Updates from our Cuckoos

Victor had been in Ghana since 11 April but transmissions on the 22nd April showed that he was in the Atlas Mountains in northern Algeria. He had completed his desert crossing having travelled over 3113 km (1935 miles).  We received a further series of signals throughout the evening which showed he didn't stop but continued onwards. We were able to follow him mid-way over his crossing of the Channel before the tag turned off. When the tag next sent signals it was around 48 hours later and Victor was a further 1000km north of his previous location in Algeria and was just 50km south west of Marmande in France! He is the fourth of our tagged Cuckoos to cross the desert and is curently further north than Larry, who crossed the desert a few days earlier. 

Signals on the 19 April showed that Larry had successfully completed his desert crossing and was north of the Sienna Morena Mountain range in the Castile-La Mancha region of Spain. He has travelled 2713km (1685 miles) since the last poor transmissions on 17 April in Mauritania. He is the third of our tagged Cuckoos to successfully cross the desert this spring.

During the early evening of Easter Sunday, Selborne arrived back in the New Forest. Since his arrival he has mostly been in the area of forest just to the north and west of Beaulieu, between Pig Bush and Beaulieu Road Station.

During the last few days Peckham has been heading west. Around lunchtime on 16 April his tag gave a series of locations from Ghana. He is currently in an area of fairly open forest midway between Chiranda and Saronoase in western Ghana. 

A series of poor locations received from Larry's tag during the early evening of 17 April show that he had embarked on his desert crossing, and was heading north through central Mauritania. We will have to wait until the evening of 19 April (the time when his tag should give locations again) to see if he has been successful. Right now this part of the desert is enjoying light southerly winds, which should help Larry on his way.

Not to be outdone, PJ has also continued onwards, and from the High Atlas Mountains in Morocco he has traveled 650km (400 miles) to Spain. Poor quality locations indicate that he is currently south west of Seville. Once we receive further good quality locations his position will update on the map. Having just crossed the desert, PJ isn’t likely to move too far at the moment but you never know! Will he be the next Cuckoo back? 

Victor has continued heading west and has left Nigeria. He has travelled 495km (307 miles) to reach a location in Ghana, just west of the Digya National Park. 

Locations received from Selborne's tag on 9 April showed that he had crossed the Pyrenees and was heading north. During the late evening his tag powered down to enable the solar panel on the tag to recharge the battery that powers it. At this stage Selborne was in Brittany and only 320km (199 miles) from his New Forest home. It is likely that Selborne continued north through the night and when we next hear from him he could be back in the UK.

Locations received from PJ's tag during the early morning on 10 April showed that he was on the southern edge of the High Atlas Mountains in Morocco, and that he had successfully completed his desert crossing. He is currently close to the village of Ait Aamamou.