We last heard from Hennah in August, when his tag looked to be failing. Having not heard from him since we have to assume that ths is the case. At the time of the last locations he seemed to be alive and well. 

Even though we haven't heard from Hennah for a while now we still don't want to write him off, and hope that his tag will once again spring back into life.

There have been no further signals from Hennah's tag since the middle of August. We think that his tag battery charge is to blame for this as it had dwindled even further before the last messages. The good news is that the temperature data indicated that he was still alive. Signals have been intermittant for some time and between February and April of this year we also went without signals, before he then surprised us by transmitting back in the UK safe and sound. Hopefully we will receive some more in future so that we can continue to follow his journey. 

We've received good signals from Hennah's tag showing that he is not only in Africa but has already completed his crossing of the Sahara Desert and is now in Chad. He is the second Cuckoo to arrive in Africa this summer. Low quality signals were received on 12 July around lunchtime showing him in northern Libya and since then he has travelled 1825km (1130 miles) across the desert.   

A good signal from Hennah on 29 June has shown that he continued on his flight south and is currently in central Italy, northwest of Pizzoli.

Hennah's tag battery is damaged and appears to be failing - consequently we have not received a good quality location from it recently although poor quality locations showed him in France on 16 June and heading south to Italy a few days ago. 

We last received a signal from Hennah's tag in late Februay from Sierra Leone, from where he had moved to on the 10 February. No further signals were received and we could tell the tag was not charging well so imagine our surprise when on the 15 April Hennah reappeared in the UK, north-east of Bournemouth, becoming the first Cuckoo to return home!

BTO scientist in charge of the project, Chris Hewson, explained that this lack of signals over the desert, when we might expect good exposure to the sun,  could be down to the Sahara dust on the solar panels which meant the tag was unable to charge and send a signal. Exposure to rain later would then have washed this off and allowed the tag to transmit his recent location.  

Hennah has settled in an area of close rainforest in Gola Rainforest National Park - a world famous national park and UNESCO World Heritage Site.  Since he settled here, his tag has not been charging well, due presumably to the dense rainforest canopy. When we last received a signal from his tag the charge was low but the temperature showed that Hennah was alive and well as far as we can tell. 

Two of our tagged Cuckoos are already moving west and are well on their way back to their breeding grounds in the UK!

Hennah had moved 2500km (1500 miles) to Ivory Coast by 8 February from a position on the northern forest edge on 6 February, low quality signals tell us, but by the 9 he had already continued west a further 820km (510 miles). He is now just inside the border of Sierra Leone in an area where the Lofa-Mano National Park and Gola North Forest Reserve meet, where presumably he will rest for a while after such a long journey in such a short amount of time. 

Meanwhile, Ash was in Nigeria on the 8 February but by the 9 he was in Ghana, north of Lake Ghana and the Digya National Park. 

Although this is not especially early for them to move into the region - in previous years we have seen the first cuckoos move to West Africa by mid-February - Hennah's stopover location especially is very far west for the date, as early stopovers tend to be further east. It is notable that both stopovers are within the humid forest zone, rather than to its north as most West African stopovers are - this could compensate for the birds being so far west at this time, before the savannahs in the area have been rained upon. 

Several of our Cuckoo tags have not sent transmissions for over 10 days; BB, Hennah, Peter, Skinner and Waller. 

This means they are not currently shown on the main map by default, although can be switched on using the tick boxes under their photos. It's not uncommon for Cuckoos to disappear for up to several months during mid-winter as tag charging conditions in the forest are poor so we won't really know their fate unless we receive further transmissions. If they fail to move northwards when expected then either the Cuckoo may have died or the tag may failed or degraded. Our greatest concerns are still for Peter and Waller who were in the same area when signals were last received, all the way back in October.

Ash and Hennah have recently left Lake Mai. Hennah travelled 520km (325 miles) to the west, and in doing so moved to Gabon, while Ash moved 310km (195 miles) north-east. This may be due to slightly dryer conditions during November. Gabon appears to be experiencing wetter  conditions so Hennah may have made a good move.  

As of the evening of 14 December Hennah was no longer on the shores of Lac Mai-Ndombe in DRC. He had moved 530km (329 miles) west and was in Gabon, close to the southern border with Congo. We now have two Cuckoos in Gabon. Chester is in north east Gabon, close to the border with Equatorial Guinea.

From Chad, Hennah appears to have moved south to Central African Republic by early on the morning of the 1 October. Several poor quality locations were received which aren't shown on the map. Since then he has travelled 990km (615 miles) further to Democratic Republic of Congo, south of the equator, and is one of the most southerly Cuckoos. Hopefully good quality signals will be received shortly to show this new location on the maps. 

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.

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.

New Forest bird Hennah recently moved to the south of Italy and is in the region of Calabria. Signals received throughout yesterday and toady show that Peter is following in his path and also heading south through Italy. Ths last signal received indicated he was still a little further north than his fellow New Forest bird, in the Salerno region, but he may well have continued his journey. We'll find out how close he gets when we receive further signals. 

Our New Forest birds seem to be taking very different routes. Gilbert has recently moved futher west to Portugal from his previous location in Spain, while Hennah is still north-east of Rome in Italy with Peter just a little further north, remaining in the Po Valley.

From France, via Corsica, Ash appears to now be in Italy. He joins Hennah, who had also been in France and perched in the Pyrenees close to the France/Spain border but who also recently changed direction and headed to Italy to take this more easterly route. Whortle, Peter, Waller, and Livingstone are all also currently in 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. 

Gilbert, Meavy and un-named Cuckoo 134952 are all in Spain while Hennah is just over the border in the south of France. It looks like it won't be long until he joins them. 

Hennah, Chester, Whortle and 134952 all transmitted from outside of the UK on 19 June. Whortle, one of the Devon birds tagged in 2013, hadn't even left the UK this time last year, having only transmitted from outside of the UK on 28 June in 2013.

Whortle, Chester and as yet un-named 134952 are the most recent Cuckoos confirmed to have left the UK. All three of these birds have travelled to north-western France, transmitting these updated locations on 19 June.   

Poor quality signals received on the same day indicate that two further Cuckoos have started their journeys. Hennah and Meavy look like they are in France too but until further locations are received to confirm this the maps won't update.

So we have at least 8 and possibly 10 Cuckoos which have left the UK. If the unconfirmed locations are true, then interestingly, all three Dartmoor birds (Emsworthy, Whortle and Meavy) and all three New Forest birds (Peter, Gilbert and Hennah) have left.  In addition one Scottish bird, 2 Nottinghamshire birds and one of the Sussex birds have also left the UK. 

Bolderwood, New Forest, Hampshire -  Six Cuckoos caught between 04:30am and 11:00am - the first three of which (two tagged, one too small) were in the first round, one in the middle of each of a triangle of nets set at Bolderwood. The other three were caught a couple of miles to the north and four were selected for tagging. This meant we completed our tagging in Hampshire during day, in a brief weather-window.