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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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Dudley in Mali

07 Apr 2015

Dudley has moved north-west from his location in Ghana, travelling 550km (340 miles) and is now in Mali. Could this be the start of his migration? 

Chris moves west at last

31 Mar 2015

Chris is on the move! A good quality signal on 31 March placed Chris just inside the border of Ghana, showing that Chris had made his move west, albeit later than in previous years. Since the last transmission received on 21 March he has covered 1700km (1060 miles).  We are glad to see he is once again on his way. This will be the fourth return journey over which we will have followed him - we wish him a safe return! 

David in Sierra Leone

27 Mar 2015

On the evening of 26 March a transmission received from David showed that he was on the move again and had travelled 650km (400 miles) further west. He is now in Sierra Leone, close to the border with Guinea. 

In both previous years he has also set off on his desert crossing from Sierra Leone but in both cases he arrived there in the first week of April. In 2013 he started his desert crossing on 15 April and headed to Mauritania while in 2014 he left on the 17 April but went slightly further west still, to Senegal, and then on to Morocco. 

Given his earlier movement this year, could he be the first Cuckoo to turn north and head home?

No further signals from Fred

25 Mar 2015

Since receiving one transmission from Fred's tag on 5 March, nothing further has been received which details his location and he has once again dropped off the map, which shows only active Cuckoos within the last 10 days by default. We presume that, if all is ok, Fred would by now have moved to West Africa. We will have to wait to see where he is when further transmissions are received.  

Fred on edge of forest

06 Mar 2015

On 5 March we received one good signal from Fred's tag which showed that he had moved to the northern forest edge, where many of our tagged Cuckoos have moved to before heading to West Africa.  

Chester on the move again

25 Mar 2015

A signal received on 24 March showed that Chester was still in Nigeria but has left the Cross River area. He has moved 245km (152 miles) south and west and is now on the edge of the Niger Delta.

Dudley moves north and west

25 Mar 2015

After arriving in Ghana on 4 March Dudley has moved north and west and is currently 56km (35 miles) from the border with Ivory Coast.

Chris taking his time

25 Mar 2015

Chris is still at the same location in Central African Republic and has yet to move west. Looking back at his movements last year we can see that he is in almost the same area within Central African Republic as in 2014 but had left the area by 14 March and moved west to Nigeria. By the 21 March 2014 he was just inside Ivory Coast, as many of our other tagged Cuckoos are now. 

In the first two years Chris only ventured as far west as Ghana before making his desert crossing in early April. Last year was the first time he had ventured as far west as Ivory Coast. In all three years, however, he was in West Africa by this point in March and making the final preparations for his desert crossing in early to mid April. He embarked on his desert crossing last year slightly later on 12 April 2014.  

It's interesting to note that he was later leaving Europe this year compared to previous years. His delay in moving to West Africa will likely push the date of his desert crossing back and we will have to wait to see how this affects the rest of his journey.  

Stanley now in Ivory Coast

16 Mar 2015

On 13 March, Stanley a transmission from Stanley showed that he had moved west and crossed into Ivory Coast. He is currently 230km (143 miles) west of his last location in Ghana.

David moves west again

25 Mar 2015

At 04.28 on 22 March David was still in Cameroon but by 14.59 on 24 March he had moved 1923km (1195 miles) west, and was in Ivory Coast, just north of Bouake. He covered this distance in 45.5 hours, averaging a speed of 42km per hour (26 mph). It will be interesting to see how long he stays where he is to allow him to recover after such a mammoth journey.

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