Updates from our Cuckoos

Knepp has begun his long journey back to the UK. During the last week or so, Knepp has headed north within Angola and is now 96km (59 miles) north of his mid-winter location. 

During the last week locations received from Bowie's tag show that he has left Angola and headed north. He is now in southwest Congo, 2813km (176 miles) north of his mid-winter location. Bowie is on his way back.

During the last few days we have recieved locations from Sherwood's tag that shows he didn't stay on the southern border of Gabon for very long. In the early hours of 5 January his tag showed that he had travelled 286km (178 miles) north and west and was in central Gabon just to the south of Fougamou and close to the Ngounie River. Around breakfast on 7 January we recieved a series of low quality locations from his tag that show he hasn't hung around and has flown a further 134km (83 miles) north. This won't show on his map until we receive higher quality locations. This movement has seen him fly 420km (260 miles). Sherwood is on his way back.

On 28 December we received a series of locations from Victor's tag that showed he is still alive, although the battery charge on his tag is very low. He is still in dense forest in central eastern Gabon. He is currently on the eastern edge of a band of thunderstorms and it is 30 degrees.

Having not moved much during the last 10 weeks, Thomas headed north and east on 30 December and crossed the border into Gabon, undertaking a journey of 157km (97 miles). Thomas may well have begun the long journey back to the UK. The average spring arrival date for Cuckoo in the UK is 19 April - he has a long way to go yet. 

During the early evening of New Year's eve Sherwood was flying north. He is now less than 2km (just over a mile) from the southern border of Gabon and in the northeast corner of the Conkouati Reserve. Could this 70km (44 miles) movement be the first leg of his long journey back to Sherwood Forest, Nottinghamshire? The journey back to Sherwood Forest via West Africa is 8,000km (5,000 miles) as the Cuckoo flies.

Selborne is still settled in the area of rainforest to the south and east of the Ogooue River. He has been in this location for almost two months. There are currently thunderstorms and pretty heavy rain where he is, and the temperature is 31 degrees. The forecast for the next couple of days is for more heavy thunderstorms. No wonder the battery charge on his tag is a little low.

During the last few days of December Robinson moved north, 112km (70 miles). This could be the very beginning of his long flight back to the UK. He has a journey of around 7,000km (4,500 miles) from his current location back to his Sherwood Forest breeding site, via west Africa.

Raymond hasn't moved far since he arrived on the Teke Plateau but he has been providing lots of information. His largest movements have been around 2km at most, with the majority around 500 metres. The battery charge on his tag is at the lower limit of what we would like but the tag still appears to be working well. The current weather is showers and the temperature is 30 degrees.

PJ is still settled pretty much in the middle of the Coutada do Ambriz Reserve in northwest Angola. He has been here for a couple of weeks now and, although we are receiving lots of information from his tag the furthest he has moved during this time is around 500 metres.