Peckham remains in Africa and, worryingly, we've not had any signals from him since he first moved from Gabon to the forest of Cameroon on 8 April. We appear to have lost contact due to low battery charge. According to the limited sensor data we have for his tag in the period preceding that, there was no reason to be concerned about his welfare at that time. Last year, he left West Africa really late (later than now!) so it's possible he's lurking there now having moved on from Cameroon. It's also possible that his tag's battery is damaged and we won't hear from it again, or even that he has since dead. We will have to wait to see if further signals are received.
Updates from our Cuckoos
Read the latest updates from our Cuckoos on their epic migration between the UK and tropical Africa, or track their movements in real-time on our Cuckoo migration map.
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Silence from Peckham
09 May 2018
Larry returns
09 May 2018
From west of Barcelona on the 30 April, Larry has flown 1390km (865 miles) to return to the Forest of Bowland, in north-east Lancashire by the early hours of 8 May. He is now back in the area in which he was tagged and will be looking for female Cuckoos to breed with.
When will Peckham start his journey?
26 Apr 2018
Of those Cuckoos we continue to track, just Peckham remains in Africa. How will his late arrival to Africa affect his journey back and when might we expect him to return?
Larry safely across
26 Apr 2018
On 26 April Larry's tag transmitted signals indicating that he has safely completed his desert crossing. From Algeria on the 22 April, Larry covered a further 1520km (945 miles), crossing the ocean, to reach north-eastern Spain. He is north of Agramunt in Catalonia.
Larry crossing the desert
24 Apr 2018
Larry is on his way! Signals received on the 22 April show Larry in Algeria, mid-way through his desert crossing! He is the fourth of our tagged Cuckoo to cross the desert. Hopefully we will find out shortly if he has made it safely across.
Victor is back
23 Apr 2018
In the early hours of Saturday morning, we received a location from Victor's tag that told us he had successfully made it back to his breeding site in King's Forest, Suffolk. Since his arrival he doesn't look to have been doing much resting, he has been ranging quite widely in the forest and the surrounding area. Presumably he is keen to find a female or two.
Victor in France
17 Apr 2018
On 11 April, Victor was embarking on his desert crossing, and midway through Algeria and the tough crossing. By 13 April he had not only completed this, but an ocean crossing aswell, to reach the island of Sardinia, 1985km (1230 miles) from his previous location in Algeria. From Sardinia, he continued on another 610km (380 miles) to France, where a location placed him 60km (40 miles) southwest of Lyon. He is the third of our Cuckoos to return to Europe.
PJ second Cuckoo to arrive home
17 Apr 2018
Just a matter of days after our first Cuckoo returned to the UK, PJ has also made the leap from France and was back in his breeding grounds in King’s Forest, Suffolk area by the morning of the 17 April. He is earlier than in 2017 when he arrived back on 27 April.
Selborne arrives back in the UK
17 Apr 2018
The first of our satellite tagged Cuckoos has successfully made it back to the UK! Tagged in the New Forest in the spring of 2016, Selborne travelled the remaining 500 miles or so from southern France and arrived back to the UK on 14 April, two days later than in 2017. PJ is not far behind in Brittany and could be back any day.
Will PJ or Selborne be back first?
12 Apr 2018
With both PJ and Selborne in France, the bets are on as to which will be the first back to the UK. While Selborne was the first to arrive in Europe, PJ has now leap-frogged his last location and is further north and closer to home. The weather looks set to take a turn for the better this weekend so perhaps they will time their arrivals to coincide with the arrival of spring!
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