From central France onwards, Leri has taken the most easterly route to Africa. The only problem with that is she will have been the most exposed of the three ospreys to the harsh conditions of the Sahara desert.

Having set off from northern Algeria on the morning of September 24th, Leri flew over 1,000 miles in four days on a southwesterly direction heading over Mali and Mauritania. By the morning of the 28th she had started to change direction and was now flying directly west, incredibly, mirroring exactly what her brother Dulas had done a few days earlier. Is there some kind of longitudinal radar kicking in the osprey's brain telling them that they have reached as far south as they need to go? Have a look at this map beneath, both Leri and Dulas forming this hockey-stick type change of direction to the west.

By the time she roosted for the night on September 27th, Leri was just three miles from where her brother had been less than two days earlier on the banks of the Sénégal River. Leri has taken just two weeks and two days to fly from mid Wales to Senegal. And we were all worried about her!