After his flight down into Guinea Bissau there have been no more transmissions since the last report.  Hopefully she is still alive and te transmitter will bounce back, but sadly when juveniles move locations in winter there can be problems.

Aigan was on a creek 8 km north of Bissau on 23rd and 24th December, but by 29th had flown 80 km SE and at 2248GMT on 29th was located in swampy areas south of Buba towards the Guinea border. Unfortunately there were no GPS signals.

Aigan left her wintering site in Mauritania about midday on 11th December and flew 225 kms south to roost overnight just SW of Diourbel. Next morning she flew to the Sine Saloum National Park and would have seen many ospreys wintering there, including to a young osprey aggressive adults. She passed over the Gambia in the early afternoon and by 1800hrs was on the north bank of the River Casamanche, where she roosted. On 13th and 14th she wandered in southern Senegal reaching the Atlantic coast at Varela National Park before heading north and spending time in the mangrove swamps south of the Casamanche River in Senegal.

Aigan’s flight to Casamanche

Aigan continues to winter in the very SW corner of Mauritania. She is in a wetland, probably rice fields and channels, and then flying up to 7 km NE to roost at night on sandy ridges with sparse bushes. She is ranging in an area of 36 square km.

Location November 21st to December 4th

Aigan flew on north on 6th October through the Djoud National Park in Northern Senegal and crossed back into Mauritania and setlled to the north of the Diawling National Park. Seems to have settled in an area of irrigated farmland and rivers, and is living in an area of 19 square km.

November 5th to 11th

Aigan has stopped for a few days in Senegal south of The Gambia, probably a temprary wetland so it will be interesting to see if she will stay there

October 31st to November 2nd

South along the border of Algeria and Morocco on 21st October and  at 21ooGMT was still flying SW at 20kph. The next signal at dawn showed she had made a 160 km flight over the Tiris Semmar desert during the night. After 0900 on 22nd she set of WSW and roosted that night to the NE of the Fderik Iron Ore mine in Mauritania. Next day she skirted to the north and west of the massive mine workings and nearly reached the southern border of Morocco. On 25th October she made a big push SW and roosted that night inland and to the south of Nouakchott. On 26th she migrated south inland from the Atlantic coast and reached the mouth of the Senegal river at 1700GMT, on 27th she carried on south and roosted NW of Mbour and on 28th flew on south crossing the Gambia River at 1600GMT and roosted just south of the river.

October 20th to 28th

Aigan flew 293 km through Morocco on 17th and roosted that night in farmlands 100 km SE of Casablanca; next day she flew 161 km to the front of the mountains west of Demnate. On 19th Aigan flew 152 km over the Atlas mountains and roosted that night in wooded slopes at 2000 metres N of Tanzad, next morning she set off early and was well on her way by 0700GMT and at 1000GMT was flying  S at 28kph at 1060 metres E of Agadir.

October17th to 20th

After a stop-over of 36 days, Aigan left the Cazelegas reservoir after 0930GMT on 15th October and flew SSW through Spain, passing over the Sierra Morena mountains, and settling for the night on the banks of the River Guadalquivir north of La Algaba, north of Seville, after 311 km.

On 16th, she started migrating at 0900GMT and was south of Sevillle following the river an hour later. At 1800GMT she was in wooded hills just west of the 9th April reservoir south of Tangier in Morocco after a flight of 215 km, and then roosted overnight there

Migration on October 15th – 16th

Aigan continues to live in the same area of Span, recently to 10th October mainly at the NE end of Cazalegas Reservoir