Last week, we posted that Wingston had left the European mainland and was winging his way toward North Africa. 

He arrived on the Algerian coast, just west of the capital Algiers, before heading south across the Sahara desert. He then crossed Mali and just after 10pm last night he was close the border of Burkina Faso, just north of the Sahel Reserve, a protected area covering 16,000 km2  (9,941 sq mi). In the last five days, he has covered well over 2,500 km (1,553 miles). 

Having spent almost three weeks in the hills above Montpellier, Jim followed fellow-Cuckoo Wingston and headed south along a remarkably similar flightpath. Having crossed the Mediterranean, he arrived in Algeria close to the coastal town of Ténès and proceeded south with determination. 

He crossed the border into Mali, and our last signal shows him to be around 150 km (93 miles) south of the ancient city of Timbuktu, close to Lake Korarou. 

In the last few days, Wilfrid has forged on through Western Sahara, followed the Atlantic coast south through Mauritania and is currently heading inland into eastern Senegal.  

This time last year he was still in Spain, so he is well ahead of where he was on this date in 2024. Will he head to Angola to spend the winter months again?

When we last checked in with Arthur five days ago, he was making substantial progress though Morocco. He is now in north-east Senegal, following the mighty Senegal River along the south-west Mauritanian border. 

With rain and thunderstorms currently moving through this region, it may provide welcome relief after a lengthy desert crossing!

Scottish-tagged Cuckoo Norman, having left France, has headed east into the Italian Alps. His latest signal shows that he is high up in the Gran Paradiso National Park, home to Ibex, Chamois, Golden Eagle, Lammergeier and Wallcreeper.

Will he spend time feeding and resting along the River Po before continuing his journey, or will he crack on and make a swift move south? Watch this space!

Thetford-tagged Frederic appears to be taking it relatively easy, making his way slowly through Spain. Our latest update indicates that he has moved south-west into the Castile and León region and is roughly 100 km (62 miles) north of the capital Madrid. Hopefully he’s finding plenty of food to sustain his long and arduous crossing to North Africa and across the Sahara.  

The first of our tagged birds to reach North Africa, Ashok has ploughed on with zeal, flying across the Sahara and on into Chad, covering over 3,000 km (1,864 miles) in under three days! 

In that time Ashok covered the length of Libya, flew through eastern Niger, and as of 7.26 this morning was in the Sahel region of Chad, having cleared the vast expanse of the Sahara desert.

Our second tagged bird to reach Africa, Arthur took a quite different route to Ashok, travelling west through Spain and down to Morocco. 

He took off just to the west of Cadiz, flying across an expanse of open sea before arriving on the Moroccan coast close to the city of Casablanca. From here he continued south past Marrakesh, toward the borders of Western Sahara and western Algeria. 

Since our last update just two days ago, when Wilfrid was still in central western Spain, he has covered almost 1,500 km (930 miles). He left the Iberian Peninsula close to the Guadiana River mouth on the border of Spain and Portugal, crossed the Gulf of Cadiz and followed the Moroccan coast before heading inland and continuing into Western Sahara. 

As one of our last tagged Cuckoos to leave the UK, he is now the second furthest south!

Wingston, it would seem, has finally tired of the excitement of Montpellier, where he has been since mid-June. This morning, we saw that his latest signal places him mid-way across the Mediterranean, just off the south-west coast of Sardinia. 

If he continues in this direction he will arrive in North Africa close to the Moroccan / Tunisian border shortly. From here he can proceed with the next leg of his remarkable journey – across the Sahara!