On 3 August we received a further location from Larry’s tag showing that he had not moved from his reported position, in northern Libya. Unfortunately, there’s no way he could have survived for that long in the arid conditions so we must conclude that he has perished there. 

This is especially sad news as he was our longest surviving active Cuckoo, having been tagged in 2015 and entering his fifth year of tracking. 

David, first tracked in spring 2012, holds the title for longest tracked journey, having been tracked to mid-winter (December 2016) in his fifth year. Chris, our most famous Cuckoo, was in second place in regard to length and duration of tracked journey, with his last signal on 8 August 2015 in his fifth year.  Larry was just one successful desert crossing away from surpassing Chris, who also perished during his desert crossing, but had reached the Tibesti mountains in Northern Chad.

We are grateful to everyone who has supported Larry over the years and watched his incredible journey. 

Over the last few days Larry has departed Italy, crossed the Mediterranean and arrived in Libya. This is the fifth southern migration we have tracked Larry over and in all previous years he has passed through Libya, enroute to Chad where he usually makes his post-desert stop-off. If Larry successfully navigates the desert this time he will overtake Chris as our longest-serving Cuckoo. 

Data received from Larry's tag at 5am this morning showed that he had left his last known location in Croatia and flown 412 km (256 miles) south to southern Italy. He is now 80 km (50 miles) east of Naples, between Lioni and Vallata. Larry was tagged in 2015 and based on his movements in previous years we might expect him to stay in Italy until late July/early August when he is likely to fly directly across the Sahara to a stopover site in Chad. 

Larry has made a huge movement south and is already in Croatia, where he has stopped over in previous years. Looking back over his journeys, this is pretty much on schedule. Transmissions on the morning of 30 June show him over the sea, off the west coast of Rijeka. His last transmission from the UK was around lunchtime on 25 June meaning he covered over 1385 km (860 miles) in about 4 and a half days. He could be heading towards the island of Cres, where he has spent time in previous years, before then heading south into Italy later in July, and then embarking on his desert crossing over Libya to Chad in August. 

Since his arrival on his breeding site in Bowland, Larry has been pretty much settled in the area around Stocks Reservoir. During the last four years he has left Britain between June 20 and June 27 - he could be on his way any day now.