Updates from our Cuckoos

Over the weekend Cooper has flown 363km (225 miles) south from his last location near Cahors in central France to  north east Spain. By  10pm on Saturday night he was just south of the town of Canyelles in the south of Barcelona Province. 

Calypso spent most of Saturday exploring the area around Lordswood near Chatham in Kent. He then headed south east and by 10pm was over the Channel. By yesterday evening he had reached the Seine-et-Marne department in the Île-de-France region in north-central France. He is just north of the town of La Ferte-Gaucher, 70km east of Paris. 

New updates from Grove II's tag received early this morning show that he is now in northern France. At 8:38am this morning he was in some woodland just south of the town of Les Monts d'Aunay in Calvados, north western France.

Victor II is taking an interesting route south following his departure from northern France last week. By Friday evening he was in the area around Lake Emosson, 16km north of Chamonix. Since then he has flown 411km (256 miles) east-north east along the northern edge of the Alps to his current location in the mountains around Lake Zillergründl in south west Austria, approximately 52km (32 miles) south east of Innsbruck. Last year Victor II arrived in the south of France on 19th July and departed on 27th July, moving via Algeria across the Sahara to Niger where he arrived on 30 July. This year he is clearly ahead of schedule and his move east is unusual, presumably driven by weather and lack of food. Hopefully he will find suitable feeding opportunities so that he can prepare for the next leg of his journey. Conditions in southern Europe have been very hot and dry and this may well be impacting the movements and ultimately the fates of some of our Cuckoos. 

Overnight Daniel has left the UK and arrived in France. He has flown 410km (255 miles) to his new location close to Dourdan in the Essonne department in Île-de-France, approximately 47km (30 miles) south west of Paris. 

A new update received from Charles' tag at 8am this morning shows that he has continued his journey south over the Algerian Sahara and is now approaching the border with Mali. Over the last 26 hours he has covered 873km (543 miles) at an average speed of 33.6 kph (20.9mph). He is currently flying into light southerly winds across the Tanezrouft (sometimes known as "The land of terror"), one of the most arid and desolate parts of the Sahara. In another 600km (372 miles) he could be on the banks of the Niger in Mali.  

JAC has left Havant and flown 315 km (196 miles) south-south east, crossing the Channel and arriving in France. The most recent update from his tag showed him in woodland to the north of Fontaine-la-Guyon in the Eure-et-Loire department of northern France. 

Daniel has finally departed his breeding grounds at Lake Vyrnwy and flown 217km (135 miles) south east to the fine county of Bedfordshire. He spent a couple of hours Tuesday evening in and around the village of Marston Moreteyne - did anyone see or hear him? By 10pm on Tuesday evening he was near Langford, just south of Biggleswade. It'll be interesting to see where he travels to next. 

New updates received at around 6am this morning show that Charles has flown 550km (343 miles) south from his last location in northern Algeria, into the Sahara. By 8am this morning he had reached Timimoun Province in south central Algeria. He was 37km north of the town of Talmine, the first of a string of oasis towns leading south towards the provincial capital, Adrar. The average daily high in this area in June is a blistering 42.2 degrees C (108 degrees F), and average precipitation is 0mm. We'll be keeping our fingers crossed that Charles has enough in the tank to power him through the next 1,500km or so to the other side of the desert. 

Update: By 11:42 this morning, Charles had flown a further 120km south and was passing just east of the town of Metarfa in Aougrout District, Adrar Province. He is currently flying into a light headwind but as he moves south he should pick up a tailwind which will assist him on his way south over southern Algeria and Mali. 

Having spent the last week or so visiting the Llanymynech area, Daniel has flown the 29km (18 miles) west, back to his breeding grounds on the southern shore of Lake Vyrnwy. Perhaps he was struggling to find a good enough food supply and so returned to an area that he was familiar with and could be more confident would hold the food supply that he needs.