With no further news from Chris the Cuckoo, whose last transmission was from the middle of the desert, we have to conclude that he has sadly died. Chris was satellite-tagged in spring 2011 and we have been following his journey for the last four years as he traveled to and from Africa. See our celebration of Chris' journey and just how much he has contributed to our understanding of Cuckoo migration.

We are still receiving poor quality signals from Chris that show he is still just north of the Tibesti Mountains in northern Chad. He has been here for almost four weeks and although we have no direct evidence that he has died, it seems unlikely that he would stay there for that length of time even though the area has recently received some rainfall. It may be that after over four years of following Chris's journey it may have come to an end. 

We haven't received any good quality locations for Chris since 3 August, although poor quality signals do indicate that he left Italy shortly after this and was crossing the Mediterranean Sea on the 5 August.  

The Po Valley in Italy is Chris's usual stopover site, however, the region is experiencing its worst drought in years, and given the short length of time our Cuckoos have spent here this year, has presumably led to a shortage of caterpillars.

A series of poor signals from Chris’s tag show that he has made it to the Tibesti mountains in Northern Chad by 8 August, but no good signals have been received to confirm this and elevate his location so that it is visible on the public maps. He seems to have been here for around eight days which is very worrying as he normally crosses the desert in a day or two, stopping on the shores of Lake Chad in the south of the country and on the southern edge of the desert.

At this stage we are very concerned about him and, given the conditions in Italy, we fear that he may not have been able to take on the amount of food needed to prepare for, and successfully complete, the journey. Both Peckham and Larry also stopped in the mountain area and continued on to complete their crossing of the desert, though neither spent as long as Chris has in the area. 

Chris has continued south and is now in northern Italy, just east of Ferrara. Poor quality signals indicate that he journeyed to Slovenia from Germany, and then on to Italy. 

Chris's stay in the Netherlands was quite short this year. A signal during the early evening on 7 July showed that he was in Bavaria, just outside of the town of Langenthonhausen. This is the furthest east he has ventured since being fitted with his satellite tag.

On the 4 July good signals were received from Chris' tag which revealed he was in the Netherlands,close to Rotterdam. Low quality signals received a few days before this show he may well have arrived in mainland Europe earlier than this, before moving north-east to his current location. This location is further north than the locations in Belgium we have seen him use in previous years. 

Chris is still in the area of Cavenham Heath that he arrived in on 29 April. Last year he left the UK on 7 July.

Chris has returned to the area around the Norfolk/Suffolk border where he was first tagged in spring 2011 and has spent each subsequent summer. 

Since leaving our shores in 2011, Chris has flown over, or visited, twenty-eight different countries, crossed the Sahara Desert eight times and reached speeds of up to 60mph. 

Dr Chris Hewson, lead scientist on the project at the BTO, said, “Chris was one-year old when we fitted the satellite-tag, which makes him five-years old now, and quite an age for a Cuckoo; the oldest we have on record is almost seven. The tag was also given a life of two-to-three years, so that is getting quite old too. We had everything crossed for Chris to make it back again this year and give us another complete migration route, and he hasn’t let us down.”

Chris is back in the UK once again! From western Spain he has covered 1080km (670 miles), travelling over France and the English Channel to reach a location in the Isle of Wight by the 26 April.  He still has a little way further to go yet to reach his breeding grounds which are to the north-east, in Norfolk. This is the fourth return trip of his that we have been able to follow since he was tagged in 2011.  

Chris continued on his desert crossing from Mali, travelling a further 2500km (1550 miles) to reach northern Spain. He is now west of Zamora, a city in Castile and León region and is furher north than Derek, Dudley, David or Stanley. 

Over the weekend we received signals to show that Chris had embarked upon his desert crossing and was on his way north over Mali, 1345km (835 miles) north of his last location in Ghana. We will have to wait for further signals to see whether he has made it safely across.

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! 

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.  

In the last few days Chris has moved to the northern edge of the rainforest, having left his location in Congo and travelled 630km (390 miles). He has flown across the entire breadth of the forest spanning Congo and Central African Republic, at which point it is slightly narrower than to either the east and west. 

He is now in Central African Republic where Emsworthy, Livingstone and David are currently. Livingstone has also only moved to this area recently, travelling 590km (370 miles) north-east from Gabon. We now have five Cuckoos on the edge of the forest getting ready for the next stage of their migration to West Africa, where two of our Cuckoos already are. 

No signals had been received from Chris' tag since the 21 Janaury but by the 2 February Chris was on the move again. Low quality signals show he had travelled the 490km (300 miles) north it took to leave Angola and take up a location in the  Reserve de chasse de la Lefin in Congo. This is the first stage of his migration north as he moves into the area many of the other tagged Cuckoos spent the winter. This isn't currently on the map due to the low quality but hopefully further signals will be received shortly confirming his location. 

Since arriving in Angola Chris has moved another 178km (110 miles) further south and west. He seems to be heading towards Luanda and the area that he spent last winter in. We last heard from him at 17.56 on 18 December.

Having previously wintered in the swamp forests in Congo during the first two years of the project (2011/12 and 2012/13), Chris surprised us last year with his movement to Angola. We were intrigued to see whether he would stay in the swamp forests again this year or head further south to where he spent the later part of last winter. Now we have our answer! Signals received yesterdy afternoon revealed that he was once again in Angola, having travelled 685km (425 miles). Both he and Skinner are currently a bit further north-east of the locations they chose last year. 

Chris is once again in Congo in the swamp forests in which he has spent previous winters. He made the journey over the 15 and 16 October to reach the Central African Republic, continuing on to Congo and reaching his current location, close to the Site Lac Tele- Likouala Aux Herbes, on 18 October.  Last year, he left the area at the beginning of December, having only spent one month there, and travelled even further south to reach Angola, where Skinner also spent the winter. Skinner has recently returned to Angola this year and we will have to wait and see whether Chris stays in the swamp forests or once again moves further south to join him. 

With most cuckoos now in the Sahel region, we're entering a fairly quiet period in the annual cycle of the tagged cuckoos with less movement than during the migration season.

Birds who completed their desert crossing will spend time in the Sahel recovering their body condition, and some may stay quite a long time. In previous years, cuckoos have stayed in this area for as much as several months, while others spend a shorter amount of time before moving south into the humid zone forests.

The eastern Sahel in Chad and south Sudan has received plenty of rain recently, and thus conditions are likely good for cuckoos. Northern Cameroon was slightly drier than average in August, and so cuckoos such as Derek, Dudley, Stanley, and Emsworthy may be moving on if foraging conditions aren't suitable.

In previous years, we've seen Chris be one of the first tagged Cuckoos in Africa but this year he seems to be on a much more relaxed schedule. His previous arrival dates in Africa were 23 July, 16 July and 24 July but right now he is still currently in Italy! It will be interesting to see whether this affects the rest of his journey or whether he just does the same route in a more leisurely fashion.  

We are still following twenty-two birds. Currently two cuckoos are in France – Walpole and unnamed cuckoo 134957.

Five birds are in and around the Po Valley in northern Italy – BB, Chris, Stanley, Waller and Livingstone.

Six birds are in Spain – Two of these are big movers this week. After finally leaving the UK, Derek hasn’t hung around. After a brief stop in central-western France, he is now in central-northern Spain, just south of Tolbanos de Abajo. It is Maji that has provided the biggest surprise though. He seems to be taking a tour of the European mountain ranges. Having spent a time in the Austrian Alps, he is now in the central Pyrenees!

David is still in Montenegro and Ash is still in Croatia; both of these birds could make the move to Africa any day now.

We now have seven birds in Africa, six of them south of the Sahara. Emsworthy is the latest to arrive here and he is currently just south of Lake Chad, in an area that Chris also favours. Three other Cuckoos – Peter, Hennah and Dudley – are also close to Lake Chad.

BB has left Germany and flown over Austria to reach Italy and is close to Venice.  He joins East Anglian Cuckoos Stanley and Chris, and fellow Scottish Cuckos Livingstone and Waller, all of whom are in different areas of northern Italy.

With three un-named birds left we are letting you choose what to name one of our Sherwood Cuckoos!  Anyone who sponsors a Cuckoo before the end of June will be entered in to a draw. We’ll then pick one entry at random and will contact the winner who can then suggest a suitable name*. Find out how you could name a Cuckoo. 

Our East Anglian Cuckoos have yet to budge, with all seven birds remaining in the UK. In previous years Chris has left between 11-21 June, while last year Skinner left on 30 June and Derek on 17 July. It may be a while before we see any movement from these two birds but keep an eye on Chris over the weekend.  

With a flurry of Cuckoos leaving the UK, Ash looks to be the only tagged Cuckoo remaining in the most southern of our tagging locations. 

Signals received yesterday show that Chris had moved on from northern Spain was in Normandy, France. We received a series of signals which showed him moving around the area of Omaha beach. Omaha was one of the five sectors of the Allied invasion of German-occupied France in the Normandy landings.  However he didn't spend too long on the D-day cliff faces and later signals show him in the English Channel. He is on his way and could be back anytime!  

The title of first tagged Cuckoo back to the UK is still up for grabs, and Chris is close on the heels of the two leading Cuckoos. From his location in Morroco on 14 April he has flown 810km (500 miles), across the Alboran Sea and the Sieraa Nevada Mountains to a location south of Valladolid, Spain.

This is surprising, as during the 3 years we have been following him, this is the first time he has ventured to Spain, previously preferring to travel through Italy and France.  

Skinner is currently the most northerly Cuckoo, but only just further than Waller. Skinner is about 140km (90 miles) directly north of Chris while Waller is 170km (100 miles) to the north-west.

Chris remained in the east of Ivory Coast until at least 6 April.  In the late afternoon of the 11 April, a series of transmissions revealed he was on the move and was in Mauritania, flying over the El Djouf Desert at the western edge of the Sahara, having already covered 1525km (950 miles) from his previous location.

Just north of the El Djouf Desert, he then changed course to head north-east, arriving in northern Morocco in the early hours of the 14 April, shortly after Waller also arrived in Morrocco having completed his crossing. This makes Chris the third of our Cuckoos to cross the desert successfully and is the third return desert crossing over which we have eagerly followed his progress. This year, he seems to have ended up much further west than after any previous crossings. He was tagged in the first year of the project and is the only remaining bird from the original five tagged. Over the three years, he has helped us to learn amazing new things about Cuckoo Migration and we hope that he continues to do so! 

Chris is the most recent Cuckoo to have joined the five others in Ivory Coast! Having been in Ghana until at least the 18 March, he then flew 215km (130 miles) which took him over the border and into Ivory Coast by the 21 March. He is now only 75km (45 miles) from Skinner's location and 70km ( 42 miles) from Ken's location. 

By the early hours of 14 March, Chris had left Central African Republic and signals showed he was in the south of Nigeria. The next signals received on 16 March revealed he had contined on and was in Ghana. He had travelled a total of 1900km (1180 miles) from his location within Central African Republic to Ghana in no more than five days at most! In previous years he has arrived in Ghana between the 13-17 March, so once again he is on schedule!  

On the afternoon of the 20 February, Chris's tag sent tranmissions from southern Congo but, by early morning on 25 February, he had travelled 930km (580 miles) to reach a location in the  south-west of the Central African Republic. He has now flown right over the block of Congo rainforest, and is very close to it's northern edge. Its the first time we have seen him do this, largely because in previous winters he hasn't travelled so far south, instead choosing the swamp forests of eastern Congo.  He is just 80km (50 miles) south of David, the most northerly tagged Cuckoo, who moved to the edge of the forest at the very end of January. 

It's amazing that we are still gathering data for Chris having first tagged him in spring 2011. We now have three southward autumn migrations and two northward spring migrations for him.  Having taken up a different wintering location this year, it will be really interesting to see whether this changes his return strategy. We are keeping our fingers crossed for his safe return once again to the UK.  

On the 17 Janaury a series of poor quality locations indicated Chris had left his previous position and was heading NNE. A signal on the 20 January revealed he had crossed the border into Congo and had traveled 550km (345 miles) almost due N to a location in the region of Pool, about 80km ( 50 miles) north-west of the capital of Brazzaville.

This is likely to be the first stage of his northward migration. Having wintered so far south this year in Angola, it will be interesting to see if he continues to the north of the Congo Rainforest, as we have seen our British Cuckoos do each winter or whether he will remain to its south for a while, like the Scandinavian birds have after wintering in Angola. 

Chris is still at his mid-winter location in Angola and, as a consequence of Skinner’s move north, is now our most southerly Cuckoo. We last heard from Chris at 09.30 on 13 January.

Chris and Skinner look set to spend Christmas in Angola, having spent several weeks in the area. Skinner first transmitted from Angola on 18 November, while Chris joined him at the beginning of December. 

Angola is a new country for the project, visited by the Cuckoos for the first time this year. In the past two years of the project, Chris has spent Christmas in the Congolian swamp forests but has opted for a change this year. We aren't entirely sure why, but it is likely conditions weren't as good this year, as other Cuckoos using this area have also moved away.

When we first started the tracking project it was estimated that the satellite-tags fitted to the Cuckoos would last for between 2-3 years. So far we have 2.5 years of data for Chris on his migration and, fingers crossed, we are really hoping to complete a third year to see whether this different wintering location has any affect on his return migration to the UK.   It will also be interesting to see whether Angola is a place that Skinner may return to, as this is the first year we have tracked his migration and so do not have data to indicate this may be different from previous years. 

Since the 3 December, Chris has moved 270 km (170 miles) further south into Angola. He is now close to Skinner's original location within Angola, although he has subsequently also moved slightly further south. 

On 26 November, transmissions from Chris's tag revealed that he had moved from his position in the Western Congolian Swamp forests and become the second of all our tagged Cuckoos to travel as far south as Angola! He had covered almost 800km (500 miles) and was just inside the border, in the region of Uige.

What's even more interesting than this movement south is that we have been tracking Chris for two and a half years and so know that he has spent the two previous winters in the swamp forest from which he recently moved. So what has prompted him to move? We know that rainfall has been a bit higher than usual over the past month in the area that he came from but we aren't sure whether that will have impacted conditions for him. Could food be more scarce in the area this year? If so, we may well see Derek who is in the swamp forests move on too. Keep an eye on the blog to see whether Chris decides to spend the winter in his new location or whether he returns to the swamp.  

Chris remains in the same area in Congo in which he arrived on 26 September. He has now been joined by fellow East Anglian Cuckoo, Derek. This is interesting as, previously, all of the birds tagged in the region have wintered further south and west in central Congo, with Chris being an exception. It looks like he may have company this winter.  

Chris is now within the area that he has spent most of the last two mid-winter periods in, just inside Congo, on the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo. He arrived here on 26 September, a day later than he arrived at this location last year.

Waller, Chris, Sussex and BB are all still in Chad and sending regular transmissions. Last year Chris was the first of our tagged Cuckoos to move south of Chad, arriving in the Central African Republic by the 18 September. Not long after this the Cuckoos moved on to the Congo Rainforest. 

Chris has made his leap to Africa too, heading from his location in Sicily straight across the Sahara to Chad. This makes him the third Cuckoo this year to reach Africa and the first that we can confirm to have successfully crossed the Sahara Desert.  Positions received early this morning show that he is 440km (275 km) south-east of Lake Chad. 

Since the last location received at 4pm on 21 July near Sicily, Chris had covered 3035km (1885 miles) in as little as three and a half days, arriving in Chad on 24 July.

Last year, Chris crossed the desert and arrived just north of Lake Chad on 19 July. In 2011 he arrived in Chad on 25 July so the timings are really similar. In both cases he remained in Chad until mid September/early October before then moving into Central African Republic. 

Chris has left the Po watershed and by the 22 July had travelled 765km (475 miles) to the north-west of Sicily. Last year, after a short stop in the Po Watershed, he also had a short stop  in Sicily  before embarking  on his crossing of the Sahara Desert just two days later. This year he arrived in Italy on 4 July and has spent more time at this stopover than he did last year, when he spent a larger amount of time in Belgium before heading south.  

Chris has covered another 75km (45 miles) heading south from the Venetian Lagoon to the Po Valley. His last transmissions revealed he was at a location close to the River Po, near Ariano nel Polesine in the Province of Rovigoa. This area has proved popular with other tagged Cuckoos, with three birds spending almost a month in the watershed of the River Po in the first year, and six stopping here last year.  Several British-ringed birds had previously been reported here before the project started and tracking them has confirmed this is a very important stop-over site for British Cuckoos.  In the first year of the project, Chris spent a month of feeding up in this area before quickly moving south, having put on enough fat to enable him to undertake not only the crossing of the Mediterranean Sea but also the crossing of the Sahara desert at its widest point. 

Poor quality locations from Chris on the 1 July revealed that he had left his position in Belgium and was travelling in a south-easterly direction. Two days later when the tag next transmitted, Chris had crossed the Alps and was close to the banks of the Venetian lagoon, north-east of Venice. 

Chris has become the third Cuckoo to leave the UK! Poor quality locations received on the afternoon of 21 June show that Chris had left his position close to Mildenhall and was in the middle of his crossing of the English Channel.  A good location a couple of hours after this placed him in Belgium about 30km (19 miles) inland close to the municipality Wingene in the Belgian province of West Flanders. 

Chris remains in the Cavenham Pits area, south of the east end of Cavenham Heath., where he has been since the 5 May. His stay has already been as long as it was last year so perhaps he will be the first of this year’s cuckoo to start his migration and move away soon?

Transmissions from the last few days show that all four Cuckoos which have returned to their breeding grounds are still in their respective areas. They are likely to remain in and around these areas looking for breeding opportunities for at least the next month.We now assume Lloyd has perished in Morocco as there is no reason for him to remain in his current position for so long. Last year, the earliest Cuckoo to leave the UK was Chris, on the 11 June, while David and BB left on 18 and Chance on the 22 June. Wallace, one of the birds tagged in Scotland last year, was the last to leave, transmitting from outside the UK on 23 July, just one day later than the last bird, Lyster, in 2011. 

It seems that Chris is in no hurry to get back to the UK, in fact, he has begun to head south again. Yesterday he was close to the French town of Suippes, and around 80km (50 miles) south of the Belgian border. Having been as close as 210km (130 miles) to the English coast, he is now 100km (60 miles) further south. It is beginning to look like he might well stay in France this year. However, there is still plenty of time for him to change his mind.

The duty cycle of Chris’ tag has been resetting, possibly due to him perching on power lines. Consequently, we received unexpected additional locations throughout Tuesday and Wednesday (16 and 17 April) which showed he moved from Belgium into France, to the west of the Ardennes Mountains. Although it’s not possible to be precise, he appears to have been in the Parc Naturel Régional de l’Avesnois in Nord Pas-de-Calais region. The area is characterised by the ‘bocage’ landscape – small pastures surrounded by hedges and interspersed by blocks of woodland of various sizes. As we have seen elsewhere including in Africa, areas with mixtures of woodland and grassland make excellent cuckoo habitat. Will Chris find this area more to his liking than the Thetford Forest area and stay here through the breeding season? 

When Chris’ tag resumed transmissions early this morning it revealed he had indeed continued northward, as expected – but not to England! A series of locations placed him in southern Belgium and although each was an unconfirmed location whose accuracy couldn’t be assessed, taken together they indicate that he was travelling slowly westwards around the northern periphery of the Ardennes Mountains. Chris’ current location is within 100km of the areas that he stopped over in the late summers of 2011 and 2012 and in fact visited this very area during his ‘mini-tour’ of NW Europe last June but we had no indication that he visited the area last spring. Will he stay here for a while before returning to England? Will he defy expectations and not return to England at all this spring? Watch this space!

When Chris’ tag resumed transmissions as the skies cleared on Saturday evening (13 April), two locations showed he was still south of Autun in Burgundy, central France. Between the times of the two locations, however, his tag’s temperature dropped by 4 degrees C, probably indicating the initiation of migration, and sure enough, an hour and a half later he was 80km (50 miles) to the NNW. In total, Chris advanced about 120km (75 miles) in the 3.5 hours after dusk. Further unconfirmed locations for the early hours of Sunday morning suggested that he had stopped about 80km (50 miles) to the east of Paris, possibly due to the rain that lay to his north. If indeed he did stop here, we expect he would have resumed his migration the next night so it is likely that when his tag comes on again on Tuesday morning, he will be back in England – watch this space!

Signals received yesterday morning show that Chris has continued quickly onwards from Italy and is already in France, travelling 450km (280 miles) to Charbonnat in southern Burgundy with little rest. This has been a very fast paced journey from Ghana - Chris has covered about 4,600 km (2858 miles) in less than a week, which is not much slower than the fastest of the swifts we have tracked with geolocators! If he is still in good condition and the weather is kind, he could be home in the next few days. 

Although he rested in the Atlas Mountains of Algeria during the day of 4 April after completing his desert crossing, Chris must have moved on that night because when the tag’s next transmission period began two days later he had travelled a further 937km (582 miles) almost due N, having crossed the Mediterranean Sea to reach Italy! He is currently on the Mediterranean coast of western Liguria in north-western Italy and is just 33km (20 miles) from the border with France and 42km (26 miles) from Monaco.  Last year he hit land about 185 km (115 miles) further east in Sarzana.

None of the Cuckoos began crossing the Sahara, as anticipated, over the Easter weekend but we still expect them to make a move soon. Stay tuned for further updates when we get news of any movements. 

Chris has now been in the Digya National Park for 10 days preparing for his next move. Will he do this from Ghana or Ivory Coast, as last year? We do know that he didn't use the same stop-overs on his southward journey as he did the previous year so we will have to wait and see where he will attempt his crossing of the Sahara Desert from this time.

Chris has continued moving rapidly westwards and by Saturday morning (16 March) he was apparently settled in Digya National Park, Ghana. He had moved 1075km (667 miles) west in just over 2 days since the previous location in Nigeria. He is the second Cuckoo, following Chance, to make it to Ghana. Although his current location would be a great place for him to carry out his pre-Sahara crossing stop over, last year he did this in Cote d’Ivoire, so it will be interesting to see whether he stops here or carries on west. 

Transmissions from Chris' tag on 13 March reveal that he is in Nigeria, having moved 430km (267 miles) WNW from his previous location in Cameroon. Chris is in the Benue region, about 33 km (20 miles) to the west of Nigeria’s border with Cameroon. 

Only low quality signals have been received recently from Chris’s tag but these show that on 4 March and throughout 6 March he was slowly zig-zagging in a north-westerly direction. The last of these transmissions at about 6pm, show him 138 km (86 miles) north-west of the location he was in on 4 March. Where will he be when the tag next transmits?! 

Chris is now the only Cuckoo not to have started his northward movement and remains in Congo.  His last transmission was on 25 February - could he be feeding up in preparation or already on the move? Last year Chris moved to Cameroon on 2 March and took a slower route to Ghana than any of the other Cuckoos, stopping in Togo on 6 March and transmitting from Ghana on 13 March.  How closely will this year’s movements mirror those of 2012? 

Both Chris and BB remain in Congo, at the north end of the Téké Plateau and have shown no sign of moving north yet. We last received a location for BB’s tag this morning and for Chris's yesterday morning. Currently just 85km (53 miles) separates the two of them.  

Chris, BB and Lloyd have still yet to begin their northwards movements and have all transmitted, from the same positions, in the last few days. Given the pattern seen so far, we may expect to lose transmissions for a few days as they feed up before they then make their move north. 

There have been no further transmissions from David since the 2 February, just after his big move, however the tag charge was low then. Hopefully it may receive some sunlight soon and charge up enough to transmit his current location. Chance is about 270km (168 miles) away from David's last known location. 

Roughly 385km (240 miles) north of Lloyd's position, signals were received on the evening of 29 January from Chris' tag, but he has not moved from his previous location.  Last year, his tag was still transmitting from Congo on the 19 February. The next signal received after that wasn't until the 6 March when he turned up in Togo.  

Transmissions from Chris’s tag were received yesterday evening, he is currently 100km (62 miles) to the northeast of Chance and BB.  

Chance, Lloyd, David and Chris all remain in their previous positions according to locations received in the last two days.  

So far in 2013, we have heard from four of the five remaining Cuckoos. We received tag transmissions from Chris and Chance today and from Lloyd and David yesterday showing there had been no substantial movements to report.

However, we haven’t heard from BB since the 30 December - at this stage this is nothing to worry about, though, as at this time last year we regularly went longer than this without hearing from the Cuckoos. A combination of poor charging conditions and a gradual decline in battery charge mean that they are transmitting less often, whilst as they are within the forest interference from trees reduces the chances of transmissions being picked up by satellites. Once they move on, or the weather at their current locations improves, we should start to receive positions more regularly again. 

No further movements from Chris to report but transmissions were received from his tag as 2012 ticked into 2013. We hope this year is more favorable for migrating Cuckoos than last year! 

Signals received on Christmas Eve show that Chris remained in his new location in the Cuvette region of Congo.

Transmissions received early this morning show that Chris was 225 km (140 miles) southwest of his previous location, though still within Congo. He is now in the north of the Cuvette region.  

Sometime between Wednesday 5 December and Saturday 8 December Chris moved 116km (72 miles) north from his previous position. He is now about 16km (10 miles) west-north-west of the position he moved to in early January this year, when he remained here for about two months. It is interesting that this short northward movement has come at the same time as David’s movement of similar length and direction. 

Now that BB has moved south, the five Cuckoos that we are still tracking all appear to be at, or close to, their final wintering locations. Although we can’t draw firm conclusions from such small numbers, the Scottish-tagged Cuckoos are wintering in the same area as the Cuckoos tagged in England (bar Chris) did last winter. The two Welsh Cuckoos are further to the east. This is really interesting but whether it reflects general differences in the wintering areas used by the different breeding populations will need to be confirmed by the results of further tracking work in the coming years.

Chris is still settled close to the Ubangi river, transmissions from yesterday afternoon indicate. He has been in this area for nearly two months now.

Chris has returned north after his short southwards movement, transmitting on the 9 November, from the same location he had been in previously. 

There are currently just five tagged Cuckoos from which we are still receiving regular transmissions. While BB, LLoyd and David have all transmitted in the last couple of days, none of them have moved from their previous positions. Chris's tag transmitted on 7 November and showed he had made a small movement south of about 34km (21 miles), taking him closer to the Ubangi river. Chance also seems to have made a small movement recently and is now south-west of the Faro Reserve and only 54km (34 miles) from the border with Nigeria. 

No big movements to report from our remaining English and Welsh Cuckoos. David’s last tag transmission was on 30 October from within Democratic Republic of Congo. He is still in the same position, to the west of southern part of Salonga National Park, Africa's largest tropical rainforest reserve. Meanwhile, Lloyd’s tag signal confirmed that, as of this morning, 1 November, he is still in Central African Republic.  He has shown some local movements, heading northwest a short distance from his position on the 24 October, before then heading back southeast about 60km (37 miles).  Our English Cuckoo, Chris, remains in Congo, his tag transmitting in the early hours of yesterday, 31 October.

Chris’s last transmission was on 14 October. He is still close to the  Likouala aux Herbes, the same area of Congo that he has been in since 28 September.

Having made it into Congo by the morning of Tuesday 25 September, Chris didn’t hang around and by yesterday afternoon (Thursday 27 September) he had progressed a further 300km (186 miles) further due S. He is now 56km (35 miles) due S of the location that he spent most of last winter in. He is in similarly wet swamp forest, close to the Likouala aux Herbes. 

In the early hours of this morning Chris transmitted from Congo. At lunchtime on the 20 September, Chris was still in Central African Republic, 378 km (235 miles) away from his previous position but from here he travelled almost directly south. His arrival there this year is around two weeks earlier than last year, when he first transmitted from Congo on the 10 October 2011. You can see where he has ‘overtaken himself’ by the overlap of the two pathways on the map. Chris is still to the north of where he spent much of last winter. He is currently the most southerly Cuckoo, although Roy, who is on the border between Central African Republic and Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is not far behind.  

By the early hours of this morning, Chris had moved 398km (246 miles) due S from the position he had held in southern Chad since 6 September. He is now in Ouam prefecture in western Central African Republic, and becomes the most southerly of the tracked Cuckoos. He is migrating along a very similar path to last year but, so far, he is not stopping at the same locations. This was also the case in Europe, although he then crossed the desert on a more westerly path, possibly having been drifted by the wind. 

There have been no movements of note from our Cuckoos in the last few days. Transmissions have been received from Indy and Chance today and Lloyd, David, Wallace, Roy, BB and Chris in the last few days. Hopefully there will be more to report after the weekend! 

Chris’ tag transmitted this morning from a location 52km (32 miles) south of his previous position. He remains in Chad but is only around 195km (120 miles) north-west of the border with the Central African Republic, where he moved to last winter after leaving Chad. 

Chris continued eastwards around 90km (50 miles) from his position on 21 August. He moved to the Guera region of Chad and we have received recent locations this morning indicating he is still there. He is now just 30 miles west of where he was a year ago.

 Having been just north of Lake Chad since 19 July, Chris has decided it is time to move on. A series of locations received overnight 20-21 August tracked him moving 390km (242 miles) SE from his previous position. The last (and most accurate) position received placed him in the Chari-Baguirmi region of southern Chad, about 67km (41 miles) NE of the city of Bousso. Chris is now the most southerly of our tracked cuckoos and is now 134km (84 miles) W of the position he was in a exactly year ago.  He has moved to an area with higher annual rainfall that, like the area occupied by David, should have plenty of food at this time of year.

We haven’t received any further signals from Reacher since the unconfirmed locations on 26 July placing him near Malaga. Meanwhile, John has remained in France, but has moved slightly north-east of his last position. He is now close to the town of Garein. Chris continues to transmit from the area north of Lake Chad.

We have seen little movement in recent days from the Cuckoos tagged in England, with Lyster remaining in Catalonia, John still near Bayonne, Reacher still in Andalucia (although unconfirmed locations suggest he has moved to the south coast, just east of Malaga) and Chris just north of Lake Chad.

BB continued his movement south from Egypt and successfully completed his desert crossing during the early hours of Saturday 28 July, reaching south-western Sudan by the time his tag stopped transmitting, becoming the first of our tracked Cuckoos recorded in that country. By the morning of Monday 30 July he had moved 193km (120 miles) due W to a location just over the border in Chad. He is now at a very similar latitude to Chris and Mungo, who have remained just north of lake Chad, but he 764km (475 miles) to their east.

Signals received this morning (19 July) indicate that Chris has made good progress and has now almost completed his desert crossing. The signals placed him about 50km (30 miles) north of Lake Chad in Chad. He is quite a way north in an area with low annual rainfall but at this time of year, the area should be experiencing rainfall so hopefully conditions should be quite good for Chris. His location is approximately 300km (185 miles) N of the location that Martin spent some time in after his desert crossing last year, and about 500km (310 miles) NW of where he himself did the same, so we might expect him to continue moving south over the coming days.

Having wondered yesterday whether Chris would stop-over in Sicily we have our answer – no! But amazingly, just a week since he was last in Belgium, locations received last night (16/17 July) indicate he was in the latter stages of his Sahara crossing. He was in the Tenéré Desert, a vast expanse of sandy desert in eastern Niger. The locations place him about 500km (310 miles) north of Lake Chad. Last year Clement, the first Cuckoo to cross the desert, did so from 14 July so, assuming Chris left Sicily in the evening of 15 July, the timing of his crossing is very similar.

This remarkable development means that Chris has now moved about 3,800km (2,360 miles) since we last received a location for him in Belgium ten days ago (7 July). We don’t know precisely when he left there but we received unconfirmed locations for him in northern Italy on 12 July and Sicily on 15 July so clearly he has not made any significant stop-overs other than the one in Belgium. He spent about a month there after leaving the UK (except for a short round-trip to the south) so presumably this is where he did the majority of his preparation for the desert crossing – check back in two days to see if he has managed to complete his amazing marathon from northern Europe to the savannahs south of the Sahara.

Chris has made very rapid progress over the past few days. Having been still near Antwerp on 7 July, an unconfirmed location on Thursday 12 July placed him in the Po watershed, near the river Po itself NE of Parma. We assumed he would be set in for a prolonged stop-over in preparation for his Sahara crossing but the expected confirmation of this location never came. Instead, we received a series of locations on Sunday 15 July that he had passed straight over mainland Italy and had stopped in Sicily! It will be very interesting to see if he carries out a stop-over and successfully crosses the desert from here as it will already be very dry here at this stage of the summer.

In recent days there has been little movement from the Cuckoos tagged in England. Reacher remains near Perpignan and looks poised to take the westerly route into Africa through Iberia that Clement and Lyster used last year. Chris remains close to Antwerp and is now 24km (15 miles) NE of the city. 115589 is still about 110km (968 miles) east of Reims in northern France, whilst Lyster has repeated the pattern from last year and is the last of the Cuckoos tagged in England still in the country.

Since leaving the UK on 11 June, Chris has been on a mini European tour, taking in eastern Belgium, including a short break in the Ardennes Mountains in southern Belgium, Germany, Luxembourg and the Netherlands. He is now back in northern Belgium on the edge of Antwerp Docks, 31km (20miles) from where he first settled ten days ago, having completed a round trip of 700km (435miles). This is the same area where Kasper first stopped after leaving the UK in 2011.

Chris is the first Cuckoo to leave the UK and is currently in Belgium, close to the Netherlands border.

Having been recorded back in the UK on 1 May 2012 in Essex he quickly moved back to Thetford Forest, the area where he was originally tagged. He remained in this area until 9 June when we had a series of poor quality fixes. These were inconclusive but when he transmitted again yesterday he was near the town of Hoogstraten in Belgium. How long is summer? Well for Chris it was less than 6 weeks!

It's interesting to note that Chris was the first bird to leave the area in which he was tagged last year – sometime between 3 - 5 June 2011 - moving down to Sussex for a few days. He then turned up in the Netherlands approximately 20km (12 miles) NNE of Maastricht on 17 June 2011.

His current movement took him on the correct bearing to reach the same staging area as last year but he stopped approximately 85km short. Will he end up in the same place this year?

The last transmission received from Chris's tag was on the 2 June which showed that he was still south-west of Mildenhall close to the River Lark. 

Chris is still on the south bank of the River Lark, Suffolk. He has moved a little to the east and is now close to Icklingham. He has now been on the edge of the River Lark for twenty-six days.

 A location from Chris's tag this morning showed that he was still near Mildenhall, Suffolk, on the southern bank of the River Lark. Female cuckoos have been heard in this area and might explain why he seems reluctant to leave.

As of yesterday, Chris was still on the banks of the River Lark, near to Mildenhall, Suffolk. He seems to have settled in this area and not chosen to head north into Thetford Forest to the site that he was tagged a year ago.

Chris's tag is due to come back online today. The last signals recieved on 8 May showed that he was still south west of Barton Mills and Mildenhall, Suffolk. He is 16km south east of his original tagging site at Santon Downham. He seems to be focussing on patches of isolated woodland on the south bank of the River Lark.

Data received from Chris' tag yesterday shows a location of Thetford Forest, the site where Chris was tagged in June 2011. In the eleven months and 10,000 miles since he was last in Norfolk, Chris has been followed by thousands of well-wishers. The drama of his journey is only matched by how much he, and his comrades, have taught us about Cuckoo migration, neatly summarised here.

With Chris having been heading slowly northwards towards the Alps at the weekend and with conditions favourable for onward migration, we were keenly anticipating the resumption of transmissions from his tag. Locations received early on Tuesday morning (1 May) showed that he was between Epping and Chipping Ongar in Essex! This places him about 5km (3 miles) east of Epping Forest.  He had migrated 950km (592 miles) in a north-westerly direction during the previous 48 hours.

Chris is still in northern Italy, but is on the move. His last transmission on 29th April came from just outside Milan, around 30 miles north-west of his previous location. We hope that the next set of data, due tomorrow, will show that he has crossed the Alps.

We hoped Chris would have made the big jump over the weekend but persistent bad weather has kept him in Italy. We have received lots of data from him, on Saturday and again this morning, so we know that he is making small movements around northern Italy. There is a band of bad weather running directly across Chris' route to Norfolk, hopefully this will clear soon enabling Chris to complete the final leg of his journey. The adverse weather conditions seem to be a major factor in this year's migration, with many migratory species appearing in lower numbers than we might otherwise expect for the end of April. 

We heard from Chris's tag on the evening of the 14 April but there has been no further movement from his previous position in Italy. He is poised for his return to the UK and could arrive anytime.

Today's transmissions from Chris show that he has not moved far since 10 April. He may need to refuel for a week before the last leg of the journey from  Italy to Norfolk.

Our last point on 7 April put Chris in the middle of the the Mediterranean between Corsica and the French and Italian coasts. We weren't confident of this point as it was a poor quality fix and his tag appeared to be malfunctioning as transmissions continued for more than the scheduled 10 hour. However, it appears to have reset itself and at 9am on 10 April we picked him up in north-western Italy near the town of Sarzana. He appears to be in a mosaic of forest/farmland which looks like ideal staging habitat.

Chris and Kasper are due to transmit later this afternoon/evening. Chris's tag was malfunctioning on the last transmission and sent messages for more than the allotted 10 hours so we hope it will have reset itself.

A poor quality fix put Chris over the sea in between Corsica and the Italian and French coasts.

Our last record of Chris was from Ivory Coast on the 2 April at 11:09 BST. We next heard from him approximately 2,500 km away at 2100 on the 4 April on the southern edge of the Grand Erg Oriental Desert, a large field of sand dunes within the Sahara desert.

We tracked his desert crossing for 6 hours and he travelled about 350km. He should have finished his Saharan crossing by about breakfast time 5 April.  If he stays on the same track he should end up in north-east Algeria, approximately half way between Algiers and Tunis. We look forward to seeing which way he is coming back to the UK - to Spain or through Sardinia or Sicily through to mainland Italy... make sure you check back soon to find out!

On 31 March, Chris remained just west of the Ghanaian border in Côte d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast).

We received a transmission from Chris' tag in the early hours of yesterday morning which showed no further movement since he hopped over the border almost two weeks ago. We expect all four Cuckoos will be likely to attempt to cross the Sahara soon so watch this space!

Chris has joined Martin in Ivory Coast, skipping across the border from his previous position in Ghana. He has moved around 86km (53 miles) north-west and is 10km (6 miles) SE of Tankesse.

 As of 07.08 on 14 March, Chris was in southern Ghana, approximately 12km/7miles from the border with Ivory Coast and 150km/95miles north of the coast of the Gulf of Guinea.

Chris travelled 328 km (203 miles) WNW from his previous postion in Togo between 9 and 11 March and is now the third Cuckoo , along with Lyster and Kasper, in Ghana. He is about 40km  north-west of Kumasi. This is an area that the BTO field team working in Ghana know well, as it is on the main route to the Nightingale study site at Nsuatre.

Locations for Chris received yesterday (7 March) showed that Chris had moved 80km (50 miles) south-west and is currently in southernTogo, about 30km north of the coast and 10km from the border with Ghana.

Chris provided the biggest surprise over the weekend. Having not heard from him since 19 February, it was a shock to find out that on 2 March he was in Cameroon. Two days later (4 March) and he is in Togo, 1,950km (1,210miles) northwest of his last position in Congo.

We haven't received any further signals from Chris' tag since the 19 Feb at 07.12 when he was still in Congo, north of Bimbo. 

It's also now been 18 days since we heard from Martin and 13 days since we heard from Lyster. We think they are all following in Kasper's footsteps, prior to his movement into Nigeria we heard nothing for over a month. It's likely they are deep under cover, feeding up before heading north, making it difficult for the solar panels to charge the tag's batteries.

We received a transmission from the tag a few days ago, on the 19 Feb, showing that Chris is in the same location within Congo. He has been here since the 9 January.

A transmission from Chris’s tag on 31 January at 08.10 placed him in the same location in the swampy area within Congo he has been in for some weeks.

We received a good location for Chris on 24th January with a nice strong signal due to the improved weather. He transmitted again today at 23.42 but is still in the same location in Congo.

We received a strong transmission from Chris at 02.47 this morning placing him still just inside Congo, close to the border with DRC.

Chris is still in the marshes just west of the border with Congo. We heard from him at 08.51 on 31 December. Of all five cuckoos, he is in the most unpopulated area.

Chris is the most northerly of the Cuckoos – in fact he is the only one still in the northern hemisphere, being three quarters of a degree above the equator. He took a similar route to Martin into Africa and was very close to him at their first location in Chad. However, we have been very surprised by where he has chosen to remain since 10 October - he is in some of the wettest forest in the Congo and from the satellite photos in Google Earth, the area appears to have continuous forest cover. He is the Western Congolian swamp forests ecoregion according to the WWF classification. This area is characterised by impenetrable swamps and forest that is flooded for several months of the year. Despite the inaccessibility of the area it is popular with cryptozoologists - people who search for animals whose existence is unproven – on account of the alleged sightings of a Loch Ness monster-like animal called the ‘Mokele-mbembe’ in the nearby Likouaka aux herbes swamp.

Our five cuckoos didn't remain in the same country for long but they still remain close. On the 16th December Chris transmitted from Congo but the next transmission, received on the 19th, showed he had moved around 40km across the border and in to the Democratic Republic of Congo.

A transmission from Chris, received at 06.13 on 14 December, shows that he is still in his former position on the west bank of the Congo River.

Chris is still close to the mighty Congo River in the heart of the rainforest, and a transmission from him on Wednesday 7 December at 07.09 shows his position is unchanged.

Since the 10 October Chris has been in Congo, close to the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo. A transmission received on Sunday 27th November shows that he is still in the same area.

Chris last transmitted at 06.44 on the 13 November but has not moved from his previous location.

At 07.51 on 1 November we received a transmission from Chris that showed he was still close to the river Ubangi within Congo.

Chris last transmitted on the 27 October at 12.58 and is still in Congo, close to the Ubangi River. Lyster has made a recent movement from Gabon and has joined him in Congo.

Chris is still close to the Ubangi River the Congo rainforest.

On the morning of 13 October Chris was still close to the Ubangi River, northwest of Mbandaka in the Congo rainforest. At that time, he had spent three nights at this location – we had wondered whether he would move straight through the rainforest on his way to the savannahs to the south so this is extremely interesting evidence of him actually staying in and using this rainforest habitat. 

Chris has continued his recent movement from Chad and by the evening of Monday 10 October he had moved a further 320km further south to a position on the border between Congo and Democratic Republic of Congo. He is in an area of apparently continuous, closed, wet forest in the heart of the Congo rainforest, the second largest rainforest on earth after the Amazon. He is a few km’s from the Ubangi River, a major tributary of the Congo River which runs almost parallel to the Ubangi, about 55km to its east at this point.

Chris has taken a more easterly route than the Eurasian Hobbies that were recently satellite tracked from Sweden and does not appeared to have minimised his rainforest crossing to the same extent although if he continues due south he will soon reach the savannas to its south. Having stopped in rather than over-flying the rainforest, it will be very interesting to see whether Chris has moved straight through the area next time his tag transmits...

Messages received two days ago show that Chris is still in southern Chad.

Chris is still in southern Chad and like the other three closest cuckoos is only making short flights around the immediate vicinity.

Chris remains in southern Chad and seems settled in his current location.

Chris remains in the same area, about 170km (106 miles) north of the town of Sarh in southern Chad.

Having moved 100km to the south on Wednesday evening (3 August), Chris had returned north to his previous position by Saturday morning! We received several good quality locations spanning several hours soon after his arrival at the more southerly temporary location but we don’t know how long he spent there, other than that it was less than 2 days. Presumably conditions there were not to his liking so he returned to the previous location, knowing that this was a better bet…. He is experiencing pretty much the same weather as Kasper, 25°C, scattered cloud with the chance of thunderstorms.

Chris has made it safely over the Sahara! A series of locations received yesterday afternoon (Monday 25 July) placed him in southern Chad, about 190km (120 miles) from the border with Central African Republic. Chris is still our most easterly Cuckoo and, equal with Martin, he is now our most southerly too. His current location is at the southern edge of the semi-arid Sudan savannah zone, very close to the sub-humid northern Guinea savannah - with the rains having just started the conditions should be quite good for him.

On the night of the 20th July, Chris was still in northern Italy. A series of three poor quality fixes indicated that by the early morning of 23rd July, Chris had crossed into Africa and was in Chad, having undergone a lengthy migration of over 2,600 km in 55.5 hours.

The latest fixes put him around the rim of Tarso Voon, a 3,100m high Stratovolcano located in the central-western part of the Tibesti Mountains. This range of mountains are the largest in the central part of Sahara and contain numerous interesting natural and historical landmarks - but most are little investigated due to the nearly constant warfare in this region.

Although the volcanoes are inactive the volcanic landscape (take a tour here) is impressive. The most interesting geothermal features of Sahara are seen in Soborom geothermal field about 5km west of the rim of Tarso Voon where there are bubbling hot springs, steam jets and  boiling mud pots. Local Toubou and other people from this part of Sahara come and stay for a few days in the natural resort to heal dermatitis or rheumatism. For healing, a pool, where water is some 42°C warm is used. The hottest spring pool is named Yerike - gas constantly rises from it and the pool is bubbling as if boiling. The temperature of springs in Soborom is between 22 and 88°C. In these areas sulphur and iron also emanate and both have coloured the soil in vivid colours.

The landscape is rugged (see here and here) and Chris can’t be spending much time here. To survive he must push on further southwards to the relative greenery of the Sahel.

As of Wednesday evening (20 July) Chris was still close to the river Po, on the edge of the Po delta. He has been overtaken by Martin in terms of progress south – will he leave soon for the push on into Africa? His next transmission period begins tonight, when we might find out.

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.

Despite, in our last blog, trying to gently prepare people for a possible death in our Cuckoo family, Chris has come alive again! A series of fixes have shown his tag is charging and that he is in the Moselle region of France. He has moved southwards 280km to an area of woods, 40km west of Strasbourg. This area is a popular tourist destination with some spectacular views (try googling the "Pays du Dabo"), so hopefully he is enjoying the views!

We have received no new locations for Chris – however, the data received in a brief transmission at the beginning of his tag’s ‘on’ period yesterday (29 June) morning showed that the tag is not charging well. There are a number of possible reasons for this – the tag could be failing, it could be failing to charge because of the environment Chris is in, or Chris may be dead, perhaps taken by a falcon or Sparrowhawk, and the tag lying on the ground. Our colleagues in Denmark tell us that they ‘lost’ a couple of their birds only for them to re-appear later when the tag regained charge. Watch this space.

We have not received any locations for Chris during the last two ‘on’ periods for his tag. We are currently investigating whether his tag is functioning correctly and hope to have more news later in the week.

On Wednesday morning Chris was still in the Netherlands 20km from Maastricht. He appears to have settled in an area of woodland between the towns of Sittard and Born.

Early on Monday morning (20 June) Chris was still in The Netherlands about 20km (12 miles) NNE of Maastricht. We are interested to see where he will go next – as he had left Thetford Forest to the south we had expected him to follow Clement into France, both he and Kasper are to the south-east of their tagging locations. Will they continue in that direction or turn west and go past the west end of the Alps like Clement?

An accurate location received in the afternoon of Friday (17 June) places Chris in a narrow finger of the Netherlands just a few kms from both Belguim and Germany! Chris has moved 370km (230 miles) due east from Sedlescombe in two days – he is our third Cuckoo to leave the country.

Chris is still in the Sedlescombe area of East Sussex.

We have been contacted by Mr Patrick Roper who lives in the Sedlescombe area and he reports that the area has been good for Cuckoos this year, unlike other places nearby. He wonders whether Chris might have homed in on the area because of this? It could well explain why Chris hasn’t moved further south.

At the time of writing, no further, accurate positions have been received for Chris.

Chris remains in the Sedlescombe area in East Sussex, although in the evening of Saturday (11 June) he did make a brief excursion out to an area of woodland near Netherfield, north-west of Battle.

Chris remains in the Sedlescombe area but appears to have moved slightly west.

Chris has remained in the area near Sedlescombe in East Sussex since his movement over the weekend, an accurate fix early this morning placing him a little to the north of the village.

The last bird to be tagged, Chris, remained near to where he was caught for the rest of 1st June. By the evening of 3rd June he had moved to the north of Thetford Forest north of Mundford, 7km (4 miles) away.

After a wholly unexpected movement, Chris was next located 48 hours later on the evening of Sunday 5th June just outside the village of Sedlescombe near Battle, in East Sussex! He roosted overnight at this location 10km (6 miles) inland from the Sussex coast. Together with the movement of Clement, this means that both of the young males tagged in the Thetford Forest area have already moved off south, having apparently started their post-breeding migrations a month earlier than expected.