Signals show that by the late afternoon of 26 October, Peckham had covered 1,640km (1020 miles) across Libya and Niger and was around the Niger/Chad border, north of Lake Chad. A few hours later and he had continued further south to Lake Chad. His desert crossing was over and he could spend some time refuelling after his long journey.

His tag next switched on in the early hours of 29 October to reveal he had continued onwards, 575km (360 miles) south-east and was in the Logone Occidental area in the south of Chad. The Congo rainforest is now very much within his reach! Well done Peckham!

A little later than usual, but Peckham has made it to Africa! On the 23 October transmissions showed that Peckham was on his way south again, and by late afternoon was 505k (315 miles) further than his last position near Milan, and just a little further south than Rome. From here he flew 1210km (750 miles) across the Mediterranean Sea to reach the coast of Libya by the early afternoon of 24 October.

This is a very similar route to previous years, where he has left Italy for Libya and then headed onwards to Chad. In 2015, when he embarked on this same trip, he made it to Libya by early August, in 2016 it was early September and this year he is later again - in fact the latest arrival to Africa of any Cuckoos we have tracked! We are really pleased to see him have made it this far so late but he is not out of danger yet. He still has quite a way to travel to make it across the desert and find a suitable stop where there will be the necessary resources he needs to rest and refuel after such a long and strenuous journey. If he was in good condition when he left he will have more chance of making this successfully.

By the 8 October, Peckham had traveled to a location 32km(20 miles) south-east of Milan, Italy, having flown around 245km (150 miles) from his previous location in Switzerland. If he makes it to Africa from here, he will be the latest arrival to Africa of all the tracked Cuckoos since the project began. The previous record was 3 October. Hopefully he is not too late to complete his journey successfully and become a record breaker for the project. 

A signal on 22 September shows Peckham continued on his way south from his last locations in Belgium and then France to reach Switzerland where he has remained for at least a couple of days. He is north-west of Stockholm, on the southern edge of the Gantrisch Nature Park, a mountainous area which includes many lakes. He also visited Switzerland in 2015, although was further to the north-east. He's still got a way to go to reach his wintering grounds but at least he is on his way! 

A series of signals show Peckham is finally moving south. The last good signal showed him over the Ardennes Mountains in the south of Belgium but further locations of poorer quality indicate he continued on into northern France.

We've been following Peckham for a number of years and can see by the 20 September in both 2015 and 2016, Peckham was already in Africa and as far south as Chad. His journey this year has varied considerably from these!

He was one of the latest to arrive in Africa last year, with the first transmission received from Africa on 9 September. Throughout the project only three birds have arrived later than this, with two in mid-September and Lloyd, one of our Welsh birds tagged in 2012, not transmitting from Africa until 3 October that year. 

Despite arriving late last year his onward journey to reach Chad was fairly quick. Hopefully conditions will be favourable on the way south. We hope we will soon see him in Africa, all being well.