Updates from our Cuckoos

A new update received early this morning shows that PJ has flown 215Km (134 miles) north east into the Spanish Pyrenees. He is now approximately 10Km north east of the town of Isaba in the Navarre region of northern Spain. He is currently in the foothills of Mesa de los Tres Reyes (the table of the three kings) which is the highest point in Spanish Navarre at 2,428m (7,966ft). PJ made a very similar north-easterly movement between 25-30 July last year. 

Clive didn't stay in Brittany for long, new updates received just after 7am this morning showed that he has flown 700Km (435 miles) south to northern Spain. He is now in a woodland close to the town of Cevico Navero in Palencia. He is 81 km south west of Cuckoo PJ and 144Km north of Cuckoo Harry. 

New updates from Calypso arrived between 04:34 and 07:22 this morning showing that he has flown a further 586 km (364 miles) to complete his crossing of the Sahara. In total he has covered 2,784km (1,730 miles) since leaving from northern Tunisia and arriving at his current location in northern Nigeria. He is now in an area of Guinea Savanna close to the Kwiambana Game Reserve in the Zamfara region of north western Nigeria. He is 381Km (237 miles) west of Cuckoo Ellis who is also in northern Nigeria. 

It's now more than three weeks since we received a signal from Grove's tag.  Having examined the data from the tag we have concluded that something catastrophic has happened to Grove or his tag between the last signal and the next one that was due. It could be that Grove was predated or that the antennae was snapped off the tag. We will keep our fingers crossed it was tag failure and who knows, he may yet be encountered again in the future. In the meantime he still makes a contribution to our growing knowledge and understanding of the factors affecting our Cuckoo population. 

After getting off to a promising start by flying 424km (264 miles) south from Scotland to Nottinghamshire we are sad to lose Columbus. On 26 June there was a sudden, permanent drop in temperature recorded by his tag and the battery charge then declined steadily until the last transmission on 4 July. Unfortunately this suggests that Columbus has perished. The information gathered from Columbus will still make a valuable contribution to our growing knowledge and understanding of the risks faced by Cuckoos on migration. 

A couple of new updates from AJ's tag arrived just after 11am this morning (Monday 19 July) showing that he has flown 280Km (174 miles) further south. He is now in south west Mali, approximately 9km (5.5 miles) south east of the village of Didenko in the Kayes region. 

PJ has flown a total of 103Km (64 miles) north and is now 27Km (17 miles) east of Burgos, close to the Úzquiza and Arlanzon reservoirs in the province of Burgos, Castile and León, Spain. We know from his movements in previous years that PJ is not afraid of doubling back on himself while on migration, probably in search of better foraging areas. 

A new update from Victor II's tag at 04:55 this morning shows that he has flown a further 240 km (149 miles) south and reached the hills above Cavalaire-sur-Mer on the French Riviera. It'll be interesting to see how long he stops here for before crossing the Mediterranean, will he become our fourth Cuckoo to reach Africa this year? Stay tuned to find out!

Cuckoo Clive has taken advantage of the fine weather and crossed the Channel. New updates received at 05:05 this morning (Sunday 18 July) showed that Clive had flown 437 km (271 miles) south-south west and was in the north western part of the Morbihan department of Brittany, between Cleguerec and Plouray. 

New updates received at around 19:00 yesterday evening (Saturday 17 July) showed that Calypso had flown 1,867 km (1,160 miles) south and had reached the western edge of the Air mountains in Niger. The highest peak of this range is Mont Idoukal-n-Taghès at 2022 m / 6633 ft. By 03:30 this morning (Sunday 18 July) Calypso had flown a further 325 km (202 miles) south and was looking set to join Cuckoo Ellis in Nigeria. Hopefully when we next hear from him he will have successfully completed his desert crossing.