Updates from our Cuckoos

In recent days Cleeve has moved further into north-east Nigeria and is currently in a forested savannah area to the west of Erwa Nature Reserve in Borno State.

Since our last update Cleeve has continued south, crossing from Niger into Nigeria. He has spent the last few days at the Hadejia-Nguru wetlands, an Important Bird Area in northern Nigeria.

377 bird species have been recorded here, including two species of global conservation concern, Pallid Harrier and Great Snipe.  

After a lengthy stay in the foothills of the Spanish Pyrenees, Cleeve finally headed south in earnest.

In just two days, he had flown the length of Spain, crossed the Mediterranean and was halfway across the Sahara! He appears to be well on his way, and our latest signal shows that he has passed through much of Niger, and is now close to the Nigerian border.

Cleeve is still in north-east Spain, having flown just over 100 km (62 miles) from his last location just south of Andorra.

He is currently in Huesca province in the Pre-Pyrenees, approximately 40 km (24 miles) north of the city of Lleida.

Cleeve seems to be wasting little time, and since our last update just four days ago, he has flown a remarkable 975 km, (605 miles) from northern France down to the Pyrenees. 

He is now just over the border into Spain, approximately 18 km (11 miles) south-east of Andorra, and close to Cadí-Moixeró Natural Park, in the north of Catalonia.

Over the weekend, Cleeve left the Cranwich Heath area in Norfolk, and headed south.

A 306 km (190 miles) overnight flight took him to the Essex coast, where he then continued across the Channel to Dunkirk. From here he flew south-east, into northern France and is currently just to the east of the city of Arras.

Cleeve was filmed by a BBC TV crew when tagged on 10 May 2024, and was the star, alongside Hannah Stitfall, of a One Show feature about the BTO Cuckoo project!