Updates from our Cuckoos

Since lunchtime on the 26 July, Vigilamus has continued south, covering 1640km (1020 miles), from Libya to complete his desert crossing and transmitting from a location in Chad on the evening of the 28 July.  He is the fourth of our tagged Cuckoos to successfully complete the desert crossing this year. 

David didn’t spend long in the Po Valley before moving on.  Low quality signals received on the 25 July show he had already moved on further eastwards with a good quality signal on 28 confirming that he was in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina.  Last year his tag also transmitted a location from here, though he arrived earlier in July, before moving to Montenegro, a country he has visited each year since 2012, a week later.  He appears to be a bit behind schedule this year so it will be interesting to see how long he spends here and whether he continues to Montenegro before making his crossing to Africa.

By 23 July, David had left France and travelled east to Italy and the Po Valley.

We hadn't received signals for several weeks from Disco Tony, who last transmitted from France, so it was nice to see some new transmissions from him this weekend.  These revealed he had moved on and was in the Po Valley, a known stopover site for some of our Cuckoos before they continue on south, in Italy.  

Two of our Cuckoos, Viator and Vigilamus, tagged in the North Yorkshire Moors, transmitted from Africa on the morning of 26 July. Viator appears to have taken a slightly more easterly route and has travelled to Egypt, a country which only one other Cuckoo, Lloyd tagged in Wales, has ventured to throughout the years we have been tracking Cuckoos. A poor quality signal indicates Viator made the 2100km (1305 miles) leap to Egypt from a location in Greece. 

Vigilamus last transmitted from close to the French/Italian border in southern France on the 21 July, a 2400km  (1490 miles) away from his new location.  

Charlie has traveled a further 850km (530 miles) to southern Italy and is now in the Cilento and Vallo di Diano National Park, about 100km (60 miles) from Larry's location.

Larry has left Croatia and recently joined several other Cuckoos in Italy. However, he is much further south, near Matera in southern Italy. He has covered 370km (230 miles) from his last location. 

Stanley has journeyed on from his last location in Algeria to become the current most southerly tagged Cuckoos, having reached the border between Niger and Nigeria.  He is now further south than Hennah or Dudley, having covered 2160km (1340 miles) since his previous transmission. 

Stanley is the third of our tagged Cuckoos to arrive in Africa. Sometime after the morning of the 14 July, when we last received transmissions from Sardinia, he crossed the sea and travelled 745km (460 miles) to a location within northern Algeria.  

Chris has continued south and is now in northern Italy, just east of Ferrara. Poor quality signals indicate that he journeyed to Slovenia from Germany, and then on to Italy.