Updates from our Cuckoos

Having moved to the coast of north eastern Spain over the last few days, Cooper has pressed on across the Mediterranean and into northern Africa. A couple of lower quality signals received between 6 and 7am this morning show him over the Sahara in north central Algeria, approximately 112km (70 miles) due north of the town of Foggaret Ezzoua. The daytime temperatures in this region in July have been known to soar to 50 °C (122 °F) or even higher, so Cooper won't be hanging around here!

Having made what appeared to be reasonable progress south over the Algerian Sahara, Charles' journey took an unexpected turn through Friday and into Saturday. He had flown directly south over Algeria and by 8am on Friday morning he was close to the southern border with Mali. He appears to have hit a weather front which pushed him south west and over the next 24 hours he traveled 690km (429 miles) south west over the desert towards the border with Mauritania. Had he continued due south from the border with Mali he would have reached the feeding opportunities presented by the habitats along the Niger river within 600km but instead the last transmission at 18:55pm on Saturday night showed him still in the desert on the Mali/Mauritania border. We're keeping our fingers crossed that we receive another update from Charles showing that he has completed his desert crossing.   

Joe has spent the last few weeks close to Saint Maxime on the French Riviera. He set off from there at around 7:30pm on Friday evening and we received a few updates from him as he crossed the Mediterranean to the west of Corsica and Sardinia.  By 08:41 am this morning he had flown a total of 3,339km (2,074 miles) south across the Sahara to Chad at an average speed of 55kph (34 mph),  He may yet move a little further south but hopefully now that he has conquered the desert he will be able to find a suitable place to rest and recover. 

Over the weekend Cooper has flown 363km (225 miles) south from his last location near Cahors in central France to  north east Spain. By  10pm on Saturday night he was just south of the town of Canyelles in the south of Barcelona Province. 

Calypso spent most of Saturday exploring the area around Lordswood near Chatham in Kent. He then headed south east and by 10pm was over the Channel. By yesterday evening he had reached the Seine-et-Marne department in the Île-de-France region in north-central France. He is just north of the town of La Ferte-Gaucher, 70km east of Paris. 

New updates from Grove II's tag received early this morning show that he is now in northern France. At 8:38am this morning he was in some woodland just south of the town of Les Monts d'Aunay in Calvados, north western France.

Victor II is taking an interesting route south following his departure from northern France last week. By Friday evening he was in the area around Lake Emosson, 16km north of Chamonix. Since then he has flown 411km (256 miles) east-north east along the northern edge of the Alps to his current location in the mountains around Lake Zillergründl in south west Austria, approximately 52km (32 miles) south east of Innsbruck. Last year Victor II arrived in the south of France on 19th July and departed on 27th July, moving via Algeria across the Sahara to Niger where he arrived on 30 July. This year he is clearly ahead of schedule and his move east is unusual, presumably driven by weather and lack of food. Hopefully he will find suitable feeding opportunities so that he can prepare for the next leg of his journey. Conditions in southern Europe have been very hot and dry and this may well be impacting the movements and ultimately the fates of some of our Cuckoos. 

Overnight Daniel has left the UK and arrived in France. He has flown 410km (255 miles) to his new location close to Dourdan in the Essonne department in Île-de-France, approximately 47km (30 miles) south west of Paris. 

A new update received from Charles' tag at 8am this morning shows that he has continued his journey south over the Algerian Sahara and is now approaching the border with Mali. Over the last 26 hours he has covered 873km (543 miles) at an average speed of 33.6 kph (20.9mph). He is currently flying into light southerly winds across the Tanezrouft (sometimes known as "The land of terror"), one of the most arid and desolate parts of the Sahara. In another 600km (372 miles) he could be on the banks of the Niger in Mali.  

JAC has left Havant and flown 315 km (196 miles) south-south east, crossing the Channel and arriving in France. The most recent update from his tag showed him in woodland to the north of Fontaine-la-Guyon in the Eure-et-Loire department of northern France.