PJ has continued his progress north after crossing the Sahara and over the last 48 hours he has crossed the Mediterranean and arrived in Spain. By the early hours of yesterday morning he had made it to the Murcia province of southern Spain where he was just within the Paraje El Nevazo de Abajo ecological park. He is 113km (70 miles) due west of Alicante so he is still a couple of hundred kilometres further east than his usual route, but as we now know, this is no big deal for these birds! He is approximately 175km further north than Cuckoo Ellis but will he maintain this lead or will Ellis leap frog him? It usually takes PJ no more than about 10 days to get from Spain back to the UK so we are keeping everything crossed that we'll soon be sending you the exciting news that he has made it "home".

Almost six years after he was tagged in June 2016, Cuckoo PJ is once again speeding back to his breeding grounds in the King's Forest, Suffolk. Wintering each year in northern Angola and the Congo Basin, he returns via Ivory Coast in west Africa, a 16,000km (10,000 mile) round trip. This means that if he makes it back to Suffolk this year he will have racked up well in excess of 60,000 miles in his lifetime. We continue to be amazed by the feats of this incredible Cuckoo and remain thankful that the tag has lasted so well.

PJ has spent the last few weeks in Ivory Coast, feeding up in preparation for attempting his crossing of the Sahara. At 09:02 on Saturday morning (April 2) he was in southern Mauritania. Over the next 38 hours he continued north over the desert, flying at an average speed of 28mph and covering 1,340 km (832 miles) so that by 23:42 last night (April 3) he had reached western Algeria. His route north over the desert has taken him further east than in previous year because of stiff westerly winds. These will switch to southerly as he moves north over Algeria, giving him a welcome boost along the way. He usually progresses through Spain and France back to England, arriving back in Suffolk between 18th and 30th April. 

New updates received early this morning (4 March) show that PJ has flown 366km (227 miles) south west from Ghana into Ivory Coast. He is now in central Ivory Coast, approximately 40km north of the capital city of Yamoussoukro and just north of the town of Tiebissou. PJ knows this part of Central Ivory coast well, having stopped off here on previous northward migrations. We expect him to remain here for a few weeks before embarking on the next leg of his journey.   

New updates received from PJ's tag between 9am and 11am this morning (27 Feb) show that he has flown 2,134km (1,326 miles) north west from the Congo to Ghana. He is now in north west Ghana, close to the border with Ivory Coast. PJ usually stops off in Ivory Coast for a few weeks before embarking on the next leg of his journey by crossing the Sahara. Last year PJ arrived in Ghana on 27th Feb and moved on to Ivory Coast by 1st March where he stayed until beginning his crossing of the Sahara on 14th April. So we expect PJ to cross over into Ivory Coast and then to stay there until early April.  

It looks as if PJ has begun his migration north, leaving Gabon behind and flying 255km (159 miles) north into the Republic of Congo. He is now in the Odzala-Kokoua National Park in northern Congo, first protected in 1935, making it one of Africa's oldest national parks. 440 bird species have been recorded in this park, along with around 100 mammal species including one of Africa's most diverse primate populations. The habitat here is old growth forest, jungle, dry forest, savanna and rainforest.