. We will now keep our fingers crossed that when we receive the next update, PJ will have safely completed his desert crossing. Stay tuned!

Having arrived in Ivory Coast in late February, PJ has been moving around the country a fair bit, roaming from the eastern border to the western border and back towards the capital, Yamoussoukro. Over the last few days PJ has flown 396 km (246 miles) west and is now just over the border in Liberia. He is 10 km (6.2 miles) north west of the Ivory Coast town of Toulepleu. In previous years PJ has made his desert crossing between 6 and 13 April. 

Having flown further west in Ivory Coast, towards the borders with Liberia and Guinea, an update received this morning show that PJ has traveled 341 km (212 miles) east and is now 49 km (30 miles) north east of the capital Yamoussoukro, in central Ivory Coast. He is now in the general area from which he has departed on his desert crossing in several previous years, though based on data from pervious years we expect him to remain in Ivory Coast for a few weeks yet.

Sicne our last update PJ has flown a further 405 km (252 miles) west within Ivory Coast to his current location in western Ivory Coast. He is now 40 km (25 miles) west of Ivory Coast's third largest city, Daloa. He passed through this area in March 2018, before settling near Lake Kossou and crossing the Sahara on 6th April. 

Over the last ten days PJ has been blazing a trail across west Africa, starting in Cameroon and ending in Ivory Coast, a total distance of 1,733 km (1,077 miles). At 10am on Tuesday 25th February he was in Nigeria but he didn't hang around, as by 18:50 that day he had crossed over Benin and was in or over Togo. We next heard from him at 17:28 yesterday (27th Feb) when he was in western Ghana, near the border with Ivory Coast. The latest update which arrived late last night showed that PJ had made it into eastern Ivory Coast and was 58 km (36 miles) west of the Ghana - Ivory Coast border. PJ has stopped off in Ivory Coast during his northward migration in all previous years but he normally stops further west, nearer Lake Kossou. This is likely to be his last major stop before he attempts to cross the Sahara so it is important that he finds good feeding opportunities here. In previous years he has departed Ivory Coast between 6th and 13th April, so he is likely to remain here for several weeks before tackling the desert.