Updates from our Cuckoos

During the late evening of 24 April Whortle began moving north out of Portugal and when he next transmitted on 27 April at 07.00 and was in western France, north of La Rochelle.  By early evening on 29 April, he has travelled a further 330km (205 miles) and was in the north western tip of France on the Channel coast, close to Saint-Pol-de-Leon.  Today (2 May) at 03.26 the satellite picked him up back in the UK and on Dartmoor, 1.5km (1 mile) north east of Buckland in the Moor and 1km (.5 miles) from his 2013 tagging site.

During the evening of 27 April BB left the Cantabrian Mountains of northern Spain.  When he next transmitted on the evening of 29 April he was in northwest France, 48km (28 miles) southeast of St-Malo and 648km (400 miles) north of his last position in Spain. From the information received it looks like he took a direct flight across the Bay of Biscay. His next transmission at 03.26 on 2 May showed that he didn’t hang around in France as he was on the southern shore of Loch Katrine, Stirlingshire, the site at which he was tagged on 17th May 2012. He is now just over 6,000km (4,000 miles) from the Congo Rainforest and the area in which he spent the winter, and that he set out from three-and-a-half months ago.

Signals on 23 April show that Derek was crossing over the Mediterranean Sea. When the next cycle of tranmissions was sent on 26 he was in southern Spain, 230km (145 miles) south of Madrid. He has now moved northwards and is close to the border with France. 

Waller is almost back. Having left his last location in Spain, he flew over the Cantabrian Mountains and across the Bay of Biscay and by 29 April he was in Berson, just north of the port city of Bordeaux on the Garonne River in the Gironde department in southwestern France. The latest signals shows him a further 550km (340 miles) further north and, after a brief rest on the Channel Islands yesterday evening, he continued on his way again and the last transmission was over  the sea.  The next signals should reveal that he has made it to land and will be on, or closer to, his tagging ground on the Isle of Skye. 

By the 26 April Livingstone had left Algeria and made it to Spain and was in the region of Zaragoza. From here, he then travelled 200km (130 miles) north-west and was south of Soria by 30 April.

Around lunch time on 16 April Livingstone left Ivory Coast and began his long journey north. On the evening of the 16 April he stopped for a couple of hours in the southern Sahara before continuing on northward. By 5pm on the 19 April he successfully completed the desert crossing and was in Algeria just south of Beni Rached, 3,052 km (1,896 miles) north-west of his position in Ivory Coast. He is now well positioned for the crossing of the Mediterranean, something he could do any day now!

Signals received yesterday show that Chris had moved on from northern Spain was in Normandy, France. We received a series of signals which showed him moving around the area of Omaha beach. Omaha was one of the five sectors of the Allied invasion of German-occupied France in the Normandy landings.  However he didn't spend too long on the D-day cliff faces and later signals show him in the English Channel. He is on his way and could be back anytime!  

After completing his desert crossing around the 16 April, BB continued on from Algeria and by the 18 April was a further 685km (425 miles) further north and in Spain, at a location just north of Madrid.  He didn't stop here though and has continued north to the edge of the Cantabrian mountains. He is about 100km (60 miles) south of the  Bay of Biscay. 

Derek was still in Ivory Coast on the 14 April but the next good signal we received on the 21 April showed that he had been busy during that time, having crossed the Sahara desert and reached the Atlas Mountains in Algeria. He leaves behind Ken, who is the only tagged Cuckoo now with a desert crossing ahead of him.