Updates from our Cuckoos

By the morning of the 26 April Derek had returned to Norfolk and was back in the UK. From his postition in Spain he had travelled 1620km (1000 miles), crossing over France during the 24 April, to return his breeding grounds as the fifth of our tagged Cuckoos back to the UK. 

Ash has returned to the UK over the weekend, ariving back in Sussex on 25 April, having left Lower Normandy and travelled 200km (125 miles). He is the fourth tagged Cuckoo to return. 

Since the morning of the 20 April Ash has continued moving north from Algeria. By the end of the day he was in southern Spain and by the morning of 22 April he had made it as far as the western coast of France, near Nantes. By the 23 he was in Lower Normandy. 

From Nigeria on 12 April, Chester has travelled north-west around 3100km (1940 miles), crossing the Sahara desert, and making it to a location close to the Algeria/Morocco border in north Africa by 22 April.   

Chris continued on his desert crossing from Mali, travelling a further 2500km (1550 miles) to reach northern Spain. He is now west of Zamora, a city in Castile and León region and is furher north than Derek, Dudley, David or Stanley. 

Ash is also undertaking the massive Sahara crossing and signals show he appears to be getting through the distance as he heads towards the northern coast of Africa. From his last position in Ivory Coast he has covered  2360km (1465 miles) and is close to Morocco. 

Over the weekend we received signals to show that Chris had embarked upon his desert crossing and was on his way north over Mali, 1345km (835 miles) north of his last location in Ghana. We will have to wait for further signals to see whether he has made it safely across.

From Morocco, Derek had continued on a further 1000km (600 miles) to reach Spain, settling in an area north of the Sienna Morena Mountains, by 15 April. He was joined here on the same day by Stanley, who had travelled north-west from his location near Granada and the Sierra Nevada Mountains. They are now only about 7km (4.5 miles) apart. 

Transmissions received yesterday show that David has completed his Sahara crossing and made it to Spain, completing a 3350km (2,000 mile) journey from his last location in Siera Leone on 7 April. He is now in the Extremadura region.

In the first year we tracked David (2012/13) he returned to the UK on 27 April but due to cold and wet conditions turned around and retreated to France, returning again on 9 May when conditions had imprvoed. In 2013/14 he arived in Spain much later on 28 April and didn't return to the UK until the 14 May. What will he do this year, especially given his earlier than normal return date to Spain?