I know that many of you out there are very eager to find out what is happening to the birds. I am checking for new data on the hour and will report on their movements when I know.
As of 10pm last night (29th) Deshar was still in the North Atlantic - he was at a height of 63m above sea level - but was flying North (at a course of 6 degrees) - prior to this his bearing was between 230 and 250 degrees, his speed was 17kph. At this course he has more chance of hitting Puerto Rico than Suriname - As mentioned before, the next data set will be very interesting.
Nethy has moved on from her position NE of Rennes and appears to have roosted at 8pm close to a lake near La Praliere, south of Montaigu.
When the next (complete) data set comes in, I will let you know.
Just got the data - as of 3pm today (29th) Nethy was 50km NE of Rennes (France) and Deshar was still flying, he has missed the Azores. He was at an altitude of 500m and has so far flown 1978miles (3185km). The facts are now clear - on his current course the next landfall is 2470 miles (4000km) away in Suriname,South America - that distance is 3-4 days away.
I will post a more detailed blog with the satellite data tomorrow.
For those of you who can only view from work.
I have been checking on the hour and as yet there is no new data from the satellite. I will check again at 6pm and then hourly from then until I get some data. As soon as I know, you will know.
I would like to add at this point that there is no proof at all that the transmitters cause the birds to fly off course - we will be updating the FAQs on the tracking page to explain this further. If it did cause a problem then the data which we are gathering would be flawed and therefore worthless. It is known that several ospreys have been seen wintering on the Azores, and these did not have satellite tags on them. I think that the last few days of north easterly winds have been more likely the cause of Deshar's flight path than anything else.
I should really start with the news on Deshar - The last data point I have is from 15.00 yesterday (28th September) where we found him at an altitude of 430m above sea level, 300km east of the small island of Santa Maria, the warmest and most southern of the Azores,it is approximately 50 miles from São Miguel. The island has an area of 97.18 km² and is the third smallest of the group - let's hope he can find it. So far Deshar has flown 1470miles ,or 2365km - and the data would suggest that it has been a non-stop flight. - the next data set will be very revealing.
As for Nethy, - at 11.00 yesterday (28th) she started to move, she flew almost due south for 3 hours, covering a distance of 91km before switching course, between 14.00 and 15.00 she flew SW, only covering a distance of 15km before settling in a tree. The last data point for her was at 17.00, still in that tree in the Downton area, only 1.6km from the south coast and the English Channel.
I will be checking on the hour for the next satellite pass - believe me, as soon as I know I will report - good or bad.