Updates from our Cuckoos

Stanley has made it across the desert. It appears that he left his location in western Italy and flew across the Mediterrannean sea to reach Libya on 29 July. Signals received on the afternoon of 31 July show him in southern Niger, where he has remained since. 

Skinner has embarked on his desert crossing. He has made good progress, having left Spain late on 30 July and travelling over the Atlas mountains in the early hours of the 31, he made his way south over Algeria and by the 2 August he was in Mali. However he appears to have grounded here and signals received today show him still in the same location, which from the satellite images, may not be as barren as other parts. Hopefully he will continue onwards shortly and make it safely across. 

This year, because there are so many Cuckoos and routes to view on the map, individual birds only show by default if there has been a signal in the last 10 days.

Currently Gowk, Gilbert, Meavy, Waller and BB have all stopped being shown by default as we haven't heard from them in this period. Don't worry, it doesn't necessarily mean anything bad has happened. There are often periods where the Cuckoos are in dense undergrowth, where the tags don't receive enough light to charge or send signals to the satellites, often just before and after big movements.

You can still view these Cuckoos on the map by ticking the box underneath their pictures. Once we receive a signal, they will automatically reappear on the main map. 

Cuckoo 134955 has finally crosed the desert. He remained in Morroco until around 28 July but by 1 August he he was on his way south. Signals received on 2 August show he had made it safely across the expanse and was in Senegal. 

We are still following twenty-two birds. Currently two cuckoos are in France – Walpole and unnamed cuckoo 134957.

Five birds are in and around the Po Valley in northern Italy – BB, Chris, Stanley, Waller and Livingstone.

Six birds are in Spain – Two of these are big movers this week. After finally leaving the UK, Derek hasn’t hung around. After a brief stop in central-western France, he is now in central-northern Spain, just south of Tolbanos de Abajo. It is Maji that has provided the biggest surprise though. He seems to be taking a tour of the European mountain ranges. Having spent a time in the Austrian Alps, he is now in the central Pyrenees!

David is still in Montenegro and Ash is still in Croatia; both of these birds could make the move to Africa any day now.

We now have seven birds in Africa, six of them south of the Sahara. Emsworthy is the latest to arrive here and he is currently just south of Lake Chad, in an area that Chris also favours. Three other Cuckoos – Peter, Hennah and Dudley – are also close to Lake Chad.

Emsworthy has made it to Africa, having flown across the Mediterranean at almost the widest point  and making the crossing around 515 miles (830km), from his last location in southern France. He is now in northern Tunisia, close to Tunis. 

Maji is currently in Austria, where he has been since 8 July, although we have only just received good quality signals. He is the only tagged Cuckoo so far this year to have stopped in Austria. 

BB has left Germany and flown over Austria to reach Italy and is close to Venice.  He joins East Anglian Cuckoos Stanley and Chris, and fellow Scottish Cuckos Livingstone and Waller, all of whom are in different areas of northern Italy.

New Forest bird Hennah recently moved to the south of Italy and is in the region of Calabria. Signals received throughout yesterday and toady show that Peter is following in his path and also heading south through Italy. Ths last signal received indicated he was still a little further north than his fellow New Forest bird, in the Salerno region, but he may well have continued his journey. We'll find out how close he gets when we receive further signals. 

Three Cuckoos are now safely across the desert, including Meavy, who had grounded and stayed in the same area for a few days. He is now in north Benin while Dudley is in Nigeria and Whortle is further to the east in Sudan.