Updates from our Cuckoos

Skinner remained in France until at least April 17 but early on 19 April he was crossing the Bay of Biscay, reaching Brittany a few hours later. He appears to have spent at least 8 hours there in the commune of  La Forêt-Fouesnant. The tag next transmitted at lunch time on the 21 April revealing that Skinner was back in the UK, close to Northampton, and the first of this year's tagged Cuckoos to arrive safely back in the UK!

Last year, our first Cuckoo back to the UK was Chance, arriving on 26 April. This is the first year we have tracked Skinner so we do not know whether he is a bird that arrives early back to the UK or whether milder weather has encouraged an early return this year. Having rested close to Northampton overnight, by the morning of the 22 he was on his way again and at 5am he was close to Whitlingham Broad, Norfolk, the site where he was tagged last May.

Tor has once again gone silent. The last signal received was on 12 March, just after he moved north to Central African Republic. Before that there was a silence of 3 months. It could be that the tag is not transmitting properly so we will have to wait and see whether he receive any further locations in the future. 

Patch is also on the move and embarking on his desert crossing, with the most recent signals revealing he has made it to eastern Senegal. David is also in Senegal but is much further west than Patch, and they are both much further west than any of the other Cuckoos. 

David has headed 650km (410 miles) north-west and is now close to Dakar in Western Senegal.  Last year he embarked on his desert crossing from his location on the border of Guinea/Sierra-Leone but, despite having headed to the same spot on the border again this year, he has instead travelled west rather than north. On 15 April last year he was crossing the desert and was over Mauritania so he seems a little delayed this year. It will be interesting to see where he heads to next.

If David does cross the desert from his current location, he will be over 1780km (1100 miles) further west than the point at which BB made his desert crossing from! 

Yesterday at around midday we received signals which showed that Livingstone was in the south of Mauritania, having flown over Mali. Further signals have meant that we have been able to follow his progress over the desert and the latest signals, received this morning, show that he was north of the Akchar Desert. Despite having travelled over 1500km (950 miles) from Ivory Coast he still has a long way to go, having taken a very westerly route to reach Mauritania, he is probably only about half way. 

Signals on 13 April showed that BB had moved northward but over the next few hours he appeared to move very little. We were a bit worried about this and so were relieved to see that further signals were received yesterday which showed that he had continued onwards and had crossed the desert successfully! They weren't of adequate quality to automatically update the map but given the number of signals received it looks as if these are accurate. They place him in the north of Algeria, near the city of Oran on the northwestern Mediterranean coast. 

Skinner is the first tagged Cuckoo to make it back to Europe! From the tip of Morroco he flew almost directly north for 770km (480 miles), settling just south of the Cantabrian Mountains, to the east of Leon. Will he be the first to make it back to the UK? 

The title of first tagged Cuckoo back to the UK is still up for grabs, and Chris is close on the heels of the two leading Cuckoos. From his location in Morroco on 14 April he has flown 810km (500 miles), across the Alboran Sea and the Sieraa Nevada Mountains to a location south of Valladolid, Spain.

This is surprising, as during the 3 years we have been following him, this is the first time he has ventured to Spain, previously preferring to travel through Italy and France.  

Skinner is currently the most northerly Cuckoo, but only just further than Waller. Skinner is about 140km (90 miles) directly north of Chris while Waller is 170km (100 miles) to the north-west.

48 hours after the last signal, Waller had made it to Europe and was in north-western Spain, just west of the city of Valladolid, having travelled 680km (420 miles). He continued for another 90km (60 miles) and is now north-west of Leon and almost as far north as Skinner, who is about 85km (55 miles) to the north-east. Chris is also not far behind! Who will be first back to the UK?