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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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Rain stops play for Chris

11 Apr 2013
Early last week Chris moved across the Sahara and onwards into Italy, after a brief stop in the Atlas Mountains of Algeria, at a very similar rate of progress to last year. Although he then surprised us by continuing north-west into central France (whereas last year he remained in Italy for two and a half weeks), he has now stalled – temporarily at least. Signals received this afternoon (Thursday 11 April) show that he remains in Burgundy and has moved 10km (6 miles) east to a large forest block interspersed with grassy fields about 14km (9 miles) south of Autun. This looks like a great place for a Cuckoo and the sensor data indicate that all is currently well with Chris.
 
This area has experienced several long periods of heavy rain over the 2-3 days that Chris has been there – in fact we think that one band of rain may have been responsible for him stopping here in the first place. With warmer, brighter weather with southerly winds forecast for the coming weekend (both in Burgundy and here in southern England), it wouldn’t be surprising to see him back in England – or at least heading this way - by the time his tag resumes transmissions late on Saturday night.

Chance makes his big move

11 Apr 2013
A series of signals received in the early hours of this morning showed that Chance was in the latter stages of his desert crossing. He was in Algeria, heading northwards and had just about reached the Atlas Mountains at the Moroccan border by the time of the last location.  It’s interesting to note that his currect trajectory would take him immediately to the east of the High Atlas, although we don’t know for sure whether he is deliberately avoiding them. 
 
Based on what we have previously seen from other cuckoos, we might expect Chance to rest briefly in northern Morocco before pushing on into Spain. Currently it is warm and sunny in southern Spain so hopefully he will find good conditions there if he does.
 

No news from David

11 Apr 2013

We didn’t hear from David’s tag during its last scheduled transmission period yesterday, which is in keeping with the poor charging and erratic transmissions of the last few months. We hope his tag will last long enough to enable us to track his return to Britain – hopefully when he moves across the desert, it charge well enough for transmissions to resume. 

BB remains in Guinea

11 Apr 2013

Locations received this morning (Thursday 11 April) show that BB is still in the Upper Niger NP in Guinea. He is within a few kms of both the upper reaches of the Niger itself and its confluence with a major tributary. Both watercourses are already quite large this far upstream (the Niger is over 100m wide), reflecting the very high rainfall that areas upstream in this corner of West Africa receive each year. 

Lloyd sits tight

11 Apr 2013

A good location received in the early hours of this morning shows that Lloyd remains at his previous location in eastern Ivory Coast, 50km SW of Comoé NP, in the same area that was used by BB and Chance early this spring and by Martin last year. 

Chance sits tight

09 Apr 2013

Chance could still be next to make the desert crossing but at the moment unconfirmed signals suggest he is still in the Ivory Coast. 

Chris in France

09 Apr 2013

Signals received yesterday morning show that Chris has continued quickly onwards from Italy and is already in France, travelling 450km (280 miles) to Charbonnat in southern Burgundy with little rest. This has been a very fast paced journey from Ghana - Chris has covered about 4,600 km (2858 miles) in less than a week, which is not much slower than the fastest of the swifts we have tracked with geolocators! If he is still in good condition and the weather is kind, he could be home in the next few days. 

Lloyd heads west

09 Apr 2013

Transmissions from Lloyd's tag yesterday show that he is also moving west. He has covered 185 km (115 miles) in a north-westerly direction from his location in Ghana and is now in Ivory Coast. Will he cross the desert from here or follow BB and David even further west?

David in Sierra Leone

08 Apr 2013

With no signals from David for 2 weeks, we were stating to get concerned, although on his last transmission we could see his battery was very low and that he was still alive. He has now transmitted from Sierra Leone and is very close to the northern border with Guiena. From being the most easterly of the tagged Cuckoos, with his last known location in Cameroon, he is now the most westerly. Around 2650 km (1650 miles) separate these two locations and it’s likely he will have stopped once or twice in between these two points. Both David's and BB's current locations (in Sierra Leone and Guinea respectively)  are the first time we have recorded any of the tracked cuckoos west of Britain during spring migration. If they cross the Sahara directly from here to Morocco or western Algeria and then move on to Spain, they will effectively have re-traced the westerly route that we have seen some of the cuckoss tagged in England take in autumn. This would be especially surprising in the case of David, given that he wintered quite far east in the DRC.

BB in Guinea

08 Apr 2013

BB has surprised us by moving quickly onwards and transmitting from the centre of Guinea! The last signals received show him in the National Park of the Upper Niger on the afternoon of the 6 April after covering 685km (425 miles) from his last position in Ivory Coast. This is the furthest west that any of the tagged Cuckoos has ventured on their northward migration and has come as a surprise given last year's Cuckoos from England have staged in Ghana or Ivory Coast. 

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