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Better news, and better luck...by richard thaxton
Not just better news, but fantastic new!
Millicent has made it to Spain - and having done so by crossing the Bay of Biscay! Compared to poor Seasca, luck was mercifully on Millie's side.
This is a huge relief to us all, I'm quite sure of that, but for the near-departing Team LG 2104, it's a massive relief. Since losing Seasca so soon, and before our season here was over, understandably we were despondent and very worried for Millie too. We took some comfort from her chosen more easterly route, fetching up in Derbyshire. We hoped that by continuing to head due south from there, this would drop her nicely down to the Channel coast and then make for a convenient, short, risk-averse sea crossing into France, then in time, surely down to Spain, before a likely short hop across the Strait of Gibraltar into Africa.
But oh no! Instead she chose to scare the living daylights out of us by veering more south-west from Derbyshire to the Gloucestershire/Monmouthshire border area. All a bit too far west for my liking, appearing as it did, to be tee-ing herself up also for a possible Bay of Biscay onward leg. I kept my thoughts on this from the team, and they no-doubt kept theirs from me, and each other, fearing for a risky crossing of the Bay, like Seasca.
Thankfully though, luck was on Millie's side, or maybe the weather was just more favourable out there for her at the time, than it was for Seasca, or simply that she took the sensible option of stopping for roosting mid-afternoon over the last few days to gather her strength, to brace herself for the next leg. This probably put her in good stead for what was a mammoth overnight flight across the Bay of Biscay.
On 27 August she flew some 170 km travelling W of Bridgewater, N Devon at 09.00 GMT, W of Exeter at 11.00 GMT where she stopped. She then flew S stopping again at 13.00 GMT W of Widecombe in the Moor before changing direction to a more southerly route coming to roost at 15.00 GMT in woods 2 km W of Buckfastleigh at the edge of the Dartmoor NP. She was close to water at the reservoir on the River Avon and a lake in Buckfastleigh.
She started early at 05.00 GMT on 28 August setting off in a SW direction towards Bigbury Bay, S Devon changing to a SE direction to fly over Salcombe before leaving the coast at 07.00 GMT to cross the English Channel. At 11.00 GMT she changed direction to S and crossed the French coast at around 12.30 GMT near Plouézec in the Côtes d’Amour region of Brittany. At 15.00 GMT she came to roost in a wooded area just N of Pleto having covered a total of 235 km for the day.
The 29 August was to see her complete an incredible journey of 635 km. She left early and flew S, perching at 09.00 GMT near a lake at Le Quélennec and may have also stopped at Le Blavel River which she passed over at around 15.00 GMT. At around 16.45 GMT she left France passing close to Quiberon before starting what turned out to be a 13 hour night flight over the Bay of Biscay! She initially headed for the short route to N Spain but at 21.00 GMT changed to a SW direction. She eventually arrived on the N Spain coast between Avilés and Candas at 05.00 GMT on 30 August.
At 07.00 GMT on 30 August she was perched a little distance further S then flew S over an industrial area of Avilés where there are some large bodies of water. The last downloaded data point had her flying S at 11.00 GMT over a mountainous region. Overall, Millie had flown around 1100 km over the last 3 days.
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