We now believe that Chester, tagged in spring 2014, died whilst still in the UK this summer. The last signal was received on the 4 June and none have been received since.  Chester dying on the breeding grounds is unusual and this is the first time that we have seen this for a bird that has already been tracked on one migration. It could perhaps be a knock on effect of the cold wet summer we have experienced. In 2012 we saw a similar effect.  

The last signal received from Chester was on 4 June from Ashdown Forest but nothing has been received since. In 2014 he left the UK on 19 June and by the 7 July was in Spain. Without signals we do not know whether he is still in the UK or has already begun his journey. Hopefully further signals in the future will reveal his location. 

By the 11 May Chester had covered the 1500km (930 miles) from his last location in Spain and returned to his breeding grounds at Ashdown Forest in Sussex, becoming the ninth of our tagged Cuckoos to make it back to the UK.

Chester has continued on from north Africa and by 1 May was in southern Spain, just north of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. 

From Nigeria on 12 April, Chester has travelled north-west around 3100km (1940 miles), crossing the Sahara desert, and making it to a location close to the Algeria/Morocco border in north Africa by 22 April.