On the 3 September, David was still in northern Central African Republic but by late afternoon on 5 September, he had travelled eastwards 470km (290 miles) to Sudan. This mirrors his movement last year when he moved from his position which was slightly further north, in Chad, and was in Sudan by 16 September. This surprised us as, at the time, as he was already much further east than many of the other Cuckoos. It’s really interesting that he has once again moved further east and to an area very close to that he used last year. 

Locations on 2nd September show Whortle close to the Niger river but by early morning on 4 September he had already continued 290km (180 miles) in a south-easterly direction and was close to the border with both Burkina Faso and Niger. His current location is between the Partielle De Faune D'ansongo-Menaka, an area which was apparently first created to conserve the giraffes which are sadly no longer there, and the Sahel Reserve. He is roughly 730km (500 miles) to the north-west of Ken and Skinner - not too bad given his comparatively late departure!  

By the 31 August, Sussex had left Chad and headed south, revealing his new position in the Central African Republic. The excitement at Whortle and Patch's movements over the weekend meant this new movement was slightly overshadowed but he has actually travelled 450km (280 miles) and is now further south than Nick, making him the most southerly of all our tagged Cuckoos! Only David is also in the Central African Republic, in the very north tip, about 550km (340 miles) away from Sussex's location. 

From his location in the Zamfara region of Nigeria, Derek has flown more than 300km (190 miles) in a south-easterly direction and is now in the Kaduna region, 60km (37 miles) west of Jos in the middle belt of Nigeria. 

Since the last positions received on 31 August, Chance has started to head east, in the direction of Lake Chad. By early evening of 2 September he had travelled 280km (175 miles) and was 115km (75 miles) from the edge of the lake. Will he continue onwards and spend some time here again this year? 

Signals from Patch’s tag this morning and lunchtime show he was also moving south and had travelled 890km (550 miles) to southern Italy!  He is close to the town of Rizzuto and about 95km (59 miles) NE of the Straits of Messina. We expect he will stop here only briefly before continuing south to begin his desert crossing. When we next hear from his tag, he could be over Libya, Niger or Chad.... 

Whortle had spent 6 weeks in Spain but by 30 August he had began to move on. He had already moved 200km (136 miles) south, and spent the day 32km (20 miles) NW of Benidorm. From here he moved due south and by the morning of 1 September he was 1650km (1026 miles) further on in southern Algeria.  

Over the next 18 hours he continued for a further 775km (482 miles) before stopping early in the morning of 2 September close to the Niger river in central Mali (not yet displayed on the map), an area that will be nice and greeen at this time of year.  Whortle has crossed the desert in a more easterly direction than many of the other Cuckoos that took the south-westerly route through Spain and consequently will be further east when he completes his desert crossing – this will allow him to make up for lost time because if he continues in this direction he will not need to travel far east before catching the others up!

Waller has moved 135km (84 miles) south within Chad. This move takes him closer to Chris’s location and only about 100km (60 miles) now separates the two of them. He is also just 85km (52 miles) north-west of Zakouma National Park, Chads first National Park, created in 1963, which includes many large mammals including Elephants and Lions.