Updates from our Cuckoos

JAC has left Havant and flown 315 km (196 miles) south-south east, crossing the Channel and arriving in France. The most recent update from his tag showed him in woodland to the north of Fontaine-la-Guyon in the Eure-et-Loire department of northern France. 

Since our last update JAC has reached Havant on the south coast of England. The last transmission showed him between Nevill's Park and the Fat Face distribution centre. We are due another transmission soon, will he still be touring Havant or will he be in France? Last year he arrived in northern France on 24 June and remained here for approximately a month.

New updates that came in at around 6am this morning show that JAC has flown the remaining 582 km (362 miles) from France back to his breeding grounds in north Wales. The most recent update showed that he was within a mile of his tagging location. So if over the next few weeks you find yourself in the World's End area of Denbighshire, between Llangollen and Wrexham, be sure to listen out for the call of the Cuckoo, it might just be JAC!

Llangollen Cuckoo JAC has flown a further 84 Km (53 miles) north and is now in the Sierras de Cazorla, Segura y Las Villas Natural Park in the province of Jaen in Spain. This is the largest protected area in Spain and is also a Special Protection Area for migratory birds.

JAC didn't hang around for long in Morocco, by yesterday afternoon he was on the move again, crossing the Mediterranean. At 19:00 last night he was close to Berja in Andalusia, southern Spain. He pressed on and by 21:55 last night he was in the Sierra de Baza mountains approximately 20 Km south west of the city of Baza in Granada. 

After completing his crossing of the Sahara, JAC has spent the last 24 hours in northern Morocco. He is now approximately 15 km east of the city of Nador, hopefully enjoying some good feeding on the farmland close to the shores of the Mar Chica lagoon. 

Over the last few days Llangollen Cuckoo JAC has made his move north across the mighty Sahara. Since our last update he has flown 2,670 km (1,659 miles) north from Ivory Coast to his latest position in north western Algeria. At 21:00 last night he was still over the desert approaching the border between Algeria and Morocco. Light southerly winds in this area will hopefully help JAC safely on his way to northern Morocco or Algeria or even southern Europe where he can stop for a well-deserved rest. 

Over the past week we have received several high quality signals that show that JAC has now made his way to Ivory Coast, albeit at a more leisurely pace than we originally thought! JAC is now in eastern Ivory Coast approximately 107km (66 miles) north east of the capital Yamoussoukro and 89km east of Cuckoo PJ. 

It appears that the previous transmission from JAC's tag which placed him in Ivory Coast was erroneous as a more recent update showed him in Cameroon, followed by Nigeria. The latest update suggests he is in south eastern Nigeria, approximately 45km north west of the city of Enugu. We expect him to continue moving West over the coming days. 

We last heard from JAC on 20 January when he was deep in the Congo Basin. A new update received at 07:16 this morning suggest that he has moved 3,058km (1,900 miles) west to Ivory Coast. He is approximately 70km west of Lake Bandama in central Ivory Coast.