Updates from our Cuckoos

After a few uncertain days, we are relieved to report that Disco Tony has made it across the Sahara and on into Spain. He made a couple of stops during his desert crossing which had us worried but recent data received from his tag now place him just south of the Sierra Morena mountains in Andalusia, approximately 50 miles south of David's current location.

We have a winner in the great Cuckoo race of 2016! Norfolk Cuckoo Stanley started his journey from Ivory Coast in west Africa on 7th April and 3,000 miles later, he is back in England. Stanley was tagged at Cranwich Heath, just a stone's throw away from BTO headquarters in Norfolk. He returned to the same general area in 2015 and it'll be interesting to see if he comes back again this year. He is currently just south of Yeovil in Devon. During his spring migration in 2015, Stanley stopped off in Cornwall on his way back to Norfolk.

During the early part of last week, Vigilamus left Spain and crossed the Pyrenees into France, eventually stopping just south of Bordeaux on 11 April. He only stayed here for just over a day, and on 13 April was 300km (189 miles) southeast of Bordaeux and back on the northern edge of the Pyrenees. He crossed into Spain once again during the late evening of the same day and settled briefly on the southern edge of the Mountains just south of Andorra. He is currently still south of the mountains close the large lake called Embalse del Grado. The weather in southwest France last week was appalling, so presumably he headed back to where he knew he could find food.

Poor quality locations show that Stanly probably left Algeria late on 10 April, crossing the Mediterranean during the night. By 2am on 11 April he was on a small island (Cabrera) off the south coast of Mallorca. By 13 April he had successfully crossed the Mediterranean and was in northern Spain, hot on the heels of Vigilamus. Stanley took around five hours to cross the sea to Cabrera on his overnight flight.

A location received from Peckham's tag during the morning of 10 April showed that he had crossed the Sahara. He was in southern Tunisia, just south of Tataouine, the Tataouine of Star Wars fame. A couple of poor quality locations received during the afternoon of 14 April show that he continued north across the Mediterranean and had made it on to the island of Corsica. We will have to wait for good quality locations to confirm this but we believe it to be the case. This would make Peckham our most northerly tagged cuckoo at this stage in their migration.

It looks like Larry began his desert crossing on 10 April from Nigeria, crossing the Sahara at its widest point, around 2,600km (1,600 miles). A poor location received during the morning of 15 April put him in the Grand Erg Oriental Desert in northern Algeria. Several good quality locations received during the evening of 17 April showed that he had made it across the desert and was on Sardinia, northeast of Paulilatino.

We 'lost' Disco Tony on 13 March, and whilst we were not too concerned we do get a little anxious when this happens. So, it is good to be able to report that Disco Tony is back and on his way home. A series of locations received around breakfast on 17 April show him western Algeria, around 100km (60 miles) south of the Moroccan border. We don't expect him to hang around here as he hasn't quite finished crossing the desert.

It looks like David left Guinea on 12 April and headed north across the western edge of the Sahara. Several poor quality locations received on 14 April placed him in northern Mauritania, pretty much in the middle of his Saharan crossing. During the early morning of 17 April, we received confirmation via a good quality location, that he had successfully crossed the desert, and the western Mediterranean, and was in the Sierra Morena Mountains in southern Spain.

Coo is on his way back! Locations recieved during the evening of 16 April showed him close to a large lake, Hassi el Morra Tahtania, in the northeastern Algerian desert. However, since then we have received three poor quality locations that show he didn't stay here long. The poor locations place him close to Los Menas in southern Spain. We will have to wait for good quality locations to confirm this but it does look like he has crossed the desert and the Mediterranean.

Having rested in the Ivory Coast and been overtaken by Coo and David, Stanley has suddenly sprung back into action, with his latest signals trasmitting from northern Algeria. Stanley is now in second position in the Cuckoo race back to the UK. Will he catch Vigilamus?