Updates from our Cuckoos

Emsworthy has made it to Africa, having flown across the Mediterranean at almost the widest point  and making the crossing around 515 miles (830km), from his last location in southern France. He is now in northern Tunisia, close to Tunis. 

Maji is currently in Austria, where he has been since 8 July, although we have only just received good quality signals. He is the only tagged Cuckoo so far this year to have stopped in Austria. 

BB has left Germany and flown over Austria to reach Italy and is close to Venice.  He joins East Anglian Cuckoos Stanley and Chris, and fellow Scottish Cuckos Livingstone and Waller, all of whom are in different areas of northern Italy.

New Forest bird Hennah recently moved to the south of Italy and is in the region of Calabria. Signals received throughout yesterday and toady show that Peter is following in his path and also heading south through Italy. Ths last signal received indicated he was still a little further north than his fellow New Forest bird, in the Salerno region, but he may well have continued his journey. We'll find out how close he gets when we receive further signals. 

Three Cuckoos are now safely across the desert, including Meavy, who had grounded and stayed in the same area for a few days. He is now in north Benin while Dudley is in Nigeria and Whortle is further to the east in Sudan. 

Derek has still not left yet Britain which means that he and Cuckoo 134957, who is in Belgium, are currently our two most northern Cuckoos. Walpole is only a little further south, still in France (along with Emsworthy who is close to the south coast) where they have been since early July. 

Signals received yesterday show that Cuckoo 134955 is now in the High Atlas Mountains in Morocco. Dudley, one of the other birds tagged in Sherwood has finished his desert crossing and made it to Nigeria while Cuckooo 134957 is much further north in Belgium. 

Gowk has left East Anglia, transmitting from northern Spain on 12 July.  He is already further south than many of the Cuckoos who have chosen the Italian route and his deaprture means that only Derek remains in the UK.  

On Saturday 12 July transmissions were received from both Dudley and Whortle to show they had arrived in Africa.

Dudley has cut across to Africa, from his location in Spain to Niger. Whortle, however, has taken a completely different route to last year - travelling via Italy towards Libya/Egypt! This is a real surprise as last year he went west via Spain to western Africa and then to Niger. Over 4,000km (2,500 miles) separate the two locations within Africa! How will this complete change in route affect the rest of his journey and what are the reasons behind this dramatic difference? In previous years, while we have seen some minor changes, routes have remained relatively similar. It shows that the more we learn about Cuckoos, and the possible reasons for their declining populations, the more questions are raised!  

Dudley and Whortle join Meavy, the first Cuckoo to arrive in Africa, who had grounded in the Algerian desert. Since then he has continued south to Niger but has still yet to complete his desert crossing, indicating he may be struggling.   

Our New Forest birds seem to be taking very different routes. Gilbert has recently moved futher west to Portugal from his previous location in Spain, while Hennah is still north-east of Rome in Italy with Peter just a little further north, remaining in the Po Valley.