Peckham is currently in fairly dense forest in southern Cameroon. It might not be too long before he makes his move west into West Africa and begins the long journey back to the UK.
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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Peckham heading north and west
06 Mar 2017
Larry moving west
06 Mar 2017
Larry has begun his journey back to the UK and is currently in Cameroon, just west of the town of Abong Mbang on the northern bank of the Nyong River.
No news from David
06 Mar 2017
When we last heard from David he was alive and well but the battery charge on his tag was low. This might be because David has been spending time under the canopy in the rainforest and out of direct sunlight, making it difficult for the solar panel on the tag to put enough charge into the battery. However, David's tag, at five years, is quite old and it could be that it has finally failed. At this stage we just don't know and if he does move he could pop back onto the map again - fingers crossed.
Bill on his way back
06 Mar 2017
A series of poor quality locations received from Bill's tag during the last couple of weeks suggested that he was heading north out of Gabon, but we had to wait until the early hours of 6 March to confirm this. A good quality location received at 01.30 in the morning showed that he was in south-eastern Nigeria, east of Ekoku.
PJ's mammoth journey
22 Feb 2017
Having been in Cameroon until the late afternoon of 17 February, PJ has since travelled 2020km (1255 miles) and, as of the early hours of the morning of the 22 February, was in Ivory Coast. This large movement has taken just four and a half days! PJ is the second Cuckoo who has made a rapid westerly movement, also moving much further west than we normally see at this time of year.
Bill in Gabon
16 Feb 2017
Signals received on the 8 February show that Bill is still alive and well and has continued north to Gabon.
Selborne heads for southern forest
07 Feb 2017
Having gone so far north and west, past the rains, it's reassuring to see that Selborne has headed south a little to the Guinean forests, where conditions are likely to be better than his previous location 115km (70 miles north).
Selborne in West Africa
03 Feb 2017
We have our first Cuckoo in West Africa and it's Selborne! Having left land and set off across the Gulf of Guinea, it looks like Selborne travelled around 240km (150 miles) to the volcanic island of Bioko. Here he seems to have rested for the day on 28 January in the Luba Crater Scientific Reserve which is a protected area with dense rainforest.
When he left he headed off on a different tangent to that he had been taking, travelling 1185km (735 miles) straight towards Ghana, arriving there sometime before 10am on 30 January. By 10pm on 1 Feb he was already a further 800km (500 miles) north-west and was in southern Guinea. His tag location shows him to be in the densely forested mountainous plateau of the Guinea Highlands.
This is the earliest we have seen one of our tagged Cuckoos this far west - they don't normally get here until late March or April. His oversea passage might be related to this (i.e. not going around the Gulf of Guinea but over it) - he really seems to have been making a beeline for a specific destination a long way west, unlike our other cuckoos which head west into West Africa much slower, stopping at suitable locations along the way. It's a bit worrying as he has overshot the rains by some margin, so we have to hope he finds suitable locations.
PJ in Cameroon
25 Jan 2017
PJ has travelled 400km (250 miles) and is now in Cameroon. He is currently north of Boumba Bek National Park and is the most northerly Cuckoo.
Selborne heads north
24 Jan 2017
As of 23 January, Selborne's tag transmitted from Equatorial Guinea, showing he had left Gabon and was on his way north. He had covered around 535km (325 miles). However, further signals indicate he hasn't stopped there, but instead set out across the Gulf of Guinea and continued onwards across the sea, in the direction of Nigeria. This sea crossing is quite unusual!
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