Updates from our Cuckoos

During the last couple of days PJ has crossed the desert and is on his way back to the UK. A couple of poor quality locations received from his tag late in the evening on 16 April showed that he was crossing the Mediterranean east of the Strait of Gibraltar. We will have to wait until his tag powers on again late on 18 April to see where he makes landfall.

A series of poor locations received from his tag during the morning of 15 April show that he is in northern Morocco around 40km (25 miles) from the Strait of Gibraltar. We will have to wait for good quality locations for this to update on his map.

Robinson has successfully crossed the desert and is currently in northern Tunisia. He is on the southern edge of a wooded valley close to the town of Kasra and around 140km (90 miles) from the Mediterranean coast.

A few days ago we wondered if Knepp might be preparing for his desert crossing and we now know that this was the case. late at night on 14 April Knepp popped up on the northern edge of the Atlas mountains in eastern Morocco. The area he is in is still part of the northern Sahara but he has found the oasis settlement of Ain Bni Mathar. He is around 115km (70 miles) from the Mediterranean coast.

Several poor quality locations from Bowies tag show that he has successfully crossed the desert and is in northern Algeria. He is south of the town of Hadjout in an area of cultivated hills and around 25km (15 miles) from the Mediterranean coast. We will have to wait for good quality locations for this to show on his map.

Victor is pretty much on the northern edge of the Sahara - he has a little way to go but has found the oasis town of Mansourah and its date plantations. In 2017 he arrived back in the UK on 12 May, and on 21 April in 2018, it will be interesting to see when he arrives back this year. He is currently 2,851km (1,771 miles) north and east of his last location in Ghana.

A series of locations received from Thomas' tag during the morning of 11 April show that he is around three-quarters of the way across the Sahara and in central Algeria. This will update on his map automatically overnight. So far he has travelled 2,232km (1,387 miles) from his last location in Ivory Coast - he has another 800km (500 miles) to go before he reaches the northern edge of the desert.

When we last heard from Robinson's tag on the evening of 10 April he was just over half-way across the desert and in, or over,  the Ahaggar Mountains in southern Algeria. We will have to wait until we next hear from his tag to see if he has successfully crossed the desert. All being well we should hear from him during the evening of 12 April. He is 2,256km (1,402 miles) north and east of his last location in Ivory Coast and has another 1,035km (643 miles) to go to reach the northern edge of the desert.

Raymond is still in Nigeria but has moved west towards the border with Benin. This movement has seen him fly 446km (277 miles). He is on the north bank of the Ogun River and close to the town of Aba Tuntun. The area he is in is a mix of open forest and cultivated land.

Having spent the last couple of weeks to the south of Yamoussoukro, the capital of Ivory Coast, PJ is now just to the north of the city. This could be the start of his northward movement that will hopefully see him successfully cross the desert.