Updates from our Cuckoos

Nussey, who has already visited Africa briefly this summer,  was in the Andalusia region of Spain by the evening of Friday 2 August and by the morning of Saturday 3 August was crossing the Mediterranean. He landed in northern Morocco, just south of Guercif. However, locations received since, show that he started his desert crossing from the Altas Mountains on Saturday evening but turned back in the middle of Sunday from some where in western Algeria. Yesterday (Tuesday 6 August) he was back in Spain, to the south-west of Valencia.

These aborted attempts must have been in response to unfavourable conditions and we are now a little worried about what this mean for the rest of his journey, as he will have expended a huge amount more energy in order to back-track. He will be one lucky and tenacious Cuckoo to survive the added burden of these attempts. We'll have to wait for further signals to see what he does next. 

Thomas last appeared to be heading out over the Mediterranean on  24 July and since then we’ve had 'radio silence'. It’s unlikely we will hear from his tag again but as his disappearance occurred after a prolonged period of declining battery charge, it’s impossible to say whether he died south of Spain (in north Africa or during the desert crossing) or whether his tag's battery gave out when it was hit with the sun during the desert crossing.  

On 3 August we received a further location from Larry’s tag showing that he had not moved from his reported position, in northern Libya. Unfortunately, there’s no way he could have survived for that long in the arid conditions so we must conclude that he has perished there. 

This is especially sad news as he was our longest surviving active Cuckoo, having been tagged in 2015 and entering his fifth year of tracking. 

David, first tracked in spring 2012, holds the title for longest tracked journey, having been tracked to mid-winter (December 2016) in his fifth year. Chris, our most famous Cuckoo, was in second place in regard to length and duration of tracked journey, with his last signal on 8 August 2015 in his fifth year.  Larry was just one successful desert crossing away from surpassing Chris, who also perished during his desert crossing, but had reached the Tibesti mountains in Northern Chad.

We are grateful to everyone who has supported Larry over the years and watched his incredible journey. 

The latest signals to arrive from Raymond's tag arrived on Saturday 3 August and showed that he had flown 1,295 km (804 miles) south west and was in or over Western Sahara. Hopefully the next update from Raymond's tag will show that he has successfully completed his desert crossing, possibly landing in Senegal, like Carlton II. 

Pj didn't stay long in Mali, he has since flown a further 598 km (372 miles) south east into north west Nigeria. 

Signals received from Carlton II's tag at 8:30 am on Friday 2 August showed that he was over the desert in northern Mauritania. By 18:47 on Sunday 4 August he had covered a total of 2,218 km (1,378 miles), crossing the Sahara and arriving in southern Senegal, close to the border with Guinea-Bissau. Carlton II stopped off in Senegal last year too but his stop over location was north of the Gambia. 

Since the last update Senan has flown another 514 km (319 miles) south in Mali, towards the border with Niger. He appears to be on an island in the river Niger, close to Ansongo, a rural commune and small town in the Gao Region of eastern Mali.

By 6pm on Friday 2 August, Nussey had flown 744 km (462 miles) south and was near Oria, a municipality of Almería province, in Andalusia, Spain. He didn't stay there long however and by 10:10 am on the morning of Saturday 3 August he had flown a further 406 km (252 miles) south, crossing the Mediterranean and landing in northern Morocco, just south of Guercif. A series of poor quality locations received since suggest that he set out across the desert before turning back so we'll need to await some better data before we can be sure of his new location.  

Carton II has completed his sea crossing, travelling 715km (445 miles) from his last location in southern Spain to reach the high Atlas mountains in north Africa. He is currently 82km (50 miles) east of Marrakesh, the fourth largest city in the country. He is just 80km (50 miles) south-west of Raymond, who recently arrived in the High Atlas mountains too. 

New signals on the morning of 30 July show that Senan had indeed made landfall in Africa and that his location at that time was in northern Mali. Senan was tagged on the BTO reserve headquarters at Thetford, and interestingly, he is now just 240km (150 miles) north of PJ who was also tagged local to the BTO in Suffolk, and is in Mali.