New signals received from AJ's tag over the last couple of days show that he has flown 946 km (588 miles) north from Angola where he has been for the past month, to an area of dense rainforest in southern Gabon. This represents the first leg of AJ's spring migration which will hopefully bring him back to Sherwood Forest by the end of March/early April.

Since our last update, AJ has flown 1,100km (685 miles) south-west from his location deep in the Democratic Republic of Congo to his current location in north western Angola. He is now in the Quiçama National Park, approximately 70 km (40 miles) south of the capital Luanda. AJ is now our most southerly Cuckoo, but it isn't unprecedented for our tagged Cuckoos to visit Angola. Those of you who have been following the project for a while will know that PJ has also been a regular visitor to this very same part of Angola, though interestingly, he is staying further north this year. 

AJ has flown 200 Km (124 miles) south east within the Democratic Republic of the Congo and is now on the western edge of the Salongo National Park (North). This very isolated area which is only accessible by boat is Africa's largest tropical rainforest reserve. Here AJ could be crossing paths with endangered species like the Congo Peacock, Pygmy Chimpanzee or the Bush Elephant. 

Since the last update, AJ has flown 633 Km (393 miles) south east into the south eastern corner of Cameroon. He is now in an area of lowland rainforest, close to Boumba Bek National Park.

New updates received late yesterday afternoon show that AJ has flown 450 km (280 miles) south east from his last location close to Abuja, Nigeria, over the border into Cameroon. He is close to Lake Bamendjing in the West region of Cameroon.

AJ has continued his journey east, swapping Togo for Nigeria. He is now one of five tagged Cuckoos in the country, along with PJ, JAC, Calypso and Ellis. He is currently 235 Km west of the capital Abuja. 

Over the last few days, AJ has flown 670 Km (416 miles) east from Burkina Faso, over Ghana and into Togo. He is now close to the village of Natchitipi in the Bassar Prefecture in the Kara Region of north-western Togo.

An update received at 10:32 this morning shows that AJ has left Mali, flying 550 Km (342 miles) east, over the border into Burkina Faso. He is 17 Km north of the town of N'dorola in south-western Burkina Faso.

A couple of new updates from AJ's tag arrived just after 11am this morning (Monday 19 July) showing that he has flown 280Km (174 miles) further south. He is now in south west Mali, approximately 9km (5.5 miles) south east of the village of Didenko in the Kayes region. 

Over the last couple of days AJ has flown 1,870 km (1,163 miles) over the Sahara from Algeria to southern Mauritania. An update received at 19:13 this evening (Sunday 18 July) showed him approximately 18.5 km (11.5 miles) south east of the Mauritanian town of Ayoun al Atrous. He has a couple of hundred kilometers to go before he completes his crossing of the desert, it looks as if he is heading for south west Mali.  

After a flight of 840 km (522 miles) from southern France, AJ arrived in north Africa on Wednesday 14 July. At 9am on Wednesday he was 15 km south-south east of the town of Tenes in Algeria. A subsequent update received at around 6am this morning (Friday 16 July) showed him almost 600 km south so he may be attempting to cross the Sahara.

After a flight of 840 km (522 miles) from southern France, AJ arrived in north Africa on Wednesday 14 June. At 9am on Wednesday he was 15 km south-south east of the town of Tenes in Algeria. A subsequent update received at around 6am this morning (Friday 16 June) showed him almost 600 km south so he may be attempting to cross the Sahara.

Having departed the UK on 12 June, AJ has made steady progress south, first to Normandy, where he spent a few weeks. In the last few days he has flown 533 km (331 miles) south to his current location 32 km (20 miles) east of Mont-de-Marsan in the south of France. 

AJ was caught at the edge of RSPB Budby Common on the evening of 27th May. The team’s spirits were dampened a little when there was no response to the Cuckoo sound tape initially but after a while, a male and a female Cuckoo were heard approaching the nets. Soon after they checked the nets and found both birds in them! As night was approaching, they worked quickly to tag the male bird before darkness fell. As the team sat in the car under the forest canopy working under artificial light, a Tawny Owl called nearby, causing the Cuckoo to flinch markedly – a good reminder of the dangers these birds face throughout their lives. Since being tagged AJ has made the journey south across the Channel into northern France where he is approximately 80 km (50 miles) west of Paris.

After being unable to tag any Cuckoos in 2020 due to COVID-19 restrictions, we are delighted to be able to introduce eleven new Cuckoos this year!

The tagging teams faced some very early starts as usual to tag the Cuckoos, but they were rewarded with birds who were interested enough in the female lure to be caught, weighed and tagged (with the exception of a location near Loch Katrine where there were a number of female Cuckoos around, making our lure less convincing!).

Some of these newly-tagged birds have already begun their migration south, with one in France, one in the Netherlands and one of the Scottish birds is already down in Essex.

Keep an eye on the individual birds' blogs for updates on their progress.