Updates from our Cuckoos

Mr Conkers tag has recently signals from the Anti Atlas Mountains in Central Morocco. Will he be the next Cuckoo to make the desert crossing? 

No signals have been received from Carlton for sometime. We know that Carlton was alive when his tag last transmitted but that it hasn't had enough charge to transmit since. 

PJ hasn't moved far but he seems to have found a river delta, where presumably there is water and vegetation at this time of year.

Victor is in Burkina Faso. Having only stayed for only a couple of days in Algeria before continuing south, Victor traveled 2190km (1360 miles), reaching south eastern Mauritania during the evening of 18 July, and continuing to fly east to Mali during the early hours of the 19 July. By the 23 he had moved east again to Burkina Faso adding on another 605 km (375 miles). 

Selborne was south of the Sierra Morena Mountains by the early hours of the morning of 22 July.  He stayed in the area around Jaén until around 10am and the next signal we received was two days later when he was in Algeria, over 700km (435 miles) further south. A series of locations throughout the 24 and into the morning of 25 show him steadily making his desert crossing of 1590km (990 miles). The last location on 25 shows him in southern Mauritania, close to the border with Mali but a further signal today shows he had reached a location just north of Segou, in southern Mali, and completed his desert crossing.  

The area of southern Italy, from where Larry has been transmitting recently, has been exceptionally dry this year - more so even than normally. He's used this site, which is much further south than other cuckoo stopovers, in the previous two autumns and we were surprised when he first stopped off here. The most recent signals we received show a poor quality location in Poland, but we aren't yet sure whether this is a true movement, and a reflection on these dry conditions. We await more information that will allow us to confirm his location.

Cuckoo 170432 is in Africa and is now to be known as Samson.  He has been named by TV wildlife presenter Martin Hughes-Games after his son. Samson was in Spain but a recent signal on the afternoon of 21 July shows he had completed his desert crossing and was in Mali. From here he then moved on 420km (by 260miles) to Burkina Faso, where Victor is also located. He is currently between the Red and the White Volta Rivers and just north of the town of Bane.

Cuckoo 170435 has been named Nicholas by Nicholas Watts of Vine House Farm, a long term supporter of the BTO, a farmer and conservationist in the Lincolnshire Fens growing and selling wild bird food. 

A series of locations received from Victor's tag on the evening of 16 July showed that he had left central Spain and was in North Africa, in northwest Algeria, on the northern edge of the Sahara.