Updates from our Cuckoos

Clement's flight continues! After arriving in Africa on the 13 July and settling in what from Google Earth satellite photos looked like the last bush before the Sahara desert, he has pushed forward. We wondered a week ago what route he would take – east through Italy or west into West Africa and he is definitely taking the westerly route. He changed course again and headed about 1,000km in a south-west direction to a location near the Algeria/Mauritania border. His last position at 11.23 GMT put him squarely in the middle of the Sahara desert in area that seems devoid of any vegetation at all. His next position is expected at around noon on Sunday – watch this space to see if he has successfully crossed the desert!

Lyster's tag  has just started up and shows he is in the vicinity of Reedham, making the most of the breeding season.

A poor quality signal received early morning on Thursday 14^th July indicates that Martin is still in the same location approximately 50km (30 miles) SSW of Milan.

We did not receive any locations from Chris when expected and, whilst we were slightly surprised not to get even one fix out of the tag, we are not yet too concerned. He is due to transmit this evening so hopefully we will have news tomorrow.

We have received no new positions for Chris as yet (morning of 13 July) but his tag is due to start transmitting very soon.

As expected, Kasper’s tag sprung into life again when he moved on. In the early hours of yesterday morning (12 July) we received a location for him about 30km (18 miles) NW of the outskirts of Rome (43km (27 miles) from Vatican City). He had moved 270km (170 miles) SSE from his previous position. He is our most southerly Cuckoo, except for Clement, having departed the area in which he was tagged at the same time as him.

A location received in the early hours of this morning (13 July) placed Lyster very close to Reedham. Surely he must be nearly ready to join the other Cuckoos on migration?

Martin remains in the floodplain of the river Po, 50km (30 miles) SSW of Milan, close to the town of Voghera.

After surprising us by moving into Spain over the weekend, Clement has provided even more excitement overnight. Shortly before midnight (our time) he was located over the western arm of the Mediterrranean Sea, 25km (15 miles) SSE of Cabo de Gata, the south-easternmost point of Iberia. Three hours later, the next position put him 180km (112 miles) to the south-east - 45km south-east of the Algerian coast. Clement had become our first Cuckoo to make it into Africa! As of this morning (0900 BST 13 July), Clement had settled in a scrub-covered northern slope of the Atlas mountains in the Sidi-bel-Abbes region of north-western Algeria – one of the very last vegetated locations before the vast sandy and rocky expanses of the Sahara…..

Diana de Palacio (BTO Ringing Office) reports that her mother, Maria Elena, flew to visit her from Almeria Airport, just 20km (12 miles) from Cabo de Gata, last night. She took off in the opposite direction from Clement just one hour before him and reports that weather conditions were very hot, humid and cloudy at that time.