Morven wintered on the Atlantic coast of Mauritania

17th March She's off! As usual Morven roosted overnight in the desert, and flew to the Atlantic coast just before 7am. At 8am she was on the coast and an hour later was perched in from the coast 5 kilometres south where she stayed until at least 10am, probably eating a fish. At 11am she was back 8 kilometres north on the coast, and by midday she had started her migration, being 7 kms inland flying ENE at 59km/h and was already at 420metres above the land. Morven flew strongly into the Sahara Desert, being 21 kms further on at 1pm flying ENE at 32km/h, she was flying the same speed at 2pm, and increased height to 725 metres. She continued in this direction and the last GPS signal of the transmission at 5pm showed her soaring to 1239 metres - she completed another 59 kilometres before roosting overnight in the desert. Her day's flight was 258 kilometres. Morven's first day's migration into the Sahara Desert 17th March 2009

14th March Still no movement, with Morven using the desert roost at night and on the coast during the day.

27th Feb - 5th March Some good fixes with the same routine - roosting 10 kilometres inland in the desert and spending the day on the coast - although some change on 26th February with Morven roosting 8 kilometres to the south.

17th Feb Signals have been intermittent, probably due to dust, but one 9th February she overnight roosted two kilometres inland from the normal bit of coast, while earlier at 3pm she was 1.18 kilometres out to sea, flying back to shore at 14 km/hr at 265 metres above the ocean.

3rd Feb Morven is still on the same part of the coast of Mauritania, spending her days on the shores and roosting at night about 9 kilometres inland in the desert. Over the last few days she has ranged further along the coast than normal, being 13.5 kilometres south of her normal place at 5pm on 1st February and 14.5 kilometres north at 9am on 2nd February. A range of 28 kilometres north to south along the coast. A better series of GPS signals and better battery readings this week so the dust storms must have settled down a bit. Morven's positions on the Mauritanian coast 27th January to 2nd February.

23rd Jan The last batch of signals were for the 7th January and showed Morven still in the same area, roosting inland in the Sahara and living along the coast during the day. Blown dust and sand still obscuring the solar panel.

26th Dec After a break in transmissions a new set of data came through showing that Morven was still in the same part of the Mauritanian coast and with the same diurnal habits. She continues to roost in the desert 10 kilometres from the coast and spends her days on the edge of the South Atlantic, in just 800 metres of coast, occasional day time roosting (or eating) about 400 metres in from the shore line. At 7pm on both 19th and 24th she was recorded flying inland to her night roost at 36kms/h and 42 kms/h, and at 17 metres and 11 metres above sea level. Cannot understand why the battery levels are low - could it be obscured sunlight due to blowing sand and dust. I remember, when I visited the eastern Cape Verde islands, that the sun was obscured by Saharan sand blown on easterly winds - 400 kilometres out in the ocean!

4th Dec Still in same wintering area no signals since then

20th Nov Still in usual haunt - roosting 10 kms inland in dunes at night; and spending daytime on 300 metres of coast, at 5pm was heading back to beach at 55km/h at 49 metres above the sea, 300 metres from beach.

2nd - 10th November Morven wintering is small area on Mauritania coast, all on 1.7 kilometres of coast. At 1pm on 3rd she was flying 18km/h NNE at 344 metres 1.3 kilometres out to sea heading back to normal coastal roosts- presumably after fishing. Morven's locations end of October

1st November Morven is well settled on the coast. Her main night roost is 10 kilometres inland in stony sand desert scattered with bushes. During the day she is mainly along one kilometre of the shore, with some daytime roosts just inland. At 3pm on 28th October, she was 3.24 kilometres to the south offshore flying at 66km/h SW at 138 metres above the sea. Morven's movements on the Mauritanean coast 22nd - 27th October

17th - 27th October Morven is now well settled into her wintering site on the Mauritanian coast. Often her night time roost is about 10 kilometres inland in the sand dunes; and on one occasion at 3pm on 24th she was 4 kilometres down the coast from her normal fishing and loafing area; flying north at 21km/h just 50 metres above the Atlantic Ocean.

28th September - 16th October Morven has remained on this section of coast - roosting inland on the dunes at night and fishing along the coast during the day. In the last week she has been on a section of coast 1.5 kilometres long and has been staying closer to the coast with roosts just 1.5 kilometre inland. It's looking as though this might be her wintering site, as she has now been there for more than a month. In the last week, her daily movements have been kept to a smaller area and the inland roost is now just half a kilometre from the sea.

15th - 27th September Morven has remained on this part of the desert, earlier the weather was cloudy, with some rain, west wind 15mph. She has spent her time on 5.5 kilometres of coast, 5 kilometres south of the coastal village of Lemhaisrat. At 4pm on 15th she was fishing a few hundred metres off the coast and her main night roost is 9 kilometres inland. The desert dunes reach the coast in this area. Is this going to be her winter home?

Morven's desert roost and fishing sites

13th - 14th September Morven remained in the desert to roost and then mid morning moved down to the coast and worked up and down the sandy coast of this part of Mauritania fishing, and later in the evening flew 9.5 kilometres back to the same desert roost as last night; this morning she flew back to the coast. From the battery state, it's probably cloudy on the coast and that's why she has stopped migrating - or is this where she's going to winter.

Morven's migration from southern Spain to the Atlantic coast of Mauritania

12th September Morven was migrating SW by 10am, flying downwind at 80km/h WSW; she continued at these speeds over the Western Saharan deserts and crossed into Northern Mauritania between 1pm and 2pm, then she turned towards the coast. At 3pm and 4pm she was flying at speeds over 80km/h and at a height of up to 1323 metres, which would have allowed her to see the Atlantic Ocean ahead. She came close to the coast near Louik, but turned well in from the coast and travelled south to reach a roosting site by 8pm. This was in the desert, some 9 kilometres from the Atlantic coast and 100 kilometres north of the capital, Nouakchott. Her day's flight was 552 kilometres - a very good flight and more towards the coast than Logie's southern migration last autumn.