Future land use change in the Gabon is likely to accelerate, said Dr Chris Hewson, who leads the BTO project. ‘To have this eyewitness account now is really important. Even finding that people rarely see cuckoos there is instructive for us – it shows what we are going to be up against when we go out there. It helps us to piece this together with knowledge of migration routes, to provide a more fully formed idea of what happens to the cuckoo for the major part of its annual cycle.’

Photograph: Toby Smith Photography