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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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PJ in Nigeria

10 Aug 2017
PJ has travelled  250km (160 miles) from Niger and is now in northern Nigeria. 

No signals from Carlton since June

10 Aug 2017

The last signal we received from Carlton was on June 9 when everything appeared fine with both him and the tag's battery, however, there have been no transmissions since.

We're aware that increased feather coverage, due to the smaller size of the solar panel, means we are getting fewer signals from some of the new tags but we're concerned that we've had nothing for two months. Carlton should have been moving around and thus the tag would have been exposed to daylight during this time. It may be that something has happened to either Carlton, such as predation, or to his tag in this period. The tag's battery can degrade if they don't receive enough light and are then unable to switch back on.

We really don't know what has happened at the moment but we hope he may surprise us and pop up again in a new location in the next few weeks when we would have expected him to have left the country.

Samson in Nigeria

09 Aug 2017
Samson has travelled eastwards from Mali during the last week, covering around 1165km (725 miles) across Burkina Faso and northern Benin, to reach Nigeria. He is just west of the Kwiambana Game Reserve and north of the Kamuku National Park. 

Boris in Algeria

01 Aug 2017
Boris has travelled 1350km (840 miles) from his last location in Spain to reach a new location in western Algeria. Mr Conkers is just slightly further west in Morocco and from here they look set to make their desert crossings. 

Larry really is in Poland!

01 Aug 2017

We've seen several of our birds back track to previous stopover sites when conditions haven't been perfect for onward travel, but Larry has undertaken a journey from Italy northwards to Poland, a country in which he hasn't transmitted from since we've been tracking him. In fact none of our Cuckoos, since the project began in 2011, have ever sent signals from Poland.  This is much further northeast within Europe than normal and almost puts him on the same latitude as Peckham who is still in the UK!

We think this is in response to the very hot conditions in the Mediterranean region and is an escape flight rather than a return to last stopover site. We're surprised to have seen him travel so far north. Tracking these Cuckoos still continues to throw new light upon their migration! 

Mr Conkers in Morocco

01 Aug 2017
Mr Conkers tag has recently signals from the Anti Atlas Mountains in Central Morocco. Will he be the next Cuckoo to make the desert crossing? 

No signals from Carlton

26 Jul 2017
No signals have been received from Carlton for sometime. We know that Carlton was alive when his tag last transmitted but that it hasn't had enough charge to transmit since. 

No movement from PJ

26 Jul 2017
PJ hasn't moved far but he seems to have found a river delta, where presumably there is water and vegetation at this time of year.

Victor in Burkina Faso

26 Jul 2017
Victor is in Burkina Faso. Having only stayed for only a couple of days in Algeria before continuing south, Victor traveled 2190km (1360 miles), reaching south eastern Mauritania during the evening of 18 July, and continuing to fly east to Mali during the early hours of the 19 July. By the 23 he had moved east again to Burkina Faso adding on another 605 km (375 miles). 

Peckham stopping over in East Anglia

26 Jul 2017
Peckham appears to be undertaking a stopover in East Anglia rather than NW Europe as in previous years after his attempt to leave the UK was aborted due to the bad weather in early July. In previous years he has left the UK on 1 July and 27 June (2015 and 2016 respectively). 

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