Updates from our Cuckoos

Carlton II has taken advantage of favourable winds to make rapid progress south from his last location off the coast of northern Portugal. Between 23:01 on Tuesday 1 September and 20:00 on Wednesday 2 September he flew 1,442 km (896 miles) south, staying out to sea the whole time and clocking up an impressive average speed of 69 kmh (43 mph). This journey has taken him to a new position off the coast of southern Morocco. The latest update showed him between Lanzarote and Morocco, approximately 150 km due east of Lanzarote and 87 km from the coast of south west Morocco. Will he now make landfall in Morocco or press on across the Sahara?  

Having been sitting in north western Spain since 8 August, it was a relief to log on this morning and see that Carlton II is finally on the move south. It looks as if he set off at around 20:30 yesterday evening (1 September), flew around Satiago de Compostela and by the time the last update came in at 23:01 last night, he was 14.5 km (9 miles) offshore from north western Portugal, approaching Viana do Castelo. In 2018 he left northern Spain on 6 August and last year he departed on 28 July. In both previous years he has stopped off in Senegal after crossing the Sahara. Will Carlton II be in Africa when we next hear from him? Stay tuned to find out...

Over the last few days PJ has flown 244 km (151 miles) east within southern Niger. He is now around 50 km north of the border with Nigeria and 67 km south east of the city of Tahoua. He visited the same location during his southern migration in 2017. Based on his behaviour in previous years his route to his wintering grounds in Angola are likely to take him through Nigeria and Cameroon. 

Since our last update, Valentine has flown 83 km (52 miles) south in Nigeria and is close to the Falgore Game Reserve in Kano State in northern Nigeria. Last year Valentine passed through southern Nigeria in late November/early December, some 670 km (416 miles) south of his current position.

Updates received at around 06:00 this morning, show that PJ has flown a further 570 km (354 miles) south-south west from the norther border of Niger into the south western corner of Niger, completing his crossing of the Sahara. He is now approximately 165 km (102 miles) north east of the capital Niamey. PJ has arrived here in the rainy season with most of the annual rainfall expected between May and mid-September. It'll be interesting to see whether he stays here or follows Valentine in moving further east. 

Since our last update Valentine has flown 1,351 km (811 miles) east from Burkina Faso to Nigeria. He is 3.5 km (2.2 miles) north of the town of Bebeji in Kano State in northern Nigeria. In 2019 he stayed in Burkina Faso until mid-November, not reaching Nigeria until 24 November so it is interesting that he has moved east so much earlier this year. 

Over the last few days, Suffolk Cuckoo PJ has made his move south, braving the mighty Sahara. On the first leg of his journey he left southern Italy and crossed the Mediterranean just to the west of Corsica and Sardinia. He flew over Tunisia and by 16:30 on Saturday he was in or over the Tassili n'Ajjer national park in south-east Algeria, a distance of 2,163 km (1,344 miles) from his last location in Italy. He doesn't appear to have stopped here as by 19:45 on the same day he was near the southern edge of the desert. He didn't hang around as by 20:03 last night he was a further 518 km (322 miles) south and approaching the border between Algeria and Niger. The last update received at 22:43 last night showed PJ just over the border in north western Niger, approximately 30 miles (50 km) west of the small desert town of Assamakka. PJ passed close to this location on his southerly migration in 2017 but quickly moved on to southern Niger. In previous years, PJ has spent time in southern Niger/northern Nigeria so hopefully when we next hear from him he will be a little further south, having completed his desert crossing. 

Since our last update Carlton II has moved 45 km (28 miles) north west from his last location near the village of Boimorto to the Fragas do Eume natural park in north-west Spain. He is now in one of the best-preserved riverside Atlantic forests in Europe. 

Following our last update predicting that Valentine wouldn't be moving again for a while, he of course flew 220 km (138 miles) S-SE towards the border with Burkina Faso. By yesterday evening he had flown a further 67 km (41 miles) east over the border into Burkina Faso. He is now close to the town of Barani in north-western Burkina Faso. Last year, Valentine arrived in Burkina Faso at the end of July and stayed in western Burkina Faso until mid-November.  

Since arriving in Mali, Valentine has moved 20 km (12.5 miles) west, towards the Sahel river. He is now 22 km (14 miles) north east of the town of Niono in the Ségou region of Mali. The temperature is currently 31 degrees C and it is the rainy season. In Niono, most rain falls during the 31 days centered around August 13, with an average total accumulation of 5.7 inches. Last year Valentine stayed in west Africa until mid-November so we don't expect him to make any more big movements anytime soon.