We are sorry to report sad news about Selborne. We last heard from Selborne at midday on 4 April when he had just arrived in Spain and it now looks as if he died later that day or overnight. His last location shows him over a southern ridge of the Sierra Morena mountains where it appears that he was stopped suddenly in his tracks as he topped that slope. We will probably never know what happened to Selborne but it would appear most likely that he was either taken by an avian predator or succumbed to human hunters. Selborne was named by the Hampshire Ornithological Society when he was tagged in June 2016. Since then we have followed Selborne over two complete migration loops from Hampshire to his wintering grounds in Gabon. He was only 1,430 Km (888 miles) from completing his third migration loop. We are grateful to the Hampshire Ornithological Society and all of Selborne's sponsors for enabling the wonderful contribution that Selborne has made to advancing our understanding of Cuckoo migration.

A series of locations from Selborne's tag during the early hours of 3 April showed that he was in southern Spain, just to the west of Antequera. However, a set of poor locations received around breakfast on 4 April suggest that he had moved on and was 118km (73 miles) further north and east and close to the town of Lopera. Since leaving the Guinea Highlands on the evening of 31 March he has travelled 3,294km (2,047 miles). We will have to wait for high quality locations to confirm his most recent stopover and for it to update on his map.

Selborne's tag transmitted again last night (Monday 1st April), confirming our suspicions that he was on migration over the Sahara Desert. Selborne was still in Guinea at 22:24 on 31st March and we next heard from him at 17:48 on 1st April by which time he had flown 1,440 Km (895 miles) north to Mali. Another update arrived at 19:50 last night showing he had pressed on to Algeria, making the total distance traveled 1,718 Km (1,067 miles) at an average speed of 49.8 mph over a period of 21 hours and 26 minutes. The latest update shows Selborne in the Erg Chech Desert in western Algeria. 

An update received from Hampshire Cuckoo Selborne's tag at 22:24 last night (Sunday 31st March) showed that he had flown 392 Km (243 miles) north to the north-eastern corner of Guinea, close to the border with Mali. It might just be that Selborne has continued on this trajectory and is now on his way across the Sahara Desert. In 2017 he started his crossing on 25 March and in 2018 he departed on 22nd March. We will have to await the next transmission to find out if he will be the first to tackle the mighty Sahara. Last year Selborne was the first of our tagged Cuckoos to make it back to the UK, arriving on 14th April.

Selborne has left Guinea and headed back east and into Ivory Coast. He seems to be homing in on the rains that are currently prevalent in the southern half of Ivory Coast. This wasn’t a short journey, he is 376km (234 miles) from his location in Guinea. This shows the importance of homing in on the rains and that our Cuckoos have the ability to do this.

We don’t expect Selborne to move very much for another two weeks or so but we are receiving lots of information from his tag. During the last week he has moved a few miles to the west and further into the Guinea Highlands.

Selborne didn’t hang around in Ghana. Having spent a week there he headed west again, 687km (426 miles) west into Guinea, overflying Ivory Coast on the way. Presumably he will stay here a little longer and prepare for his desert crossing. In 2016 he crossed the Sahara on 25 March and on 24 March in 2017.

Selborne is in West Africa! On the evening of 31 January Selborne's tag showed that he was in west southern Ghana. From the information we received it looks like he took the shortcut across the Gulf of Guinea, a sea crossing of 1,100km (689 miles). He is now 1,650km (1,000 miles) from his last location in Gabon and just under 5,000km (3,000 miles) from his New Forest breeding site, as the Cuckoo flies.

Selborne is still settled in the area of rainforest to the south and east of the Ogooue River. He has been in this location for almost two months. There are currently thunderstorms and pretty heavy rain where he is, and the temperature is 31 degrees. The forecast for the next couple of days is for more heavy thunderstorms. No wonder the battery charge on his tag is a little low.

Selborne seems settled in the area of rainforest he has been in for almost six weeks. Selborne is currently right in the middle of a large thunderstorm.

Selborne has been in his current location for around a month and doesn't seem to be moving far. He is moving around an area no more than a kilometer square. 

Since leaving Benin Selborne hasn't hung around. After a short stopover in Northern Gabon, close to the border with Equatorial Guinea, he has moved further south and east into Gabon. He is in an area of rainforest to the east of the Ogooue River, south of the town of Ndjole.

Having reported on 19 October that Selborne was in southwest Nigeria, he popped-up the vey next day in Equatorial Guinea, almost 400km (250 miles) to the southeast. During the last week of October he moved south and crossed the border with Gabon and has since moved further south and east. He is currently in eastern central Gabon in an area of fairly dense rainforest.

Having spent a couple of weeks in Ghana, Selborne moved east on 7 October, flying back across Togo and Benin. During the next two days he moved south and east within Nigeria and is currently on the coast of the Bight of Bonny in the south-eastern corner of the country, to the north of James Town. Since leaving Ghana he has flown just over 1,200km (just under 700 miles).

During the last few days Selborne has moved back west and into Ghana, overflying Togo on the way. He has flown 207km (128 miles) during this movement and is currently just north of the town of Kukpoku.

During the weekned Selborne set off east, moving through Ghana and Togo and onwards into Benin. During this time he has flown 487km (303 miles). He is currently in the Parc National de la Pandjari in northwestern Benin.

Selborne has been at his stopover site in Burkina Faso for a month now. In 2016 he moved east from here on 26 August and on 20 August in 2017. so, we expect him to move east any day now.

In 2017 Selborne moved east from his post-desert crossing stopover site on 23 July, this year he made the same move on 22 July. He is now 570km (354 miles) east of his last location and has crossed the border into Burkina Faso.

Selborne left Spain on 11 July this year, heading almost due south into Morocco before drifting east into Algeria and then heading  west and on to southeastern Mali. He his in the same location, north of the capital, Bamoko, that he used as his post-desert stopover site in 2016. He moved west from this location on 23 July in 2016 but had arrived there six days earlier than this year. It will be interesting to see how long he remains here this year.

Selborne is currently our most southerly Cuckoo. He only stayed four days in western France before he was off again, flying around the western end of the Pyrenees and into Spain. He is 495km (308 miles) southwest of the mountains and in a straight line, 1,200km (746 miles) from the New Forest, Hampshire. Selborne is following the route he has taken in the last two years and is currently just to the south of Salamanca. In 2016 he left Spain on 9 July but lingered until 23 July in 2017, his next stop is on the southern edge of the Sahara in Mali. It will be interesting to see when he leaves this year. 

Selborne didn't stay very long in northern France. He is currently on the west coast, to the east of Rochefort.

Having successfully completed a full migration to and from Africa Selborne is on his way again. He is currently in the area he used as a stopover last year and close to Chateaubriant.

Since arriving back in the forest in April, Selborne has remained in the area around his tagging site. He is currently using the area of forest between Beaulieu and Brockenhurst.

The first of our satellite tagged Cuckoos has successfully made it back to the UK! Tagged in the New Forest in the spring of 2016, Selborne travelled the remaining 500 miles or so from southern France and arrived back to the UK on 14 April, two days later than in 2017. PJ is not far behind in Brittany and could be back any day.

With both PJ and Selborne in France, the bets are on as to which will be the first back to the UK. While Selborne was the first to arrive in Europe, PJ has now leap-frogged his last location and is further north and closer to home. The weather looks set to take a turn for the better this weekend so perhaps they will time their arrivals to coincide with the arrival of spring!  

During the afternoon of 7 April we received a location from Selborne's tag that showed he had left Spain and was in southern France, just south of Tartas. He is 811km (503 miles) south of the New Forest, Hampshire, where he was tagged in the spring of 2016.

Selborne is the first of our Cuckoos to return to Europe this year. Having successfully crossed the desert he spent a few days resting north of Morocco, but was on the move again in the early hours of 3 April. By lunchtime he had crossed the ocean and was in southern Spain, just north of Linares. He is on the edge of the Sierra de Andújar Natural Park, part of the immense Sierra Morena mountain range which stretches for 400 kilometres east-west across southern Spain. It's heavily covered by Mediterranean forest and scrubland and is home to endangered species such as the lynx, wolf, black vulture and imperial eagle. 

By 23 March, Selborne was on his way north and embarking on his desert crossing, having flown over Mali and into Mauritania. Signals on 25 March show he headed northwest slightly, towards the west coast of Morocco and the latest signal, received yesterday, revealed he had sucessfully completed the crossing and was north of Marrakesh.

He has taken a much more westerly route this year compared to his route through Mali and Algeria last year, though the timing is very similar. By 28 March 2017 he had left Africa and was in Spain, arriving back in the UK by 12 April 2017. 

Could Selborne become the first tagged Cuckoo back to the UK this year? And if so, let's hope he brings the spring with him!  

After having travelled so far west, two of our Cuckoos have turned around and gone eastwards. From the Guinea Highlands, Selborne has travelled north-eastwards 125km (80 miles) while PJ has also headed east 190km (115 miles) within Ivory Coast. This may be to do with conditions being more favourable here. 

Selborne has only travelled a short distance since the last blog but, by flying 75km (50 miles) north-east, he is now over the country border and into Guinea. He's already covered an incredible journey of approximately 5760km (3,500 miles) from his wintering location in Angola. Go Selborne! 

Signals received yesterday show that Selborne had indeed been busy winging his way to West Africa - all the way to the Ivory Coast!

He covered around 2115km (1315 miles) between 29 January (his last signal in Gabon) and 7 February. He is very close to the border with Guinea and is in the Guinea Highlands area, a densely forested mountainous plateau extending from central Guinea through northern Sierra Leone and Liberia to western Ivory Coast. He is currently just east of the area in Guinea in which he spent a few days in last year before then venturing further to the forests in the south of Guinea. 

Last year he embarked on his desert crossing towards the end of March, having spent time in and around the border of Guinea and Ivory Coast, feeding up and gaining reserves for the mammoth task ahead of him. He is the first of our tagged Cuckoos to move into West Africa this year and may be the first to embark on his desert crossing - though it doesn't always work out this way. We'll have to wait and see!  

Two more Cuckoos have begun their journeys northwards from their wintering locations. From Angola, Larry has flown 675km (420 miles) north east to Central Congo.He is now to the north-east of Okoyo. This is similar to what he has done in the previous two years, before moving into Cameroon and then on to west Africa. In the first year he then made his desert crossing from Nigeria, but in the second year that we tracked him he went much further west - crossing the desert from Guinea! What will he do this year?

Selborne has also headed north and is now in northern Gabon, close to the coast, and the Reserva Natural del Estuario del Muniborder, a Wetland of International Importance. He is just south of the border with Equatorial Guinea, and has travelled 350km (218 miles) from his previous location.

Selborne has made a small movement north within Gabon of about 95km (60 miles) to an area he visited last year, just south of Waka National Park. Last year he moved north again towards the end of January and was in Ghana by January 31 so it might not be too long before we see some big northward movements from him and our other Cuckoos, into west Africa. 

From Nigeria, Selborne has headed 1450km (900 miles)  to Gabon, across the Gulf of Guinea - possibly stopping for a brief time on the island of Bioko- and then over Equatorial Guinea. Signals received yesterday show he was in the south of Gabon, close to the Monts Birougou National Park. This new location makes him the most southerly of all the tagged Cuckoos currently. 

Selborne has traveled 480km (almost 300 miles) south east  from his last postition in Benin and is now in Nigeria.  This is almost exactly on schedule as per 2016. Last year he arrived in Nigeria on 23 September, remaining here until early October when he moved on to Equatorial Guinea briefly and then Gabon. 

Selborne has continued eastwards and is now in Benin, 250km (155 miles) further on from his last location in Burkina Faso. He is currently in Pendjari National Park (named for the Pendjari River), in north western Benin, which adjoins the Arli National Park in Burkina Faso. Pendjari National Park is home to elephants, West African lions, hippopotamuses, buffalo, antelopes and is also famous for its rich birdlife.

Selborne moved to Burkina Faso at the end of July but a recent signal on 21 Aug shows a further eastwards movement of 370km (230 miles).  He is north of Tenkodogo and to the east of the Nakambe Forest. 

Selborne was south of the Sierra Morena Mountains by the early hours of the morning of 22 July.  He stayed in the area around Jaén until around 10am and the next signal we received was two days later when he was in Algeria, over 700km (435 miles) further south. A series of locations throughout the 24 and into the morning of 25 show him steadily making his desert crossing of 1590km (990 miles). The last location on 25 shows him in southern Mauritania, close to the border with Mali but a further signal today shows he had reached a location just north of Segou, in southern Mali, and completed his desert crossing.  

On the 24^th June, Selborne was picked up heading south from his previous tracked location in the Basque region of Northern Spain. He is currently in a wooded valley south of Arevalo, Central Spain. This is 287km (178 miles) south west of Bilbao, and 1,528km (950 miles) south of his summer location in the New Forest, Hampshire.

A signal on 21 June shows Selborne heading south, out at sea just off the coast near Bordeaux. Further signals received today show that he continued onwards to the Basque Region in northern Spain. He is currently just 40km (25 miles) south-east of Bilbao. 

Since arriving back in the New Forest Selborne has explored it pretty thoroughly. The most recent locations recieved from his tag show that he is now spending most of his time in an area northeast of Brockenhurst and to the northwest of Furzey Lodge. He has also visited heath to the southwest of Beaulieu Road Station.

During the early evening of Easter Sunday, Selborne arrived back in the New Forest. Since his arrival he has mostly been in the area of forest just to the north and west of Beaulieu, between Pig Bush and Beaulieu Road Station.

Locations received from Selborne's tag on 9 April showed that he had crossed the Pyrenees and was heading north. During the late evening his tag powered down to enable the solar panel on the tag to recharge the battery that powers it. At this stage Selborne was in Brittany and only 320km (199 miles) from his New Forest home. It is likely that Selborne continued north through the night and when we next hear from him he could be back in the UK.

From Algeria, Selborne has flown a further 1000km (660 miles) to arrive in northern Spain in the late morning of 27 March. He is in the southern Pyrenees and the closest large town is Jaca (NW of his latest location). He has been moving around in local forest so looks to be foraging to fuel up for the last leg of his return journey. How soon he returns will depend on his ability to find food and be able to rest.

A series of locations received from Selborne's tag between 14.30 and 19.00 on 24 March showed that he was heading north across the Sahara, and that he had made it into central Algeria, and that he was about halfway through the desert crossing. This was the last we heard from the tag until 03.00 on 25 March. He had made it, and was just north of the desert town of El Guerra. Selborne is the first of our tagged Cuckoos to cross the desert this spring.

Selborne has moved north and east, leaving Guinea and crossing into Ivory Coast.He is currently in an area of forest just south west of Bako.

Having gone so far north and west, past the rains, it's reassuring to see that Selborne has headed south a little to the Guinean forests, where conditions are likely to be better than his previous location 115km (70 miles north). 

We have our first Cuckoo in West Africa and it's Selborne! Having left land and set off across the Gulf of Guinea, it looks like Selborne travelled around 240km (150 miles) to the volcanic island of Bioko. Here he seems to have rested for the day on 28 January in the Luba Crater Scientific Reserve which is a protected area with dense rainforest. 

When he left he headed off on a different tangent to that he had been taking, travelling 1185km (735 miles) straight towards Ghana, arriving there sometime before 10am on 30 January. By 10pm on 1 Feb he was already a further 800km (500 miles) north-west and was in southern Guinea. His tag location shows him to be in the densely forested mountainous plateau of the Guinea Highlands.

As of 23 January, Selborne's tag transmitted from Equatorial Guinea, showing he had left Gabon and was on his way north. He had covered around 535km (325 miles). However, further signals indicate he hasn't stopped there, but instead set out across the Gulf of Guinea and continued onwards across the sea, in the direction of Nigeria. This sea crossing is quite unusual! 

161321 has travelled westwards towards the coast of Gabon and now looks to be around the area of Moukalaba-Doudou National Park, about 85km (50 miles) inland. 

161321 has been in the area near Lémanga, Gabon for over a month and we are still regularly receiving tag transmissions. 

From his last location in Nigeria 161321 has headed off in a south-easterly direction, travelling around 965km ( 600 miles) to reach Equatorial Guinea by the 5 October. He didn't spend long here though and by the 8 October he had covered a further 450km (280 miles) to a location in Gabon, near it's southern border with Congo. 

On 22 September locations received from 161321 showed that he had left Benin and was heading east across southern Nigeria. Further locations received since then show that he is currently settled in the area he arrived in on 22 September. He is in an area of wet forest north of the town of Ejiba.

I61321 has moved slightly east of his last location and is currently moving around the wooded banks of the Pendjari river.

Just before dawn on 27 August we received several locations that showed 121321 had left Burkina Faso. His stopover in Burkina Faso lasted for just over a month. He is currently in northern Benin close to the Pandjari National Park, 434km (270 miles) south and east of his Burkina Faso stopover site.

Since arriving in Burkina Faso 161321 has been fairly settled in the area to the west of Ouagadougou. His current location is on the edge of a cultivated area just north of the town of Saria. The weather is similar to that in parts of the UK at the moment, with a temperature of 28 degrees and the likelihood of thunderstorms over the next few days.

Since crossing the Sahara and arriving in Mali on 12th July, Hampshire Cuckoo 161321 has started to push east, travelling 350 miles over the past few days. He is currently in Burkina Faso 80 miles west of the capital Ouagadougou, in the Sorobouli Forest.

At 2am on the 9 July, a location received from Cuckoo 161321 showed that he had left Spain and was in southern Morocco, subsequent locations showed that he was actively migrating at the time. By 3.30am he had crossed the border into Algeria, the next locations received at 4.30pm on the same day showed him around half-way through his crossing of the Sahara; he was in the El Djouf Desert in central Mauritania. Remarkably, by 10.30am the next morning he was on the southern edge of the desert in Mali, and close to a tributary of the Niger river. He continued to follow the river south and east and by 4.00pm on 11 July was just west of Bamako, the capital of Mali.This beats our earliest crossing of the desert by a satellite tagged Cuckoo by 6 days. Between 2am on 9 July and 10.30am on 10 July he flew 1,774km (1,102 miles) at an average speed of around 50kph, and all into a light south-westerly headwind.

A location received from Cuckoo 161321 on 6 July showed that he had left northern Spain and had flown 461km (262 miles) further south. He is currently in Andalusia, 70km (43 miles) north of Malaga, close to the town of Antequera. He is still further south than any of our other satellite tagged Cuckoos.

Newly tagged on 10 June in the New Forest, Hampshire, Cuckoo 161321 hasn't hung around. On 16 June he had moved to the Isle of Wight, where he seemed to spend a couple of hours in the late evening close to Brighstone. By midnight he had almost crossed the English Channel and was close to the French coast, an hour later he was in Normandy, eight miles west of Bayeux. By 2.45am he had travelled another 73km further south and east but he didn't stop here, by first light on 17 June he had reached Javron-les-Chapelle, 258km (160m) south of the Isle of Wight. He didn't stop here either, by the evening of 18 June he had travelled a further 242km (150 miles) southwest and was close to La Rochelle on the west coast. On the evening of 20 June he was even further south and was close to Biscarrosse in the south west of the country, but again he didn't stop here long, by breakfast on 21 June he was in Spain just north of Rabanera del Pinar, 158km (98 miles) south of Bilbao and 1004km (624 miles) from his New Forest tagging site. On 23 June he was off again, flying east another 174km (108 miles). He is curremtly in the province of Guadalajara, just north of Bocigano, and the furthest south of all of the tagged Cuckoos.