I thought I'd start a new thread on this as "The adventures of Breagha" are probably over. My continued frustration at not being able to visit the site was overcome at the weekend when someone who I have known for some years by name & had already contacted me by email about Breagha decided he'd like to help me in the serach. He scouted around the outside of the woods on Saturday & then contacted me to arrange a joint visit which we did on Monday 13th October, a month after Breagha sent in signals from the same spot , thus signalling there was a problem. I know downloads were at 3 days at this point, so i am still at a loss as to why a search was not instigated straight away, in case Breagha was injured. However it was not. As far as I can work out, the only official search that has taken place was by 2 agents of the ONCFS, one local & one from Chizé area )where he had been working with members of the RSPB) on Saturday 26th September. They found some wing feathers & took photos. The feathers are still in the local office. There is no ongoing enquiry & no plans to go back to the serach area.
So Alain & I set off into the woods. They are very overgrown but there is a hunters trail that I knew which took us to the area of his last signals, opposite the track that runs between the last 2 lagoons.
This is a typical view in the woods (sorry about the photos, it was quite sombre & had the camera on automatique)
This is a typical "bridge"
& this was a trickier one which the hunters had thoughtfully put some extra hand holds on.
& then we were there, Alain went on ahead & I stood & looked & thought no hope here & there it was, a few half buried feathers. I pulled them out & called Alain & then remembered to take photos. We found part of a wing with bones intact. It was fresh, you could see the blood & bones weren't all brown. Close-up photos later on. We marked the area & I can find it easily again, about 20 m from the edge of the wood & close to my storks nest. Nearby was a big tall tree that he must have been sitting in. These are the photos of the spot
Thats my bin bag that I took just in case, from a distance you can see why they were missed, just really lucky to have found them,
& from another direction you could see some feathers in the ivy, probably blew up & got caught when the animal carried off the rest of Breagha
These are the tall trees nearby,
& the same one's lower down
We had a good look around the area but no sign of the body or other feathers so came home. We then took pictures of the feathers & they seem to match photos in the book but need an expert to be sure. However Alain pointed out 2 feathers that showed possible signs of passage of lead shot, the "hairs" on the feather had been broken off halfway down. This is a closeup of one. Its towards the end of the 2nd feather down. However there is no certainty in this.
For the experts I've put in a "foot" ruler for size
Close up of wing & bone
& other side, which for me points to Osprey underwing
Hopefully Mike will come back to me to say what needs to be done. I think they should be x-rayed to see if there is any trace of lead in them. Also the feathers found by the oncfs should be dealt with. I'm quite happy to post back to uk but for any follow-up enquiry they should be dealt with here first.
After getting home I was back out in the afternoon counting Stone Curlews with the ONCFS & quizzed them so that's how I know there's nothing else happening, at least as far as they know.
I know I said I'd wait for the RSPB blog, but this is my story & I'm sharing it with you. If the feathers are not an Osprey then I apologise sincerely & I hope that seeing the feathes did not distress you too much. If anyone can positively come on & identify them then that would be good too.
I'm off out again this afternoon, more Stone Curlews. And big thank-you to my knight in shining armour, Alain, who read my distress in the emails & came to my rescue. I can sleep nights now!
Best wishes
Hazel in Southwest France
Another one of the bit of wing, without breaking it up it's hard to show the individual feathers.
Any Osprey experts in France at the moment? They are welcome to have a look!
Noisettee - I will agree most buzzard feathers are patterned both sides of the spine and agree looking at my pictures of the osprey feathers on page 1 do resemble yours patterned on one side of the spine.
I will admit I am no expert in this field but as posted before did think they were osprey feathers by definition and size.
I am not sure which FB page Alan P views where the concensus syas they are not but like you would like some suggestions - I can not look as I do not know which page he is reading.
I do admire you for the herculean effort you have put into this project to evaluate what may have happened to Blue CF4 and do wish you may have had more assistance from any of the authorities including RSPB Loch Garten. I think RSPB have many other commercial interests rather than investigating a missing osprey and that is disappointing. I wonder why Richard and Jen moved on.
The person I was with has handled an injured Osprey, albeit some years ago, & was convinced from the start that they were indeed from our bird. I can't think of any other bird they could be. From the size it would have to be a big raptor & of those, only buzzards are around there now, black kites went ages ago, red kites haven't arrived, honey buzzards would have been around then but it doesn't look right for that either.
I'm not too worried what people say on facebook, if they aren't Osprey I'm sure someone will come on here & say what they are.
I am not commenting on who the feathers belong to - I do feel it is up to the RSPB to look into what has been found .
Just to say that Richard and Jen did not move on as such , Richard wanted to concentrate on the trips he does , he gets to see awesome places now :) , Jen would have loved to have stayed at LG but as we know we have a new centre manager , so Jen goes on to other things now . Things change and for me its sad and LG will never be the same without the two of them but the new ones have to be given a chance .
Valerie
Let's go back to basics. Breaghas' tracker went down at precise GPS co-ordinates which Noisette and her friend Alain located. There they found the remains of a large bird. The colouring would seem to be identical to an Osprey. Alain has first hand experience of handling an Osprey and is convinced of their provenance.
I'd say that was more than circumstantial evidence.
Birdies LG DU update.
I should point out that I sent some photos of the feathers to Mike Hems last night before posting on here today, he is the only contact I have while Jess is on holday. He hasn't replied but maybe he didn't get my mail?
I've also given permission for somebody else to put them on an independant site for identification. Frankly it would be wonderful if it wasn't Breagh, but a sad coincidence for those feathers to be in the spot where he disappeared.
Hazel, I'll add my thanks to you and Alain for your dedication to the task of looking for Breagha. It is unfortunate that you could not search for him immediately, but we are all still very lucky that you are there at all and so close to where his signal stopped. France is a huge place--you might have been 100s of miles away! While I am no feather expert, yours do look very much like the Osprey feathers posted by Keith, but I will wait for the experts to set us straight.
Kind regards, Ann
Hazel, thankyou for your efforts to find out what happened to our dear Breagh. So very sad :(
Valerie D said: I am not commenting on who the feathers belong to - I do feel it is up to the RSPB to look into what has been found . Just to say that Richard and Jen did not move on as such , Richard wanted to concentrate on the trips he does , he gets to see awesome places now :) , Jen would have loved to have stayed at LG but as we know we have a new centre manager , so Jen goes on to other things now . Things change and for me its sad and LG will never be the same without the two of them but the new ones have to be given a chance .
It appears and I only use the word appear that the RSPB is not doing much and had it not been for Noisette these wings would never have been recovered or even thought of such a recovery.
Either that or some big mystery is being held by RSPB.
I look back at the responses of Dyfi and RW in such similar circumstances.
Again I admire Noisette's Herculean Effort whatever the outcome is.
I am also pleased to hear that Richard and Jen did not move on so I expect to see them at LG in 2016 - Not sure what your interpretation of "Move On as such" is.
Noisette - It may be worthwhile if you do not get a response from RSPB to send some photos by e mail to Roy and explain the search you did. He may come up with something and just possibly may have taken some DNA Spot at ringing.