Updates from our Cuckoos

After a flight of 840 km (522 miles) from southern France, AJ arrived in north Africa on Wednesday 14 July. At 9am on Wednesday he was 15 km south-south east of the town of Tenes in Algeria. A subsequent update received at around 6am this morning (Friday 16 July) showed him almost 600 km south so he may be attempting to cross the Sahara.

Having departed the UK on 12 June, AJ has made steady progress south, first to Normandy, where he spent a few weeks. In the last few days he has flown 533 km (331 miles) south to his current location 32 km (20 miles) east of Mont-de-Marsan in the south of France. 

Ellis has continued south another 115km (72 miles) and is now just over the border in northern Nigeria, 22km (13 miles) east of the town of Daura.  The weather in this area at the moment is moderate rain with a maximum temperature of 33°c and minimum temperature of 26°c. Hopefully Ellis is finding plenty of food to refuel after his desert crossing. 

At 21:56 on Thursday evening Ellis was in northern Libya, by 08:40 Friday morning he was 840 km (520 miles) further south, crossing the Sahara in north east Niger. The latest updates received this morning (Saturday 10 July) show that he has now reached southern Niger and is c100km north of Zinder, the third largest city in Niger. In flying from northern Libya to southern Niger he has covered an amazing 1,806 km (1,120 miles) over the course of approximately 41 hours, which means he was traveling at an average speed of around 27mph. He was helped along by some light tail winds. It is warm and dry in this area today but Ellis is arriving in the Sahel (the semi-arid region of Africa separating the Sahara Desert to the north and tropical savannas to the south), just in time for the start of the rainy season. 

Not only has Ellis crossed into Africa, but he is crossing the Sahara! At 09:16 on Wednesday morning, Ellis was still near Rome but by 17:39 on Thursday he had flown 1,457 km (907 miles) south over the Mediterranean and was in or over Libya. He didn't stop there though and the latest update we received from his tag at 08:43 this morning (Friday 9 July) showed that he had reached Niger. He was in the far north east of Niger, just west of the Tibesti mountains. Hopefully when we next hear from Ellis he will have successfully conquered the Sahara.

Updates received from Daniel's tag over the last 48 hours show that he has flown 420 km (261 miles) from his last position in southern France, over the Alps and into northern Italy. He has taken up temporary residence close to ENI's Sannazzaro de’ Burgond oil and gas refinery, about 45 km southwest of Milan. He is exploring the farmland along the Agogna River. It'll be interesting to see whether Daniel follows Ellis to Rome. 

Ellis has flown a further 500km (311 miles) south from his last location near Lake Como in northern Italy, towards Rome. By 05:45 yesterday morning he was near Lake Bracciano and by 06:30 he had settled in the countryside between Sacrofano and Monte Lungo, about 25 kilometers north of Rome. Attenborough is still a whisker further south of Ellis.

Having flown from southern France into Spain and reached Calatayud in the Province of Zaragoza, Attenborough has been roaming around the province of Soria. He first visited Cihuela before moving further north and west to his current location close to Gomara. He is now approximately 23 km (14 miles) south east of the city of Soria. 

Cuckoo Ellis was still in the Netherlands late on Friday evening but by 22:46 last night he had flown 542 km (336 miles) south and was just south of Strasbourg and close to the city of Offenburg in Germany. By 3am this morning he was crossing the Alps in Switzerland and by 5am he was in the mountains above the city of Colico on the shores of Lake Como in northern Italy.