Updates from our Cuckoos

Over the last few days Joe has flown 600 km (373 miles) east from Nigeria, over northern Cameroon and into southern Chad.

He is now 25 km (15.5 miles) south east of the city of Bousso in the Chari-Baguirmi region of Chad.

Having had a brief rest after completing his desert crossing, new updates received from Joe's tag this morning show that he has flown 440 km (273 miles) south–east, from Niger and into Nigeria.

He is now a few miles east of Jalam in the Bauchi region in north–east Nigeria. 

We are pleased to report that since our last update Joe has completed his crossing of the Sahara, the first of our tagged birds to do so this year.

His journey south across the desert took him just west of the Aïr Mountains of northern Niger. By yesterday afternoon (Sunday 16 July) he had reached southern Niger and was close to the village of Tchadoua. Tchadoua is approximately 38 km (23 miles) east of Niger's second largest city, Maradi. 

He is in the Sahel now where it is the rainy season and he will hopefully find plenty of food to replenish his depleted fat stores.  

Joe is attempting to cross the Sahara, the first of our tagged birds to take on the desert this year. 

When we last reported on him he was taking a break in Sardinia and new updates received last night (Thursday 13 June) show that he has flown at least 2,270 km (1,410 miles) since.

His journey has taken him across the Mediterranean and by late yesterday afternoon he was flying over Tassili N'Ajjer National Park in south-eastern Algeria. He pressed on and by 6:30 this morning (Friday 14 June) had reached north west Niger.

He seems to have made good progress across the desert so hopefully by the time the next updates arrive he will have successfully completed his Sahara crossing. 

New updates from Joe's tag arrived yesterday evening (Wednesday 12 June) showed that he had flown 483 km (300 miles) south-east from his last location in the south of France.

This journey has taken him just over half-way across the Mediterranean towards north Africa, landing him on Sardinia.

By 8pm last night he was near Bari Sardo in the eastern part of Sardinia. A further, lower quality signal suggests that he pressed on towards Africa so we await further updates with interest.

Over the last few days, Joe has relocated further west – he is now in the hills above the town of Bormes-des-Mimosas in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur Region of south-eastern France.

He is visiting the area surrounding the tiny restored Church of Notre Dame de Constance, with views down to the coast around La Faviere.

Over the last few days, Joe has flown almost 600 km (373 miles) south from Troyes in north-central France to Provence on the south coast.

After a brief stop close to the village of Roumoules in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region on Friday evening, he pressed on towards the coast. By the evening of Saturday 24 June, he had reached Provence, and has spent the time since close to the wineries of Le Baou d'Infer and Domaine Sainte Marie – he is clearly a Cuckoo of impeccable taste!

Last year Joe stopped off approximately 25 km further north-east, close to Saint-Maxime. He stayed there for a couple of weeks before flying straight across the Mediterranean and the Sahara to Chad, arriving on 4 July. 

Over the last couple of days Joe has left his breeding grounds in Norfolk and flown 510 km (317 miles) south-east, across the English Channel and into France.

By 8:30 a.m. yesterday (Thursday 22 June) he had reached the outskirts of the town of Troyes in the Grand Est region of north-central France, where he remained for the rest of the day.

Last year Joe made his move south about a week earlier, and by 15 June he was already on the French Riviera. 

New updates received from Joe's tag late last night and early this morning show that he has flown the final 900km (559 miles) from the south of France back to his breeding grounds in Norfolk. At the beginning of February, Joe was still in the Congo and since then he has flown approximately 7,657km (4,758 miles) on his migration back to the UK. Last year he departed Norfolk on 13 June and if he follows a similar routine this year he will remain in Norfolk for the next seven weeks or so. 

Since arriving in the south of France Joe has relocated slightly east and is now close to the town of Manciet in the Gers department of southern France.