The last transmission received from Walpole's tag was on the 18 August and we have now come to the conclusion that it's likely that he has died in Sologne Forest, Central France. He is one of 4 birds, since the project began, that has been lost in France; John in 2012, Nelson in 2013 and Maji, also during August this year.
Updates from our Cuckoos
Read the latest updates from our Cuckoos on their epic migration between the UK and tropical Africa, or track their movements in real-time on our Cuckoo migration map.
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The end of the road for Walpole
A period of recovery
With most cuckoos now in the Sahel region, we're entering a fairly quiet period in the annual cycle of the tagged cuckoos with less movement than during the migration season.
Birds who completed their desert crossing will spend time in the Sahel recovering their body condition, and some may stay quite a long time. In previous years, cuckoos have stayed in this area for as much as several months, while others spend a shorter amount of time before moving south into the humid zone forests.
The eastern Sahel in Chad and south Sudan has received plenty of rain recently, and thus conditions are likely good for cuckoos. Northern Cameroon was slightly drier than average in August, and so cuckoos such as Derek, Dudley, Stanley, and Emsworthy may be moving on if foraging conditions aren't suitable.
Future transmissions from Maji uncertain
BB on his way
Chris returns to Lake Chad
134957 remains in Mali
134957 arrived in Mali in the middle of August and has remained there since. He is the most northerly of all the Cuckoos within Africa and we would expect him to move further south and east soon, towards the Congo rainforest.
BB sitting pretty
Chris is finally on his way over to Africa but BB is still in Italy. Although 'late' like Chris, signals indicate he is still alive and so we hope that eventually they will both successfully cross the Sahara. It's really interesting that these older birds, Chris, who was tagged in 2011, and BB, who was tagged in 2012, have changed their schedules this year to leave so much later. Is age proving a factor in being able to put on enough fat to to make the tough journey?
Chris alive and on the move
Derek heads east
Since the 27 August Derek left Burkina Faso and headed east. By the 29 August he was in Nigeria and by 31 he was in Cameroon, close to its border with Chad. He has covered over 1800km (1120 miles) in this time and is now one of the more southerly Cuckoos.
Skinner in Nigeria
By the evening of 25 August, Skinner was on the move again, heading 250km (155 miles) south-east to Nigeria and pausing at a location near Sokoto, close to where the Sokoto river and the Rima river join together. At this time of year there should be regular rainfail.
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