Over the last month Cromarty started to wander more around his wintering area in southern Senegal making frequent visits to the Atlantic coast. In winter his daily flights were very local but recently he had covered nearly 200 square km. Several times he headed north towards The Gambia and I thought he was off, but then he returned. But at 10.10 today the 10th May he set off north and at 11.27 thermalled up to 534 metres altitude and set his course north. He crossed the Gambian border at 1146 and the last signal of today’s batch was at 1220GMT when he was near N’Yofelleh; 37 km north of his start point. Now to watch his migration north. He’s too late to breed this summer but he could find a mate and nest for next year. If he returns to Strathspey, where he was last summer, I know one nest which is empty this spring – both old birds failed to return – so that’s a possible site for him.
Start of migration May 10th morning
