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
Brilliant Wendy, all we want now is a metal detector, I'd better get it put in the ad.
Do you have a Maplin outlet anywhere near you? They have one for £12.99 ... I'll treat you to one!
2013 photos & vids here
eff37 on Flickr
That would be handy! LOL If we can't get hold of one we'll have to mark up suitable holes & go back. I'm just rummaging in the attic for balls of wool so we can mark every tree when you go past so nobody misses bits or does bits twice. I've never done a search before before but Stéphane, head of our raptor group, is full of good ideas!
Well said Starling, and good luck in the search Noisette.
What about non-toxic spray paint in day-glo colour? Fast to use & wears off in a few weeks!
That's a good idea, I'll have a look & see what's around.
EDIT : Actually on second thoughts maybe not, it is private woodland, they might not appreciate it!
LMAC - I commend your post in support of Abernethy and LG group but would not generalise the term to RSPB.
Likewise I compliment the response from STARLING.
Did one not say earlier in the summer they would not renew their RSPB membership because of the RSPB lack of support in opposing T in the Park for the Protection of Birds.
Keith you are right i did and I did not renew my membership because of their stance. However LG and Abernethy staff are employees of RSPB so I did feel fair to mention the organisation, also those centre staff who have previously worked there on the summer season, who cared, some are also still employees of RSPB even although they may not be a fixture there now.
Lmac - First Thank You for a very respectful reply.
Like your self I have admiration for the centre staff that have previously worked at LG on a summer season some in particular who have been mentioned.
However I just do not know what the RSPB stategy is for LG VC moving forward.
A past employee did mention to me in a discussion the RSPB as a company were more interessted in the number of visitors and new memberships gained at LG than the actual osprey interest. I would not say the same for the staff and just ponder why some have moved on. I trust this is not the case and hope my own thoughts are incorrect.
To me this is where after so many years in exile the first osprey pair returned to our shores and like St Andrews being the home of golf to me LG is the home of Ospreys and hope it reamains so.
I agree it has been a difficult year for them but nests do have difficult years from time to time but with a premium post code they do recover whether with EJ/O as a pairing or AN Other.
To summarise maybe we will not get another Breagha situation as LG decided at the start of this season they were not going to tag unless the new command reverses this decission.
I think Breagha is just one of them 80% unfortunate ospreys and maybe best to leave it at that. Most of the 80% bar a few we do not know what happened or can influence this. However if Noisette feels happy to continue to search then fine but please take care in this area.
I feel very strongly that the maximum effort should be made to find out what happened to Breagha. Why? Because I have always been strongly against the satellite tagging programme & raised a glass when they said no more. However the reason for the tagging was to find out why the youngsters never made it back. We owe it to Breagha to do our best, as he did. He carried that rucksack around for 2 years & gave us good signals when he died, the least we can do is find out why!
I don't want to start a debate on satellite tracking this is not the place, fortunately (from my point of view), it's over, history. I respect other peoples views but they aren't my own.