We've previously reported that Senan's tag battery has been low for a while and not charging properly. After a long period of silence, we were pleased to receive the locations from Algeria, and later from Spain, to show he was migrating. However, with no further signals since the 5 May, it looks like we may finally have lost contact with him. Similarly, Tennyson's battery has also experienced charging issues and we had hoped we would receive signals at some point during his northward movements, when the solar panel was exposed to longer periods of sunshine. However, we've not heard from his tag since early April. In both these cases it appears we have lost the tag signal rather than the bird and we hope both these Cuckoos return to the UK safely - even if it's unlikely we'll be able to update you. Do keep your eyes peeled if you are on the Norfolk/Suffolk border though!

We last heard from Tennyson on 6th April when he was in south-eastern Guinea, close to the border with Ivory Coast. With Carlton II already back in England and the others on their way, we hope that we'll also hear that Tennyson is making progress north very soon. 

At the end of March, Tennyson moved north-west within Liberia. A further update on 6 April showed he had continued north 290km (180 miles) along the border of Liberia and Ivory Coast. His current location remains just inside Liberia. Tennyson has been in Liberia since mid-March and this northward movement could be a sign he is getting ready to leave, though PJ was the first to move into West Africa.

Since the last update Tennyson has continued west, flying a further 1,076 km (670 miles) from Benin to Liberia. His latest location shows him in south-eastern Liberia, 35 km from the border with Ivory Coast. He is approximately 375 km (232 miles) south west of Cuckoo PJ who is over the border in Ivory Coast.  

A couple of updates from Tennyson's tag arrived at around 20:00 last night, showing that he had left Congo and had made it to south west Benin, close to the border with Togo.

Since moving in to central Congo around a month ago Tennyson has been spending his time moving around the rainforest in his location. We are receiving lots of infoamtion from his tag that shows he has been frequenting an area of around 30sq KM (16sq miles). It will be interesting to see whem he makes his first move north.

At the end of January, Tennyson made a journey of 205km (130 miles) south-west, moving back into a central area of the Republic of Congo.

Tennyson has recently flown 200 km (129 miles) south-east to his current location, hopping over the border and into the Democratic Republic of Congo. He is close to the Ubangi river and the Ngiri nature reserve, an area of swamp forest.

Tennyson has quietly continued onwards, flying over the border into the Republic of Congo. He is currently in the Nouabale Ndoki National Park, an area of over 4,000 square kilometers of lowland rainforest. He has chosen a good spot as this is an intact forest ecosystem where wildlife who reside here have had little or no contact with people. 

Over the last few days Norfolk Cuckoo Tenysson has flown 644 km (400 miles) south from Nigeria into Cameroon. He is the first of our tagged Cuckoos to make this next leg of the journey and he is now in far eastern Cameroon, close to the border with Central African Republic. It is the rainy season in this area now and the weather today will be between 68 and 83 F (20 to 28 C) with 76% humidity and thunderstorms bringing a 40% chance of rain. This is probably another stop-over point for Tennyson and we expect him to move further south over the coming days or weeks.

The last few weeks have been quiet and for those who had not yet completed their desert crossings, it looks like the challenging conditions have claimed more of our tagged Cuckoos.

Unfortunately no further signals have been received from Knepp. From the temperature data and movements at the time, he was alive on 12 July, when we last heard from his tag. Though the battery charge had been low for a few days, there is no evidence of long term battery decline so we can't be sure what has happened to him - either he, or the tag, appear to have died suddenly. 

Lambert, who was still in France, has not moved on south and signals on 21 August showed high temperature fluctuations across the day, indicating the bird's body temperature and behaviour were not regulating it. We've heard nothing since then, and his tags battery charge had suddenly dipped, all of which leads us to believe he has likely died.

Unfortunately the challenging conditions have also impacted on Nussey who has already attempted two trips to Africa and retreated to Europe.  Abnormally low temperatures were received at the time of the last messages (16 August), having previously been fine. He was not migrating at that time, so the low temperatures were not due to high altitude, and the battery was also much lower than previously, further suggesting he was dead.

The droughts and exceptionally high temperatures in Europe appear to have proved difficult for our Cuckoos this year, however the five south of the Sahara are still regularly transmitting. Valentine, PJ, Carlton II and Tennysons' tags have all sent signals during September and the last signals received from Senan's tag were at the end of August and show him still in Burkina Faso.

Tennyson seems settled near Gwardena in Adamawa State in north eastern Nigeria, where he has been since 28 July. 

So far this year, five Cuckoos have made it successfully across the desert. Carlton II, PJ, Senan, Tennyson and Valentine are all south of the Sahara and still sending regular tag transmissions. They still have a little further to go south before reaching their final wintering destinations.  

Tennyson moved into the Adamawa region in northeast Nigeria at the end of July and recent signals show he has remained in the area since. 

Tennyson clocked in at 03:06 this morning (Friday July 26) with an update showing he has flown 270 km (168 miles) south east from his last location in Nigeria over the border into Cameroon. He is now in the North Province of Cameroon, and is just north of Faro National Park. 

In our last update we reported that Thetford Cuckoo Tennyson had made it as far as Northern Niger, having flown 2,496 km (1,550 miles) from his previous stop-over site in northern Spain. A transmission received from Tennyson's tag at 07:44 on Friday July 19 confirmed that he had become the first of our tagged Cuckoo to successfully cross the Sahara in 2019. He passed east of the Air Mountains in Niger and landed in northern Nigeria. After stopping first close to Kano, the state capital of Kano State in northern Nigeria, he has since flown 256 km (159 miles) south east and is in north-eastern Nigeria, on the border between the states of Bauchi and Taraba. 1,432 km (890 miles) now separates Tennyson from Valentine, the other Cuckoo that has crossed the desert. Both of these Cuckoos were tagged in Thetford Forest this year. 

During the evening of Sunday July 14 Tennyson was near Perpignan in southern France and by 19:00 that evening he had crossed into northern Spain, and was 85 km (53 miles) north west of Barcelona. The next time we heard from Tennyson was at 08:00 on Wednesday July 17, when he was crossing the Sahara, having covered 1,920 km (1,193 miles) from Spain to the Tassili-N-Ajjer Desert portion of the Sahara in south-central Algeria.  The last signal received from Tennyson's tag arrived at 20:17 last night (July 17) showing that he had made it as far as Northern Niger, having flown 2,496 km (1,550 miles) in just over 72 hours, at an average speed of 34.6 kpH (21.5 mph). When we next hear from Tennyson we will hopefully see that he has become the first of our tagged Cuckoos to successfully conquer the Sahara in 2019! 

We’re delighted to introduce some new faces to the project! Catching the birds has been challenging this year with seemingly less competition for females and so less interest in the female lure used, but thanks to the persistence of our super tagging team, we do have four new male Cuckoos to introduce to you.

Three of these newly-tagged birds are already on the way, crossing the Channel and moving into France within the last few days. Take a look at the individual blogs to find out more.

The first male to be tagged this year, in mid-may, Tennyson was happily transmitting from the Mundford area, not far from his tagging site at Cranwich Heath until the 18 June. However, signals received on the evening of the 24 June show that he had begun his journey, travelling  765km (475 miles) to reach central France. He is currently 30km (19 miles) to the west of Limoges, north of the commune of  Oradour-sur-Vayres and within the area of the Périgord-Limousin Regional Nature Park.