There have been no signals from Derek's tag since the end of August. Looking back at the data we received shows the battery charge was ok and there is no evidence of death. However, the most likely explanation for a sudden loss of signals is that Derek has sadly died. 

By the 16 August, signals show that Derek was on his way again, heading south over Algeria and making his desert crossing. The last signals on the 18 show he had made it as far as central Mali.

Derek left Spain and arrived in Morocco, covering a distance of 800 kilometres (500 miles) passing east of the Gibraltar strait. Derek is taking once again taking the westerly route that we have seen him use in previous years and, interestingly, that only English Cuckoos seem to use. So far no Scottish or Welsh birds have ventured through Spain, although it's worth noting that fewer birds from these areas have been tagged compared to English Cuckoos.  In some years, this route has proved problematic, with wild fires, droughts and storms providing challenges for the Cuckoos choosing this route.

Derek has continued on from France and is now further south, in the Castille and Leon region of Spain.  He is currently the only one of our tagged Cuckoos in Spain, though Dudley passed this way earlier on his way south. 

A series of poor signals on the 5 July suggested Derek had crossed the Channel and was in northern France. Signals recieved during the early hours of 7 July confirmed that he had indeed left Britain. However, he wasn't in northern France. He is currently in southern France just north of Pau and close to the northern edge of the Pyrenees.

Derek is still in the Norfolk Broads, in the area that he arrived in on 26 April.Last year, he left on 22 July.

By the morning of the 26 April Derek had returned to Norfolk and was back in the UK. From his postition in Spain he had travelled 1620km (1000 miles), crossing over France during the 24 April, to return his breeding grounds as the fifth of our tagged Cuckoos back to the UK. 

From Morocco, Derek had continued on a further 1000km (600 miles) to reach Spain, settling in an area north of the Sienna Morena Mountains, by 15 April. He was joined here on the same day by Stanley, who had travelled north-west from his location near Granada and the Sierra Nevada Mountains. They are now only about 7km (4.5 miles) apart. 

During the early hours of 13 April we received a location from Derek that showed him in Morocco, on the northern edge of the Sahara, the third of our tagged Cuckoos to successfully make it across.

Derek's continued west and covered another 550km (340 miles) to reach his new location in Ivory Coast. He is about 60km (35 miles) north-east of Ash and 105km (65 miles) north of David's new location. All in all there are six Cuckoos in Ivory Coast currently. 

From the northern edge of the forest in Cameroon, Derek had moved to Ghana by 19 March, travelling 1400km (915 miles).

It looks like a few of our Cuckoos are setting off on their first spring migration movements. Ash and Emsworthy have both joined Stanley in making a move northwards to the Congo rainforest edge while Derek has been in the area for a few days but only transmitting low quality signals, until now, which hadn't registered on the maps. 

Fred and Jake, two of our Cuckoos tagged in Sherwood Forest, have moved westwards and are now in Congo. Fred recently left the Mbandaka area and has moved about 270km (165 miles) west from his previous location in Democratic Republic of Congo, while Jake, who is about 70km (45 miles) further south, travelled a shorter distance of 155km (95 miles). 

Interestingly, Derek who is slightly further north, had been moving east, the opposite direction to Jake and Fred, until recently but he has backtracked around 65km (40 miles). Emsworthy has also moved, but northwards to the area not long vacated by Fred. These movements may indicate changing conditions which are encouraging the Cuckoos to seek more favourable areas. 

Derek and Emsworthy have recently moved westwards and are now south-west of  the Site Lac Tele-Likouala Aux Herbes area. Chris had also been in the area before moving south to Angola, possibly due to dryer conditions in that area this year. 

Derek has moved south to Congo and is now deep in the swamp forests where fellow East Anglian Cuckoo Chris has previously spent some of the winter months. 

Derek has moved 175km (110 miles) east and is now in the Central African Republic. As suggested in a previous blog this may be down to it being slightly drier than average in Northern Cameroon as Dudley and Emsworthy have also left that area.  

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.

Since the 27 August Derek left Burkina Faso and headed east. By the 29 August he was in Nigeria and by 31 he was in Cameroon, close to its border with Chad. He has covered over 1800km (1120 miles) in this time and is now one of the more southerly Cuckoos.  

Derek may have been the last of our tagged Cuckoos to leave the UK, but he is far from being the last Cuckoo to arrive in Africa.

From Spain he headed across the Mediterannean Sea to reach Algeria by 7 August and continued onwards further south to finish his desert crossing by the 11 August in Burkina Faso. He has covered over 3200km (2000 miles) in 10 days and taken just 3 weeks since leaving the UK to make it to a location south of the Sahara! His longest stopover was in Spain. This is probably one of the fastest journeys we have seen any of our tagged Cuckoos make since the project began.

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.

Derek has still not left yet Britain which means that he and Cuckoo 134957, who is in Belgium, are currently our two most northern Cuckoos. Walpole is only a little further south, still in France (along with Emsworthy who is close to the south coast) where they have been since early July. 

While we have three Cuckoos currently touring in France (Walpole, Emsworthy and 134955) there are now just two tagged birds which remain in the UK; Derek and Gowk. While the actual Tour De France will have departed the country soon, it could be a while before we see these Cuckoos move on. Last year Derek didn't leave the UK until 17 July but the latest departure we have seen since the beginning of the project was Scottish Cuckoo Patch, who left on 26 July last year. 

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. 

During the early morning of 4 May Derek transmitted from Basingstoke, Hampshire. He is back in the UK! By mid-morning he was back in East Anglia and heading for the Norfolk Broads, his tagging site. At 13.30 he had done it, he was back in the Broads - the end of an epic migration from the Congo Rainforest.

Signals on 23 April show that Derek was crossing over the Mediterranean Sea. When the next cycle of tranmissions was sent on 26 he was in southern Spain, 230km (145 miles) south of Madrid. He has now moved northwards and is close to the border with France. 

Derek was still in Ivory Coast on the 14 April but the next good signal we received on the 21 April showed that he had been busy during that time, having crossed the Sahara desert and reached the Atlas Mountains in Algeria. He leaves behind Ken, who is the only tagged Cuckoo now with a desert crossing ahead of him. 

Derek has continued 350km (218 miles) on from his last location and is now in the north-west of Ivory Coast, very close to it's border with Guinea. As for two of his fellow Norfolk Cuckoos, Ken, has also made it to Ivory Coast, while Chris has recently arrived in Ghana.

From his last position to the west of Lake Volta, Derek continued a further 445km (275 miles) in a north-westerly direction, across the border and in to Ivory Coast. He is now just north of  Bouaké (or Bwake), the second largest city in Ivory Coast. Waller is a further 400km (250 miles) to the south-west.

By the 28 February, Derek had moved from Congo to central Cameroon.  This morning, 7 March, we received signals showing he had covered a further 1490km (925 miles), which puts him to the west of Lake Volta in Ghana. He is the third of our tagged Cuckoos in West Africa but is further to the west than Ken who has remained in Nigeria.

Derek has travelled a small distance south-east from his last position. The most recent signal, received on 21 February, shows he is currently  near a tributary of the Congo river, close to Site Lac Tele-Likouala Aux Herbes.  Now that Chris has moved north, Derek is the most southerly Cuckoo.  Will he also move north shortly? 

Derek has started to move north. At 08.30 on 14 January he had moved 120km (74 miles) north-east from his mid-winter location. He is now just 9km (6 miles) from Scottish Cuckoo Waller.

Not long after Chris left the swamp forests, Derek also left the area, travelling 230 km (144 miles) southwest to an area of the Cuvette region in central Congo. 

Throughout the evening of 24 October and the early hours of 25 October, we received locations indicating that Derek was heading south-east from his location in Nigeria and by around 3am he was in northern Cameroon. From here he travelled a further 900km (550 miles) in a more southerly direction and by 27 October was in Congo, in the Likouala-aux-herbes area, roughly 30km (19 miles) from Chris’s location.  Chris has spent much of the previous two winters in the area so we wonder whether fellow East Anglian bird Derek may also choose this as a good over-wintering location.

From his location in the Zamfara region of Nigeria, Derek has flown more than 300km (190 miles) in a south-easterly direction and is now in the Kaduna region, 60km (37 miles) west of Jos in the middle belt of Nigeria. 

In the last few days both Ken and Derek have moved around 100km (60 miles) eastwards, although they still remain in Burkina Faso and Nigeria respectively. Meanwhile Skinner has moved out of Niger and headed 305 km (190 miles) east to Nigeria. He is about 90km (50 miles) north-east of the town of Gummi. This echoes Nicks (much bigger) movement last week from Nigeria to Cameroon.

Derek has moved quickly onwards from Burkina Faso, where he was on 8 August, and travelled east to the Kebbi region in north-western Nigeria, covering about 500km (310 miles) with this latest movement.

Derek looks as if has completed his desert crossing! From the locations received in Mali on 6 August, it looks like Derek changed direction and began to head south-east. By 1pm yesterday he had journeyed another 1450km (900 miles) and was in the Est Region of Burkina Faso! He is about 75km (46 miles) north-west of the Pama and Singou reserves and Arli National Park.  At almost the same time, Ken also transmitted from the north-west of Burkina Faso.  Around 475km (295 miles) separates their locations.  

Derek has left Spain and is now in Africa! Signals yesterday afternoon show him over Algeria and continuing on over Mali before the transmission period ended. We will have to wait for further signals to confirm he has made it across the desert. 

By the 19 July, Derek had left his position in France and flown 570km (325 miles) south-west and in to Spain, becoming the third Norfolk Cuckoo to take this route this year. He is just inside the Castile and Leon border with La Rioja, near to Quintanar de la Sierra. 

Apart from Skinner, the other three of our Cuckoos tagged in the Norfolk Broads remain in their tagging locations and have yet to move despite 12 out of 18 of our tagged Cuckoos having left the UK.  Lyster, one of the Cuckoos tagged in the broads in year 1 of the project was the last to leave that year on 22 July (while the other four all left in June) and earned himself the nickname ‘Lyster the Laggard’. Will our Broads Cuckoos be last to leave in year 3? 

115586 has been named Derek by Kate Bradbury, author and freelance wildlife gardening writer for the Guardian, who is supporting the Cuckoo Project.

Although he was tagged at South Fen, East Ruston, on 5 June, 115586 actually spent the next week about 10km to the south-est, in the Hickling Broad and Horsey Mere area.  He arrived there a few hours after release, having made a brief tour off to the north-west, towards North Walsham. New locations received this morning (12 June), however, showed that he had returned to the catching location.

115586 is still seeking a Cuckoo Champion. Could you or you organisation or company cover the cost of his satellite tag and give him a name?