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
That looks like a lovely area where dear Breagha had his last visit, surrounded by all the other birdies. Said it already but thanks for all the determination and hard work and effort that you and your friends put into looking for him.
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
Sad end for Breagha's but good pic of last known place HinNH & think your idea of international rescue set-up is a good'un! Hope that people with experience & technology are giving the matter some serious thought, might be an idea to run it past RD if you haven't already!
2013 photos & vids here
eff37 on Flickr
Hi Wendy, that sounds like a good idea for RD. I might try the person who runs the ring identities site too. It needs someone with more computer skills than me & one of the big tagging countries to push it, but I don't mind trying to compile a few telephone lists!
I'm still trying to push on with Breagha, I still can't even get the coordinates out of the ONCFS, let alone examine their feathers, until the big boss agrees, & he won't agree until he asked to do so by the RSPB. The RSPB don't want to prejudice the ONCFS enquiries (which aren't going on & never have) so won't ask him. But I can't blame the RSPB they only have my word for it, but maybe they should pick up the phone & speak to man they spoke to in the first place & ask him. What have you done? How many hunters & witnesses have you spoken too? The LPO legal lady is on holiday until mid next week now so can't speak to RSPB legal team. In order to open an enquiry into unlawful killing of a protected species we need as much evidence as we can get & we can't get it in case there is an enquiry. Grrrrrrrrrr It's now 6 weeks after Breagha disappeared & it's probably far too late to ask for witnesses & interview hunters etc who frequent the area. But I'd sure like to try!!
Sounds like a brick wall situation alright H & can appreciate your wanting to uncover more evidence to get at the truth & equally can't comprehend them not wanting to share information when you have put so much effort in thus far!
It's certainly is, Wendy. Still, hopefully things will move on more quickly when the school holidays are over. What's one more week after all these delays!! I'm just one of these annoying people who want to do everything now, not tomorrow or the next day, but now!!
Patience is a virtue right enough ..... but not one I possess either!
The Brick wall just got thicker! Monday morning I thought, I've had enough of this messing around, I'll ring the big boss & demand to see his feathers!!
First I had to get his phone number from my friend in the local ONCFS, who informed me that they no longer have Breaghas feathers. "Ce n'est pas possible" was my reply. Yup! The RSPB have asked for them back & they've gone from our local office, up to Chizé (~80 miles away) to the ONCFS guy who does work for the RSPB & was the first point of contact when Breagha went missing. A bit of phoning & I rang his office to find he is on holiday. They gave me his phone number & I gave him a ring & he very kindly spoke to me. He's a very nice guy & he has the feathers locked somewhere, no-one else knows where & he won't be back at work until Monday 2 November. He had planned to send the feathers back to the RSPB then, but will be happy to keep them for me if I can get his contact to tell him to work with the LPO. I explained that the LPO were trying to get an enquiry opened into the death of Breagha which would force the ONCFS to investigate it, he told me that all the RSPB wanted was their tracker back!! No enquiries going on there!
I've since contacted Jeremy Roberts who has sent my mail on to the RSPB contact of the ONCFS man at Chizé (are you following this) in the hope that eventually the RSPB will come to their senses & realise that there IS NO ENQUIRY, HAS NEVER BEEN AN ENQUIRY & WON'T BE AN ENQUIRY unless the LPO can get sufficient evidence, & we need these feathers to do that. Yes we have our feathers, & there are quite a lot of shot holes, but the more proof we have, the better chance we have.
I don't want to get your hopes up though as Alain tells me our chances are minimal, which is why we need ALL the proof possible.
It seems to me bureaucracy at its best! I would have thought recovery of the bird to find the cause of death is also one of the important aspects of tracking. I think. Breagha deserved that at least and also because he was the last tracked bird. Your tenacity shines through noisette and I am sure you won't leave any stone unturned attempting to get justice.
Hazel, Thanks so much for all your hard work. I hope you do not get discouraged, but please remember that most large organisations are like huge ships--difficult to turn around! Their hearts might be in the right place but I imagine that many individuals within them often feel that they have other fish to fry as well, so to speak, and hence do not always feel as intensely about any particular event as someone like you feels, who happens to live so close to the current incident! But I expect that many (possibly most or all?) of us on this forum are behind you so please be patient and keep up the good work!
Kind regards, Ann
"he told me that all the RSPB wanted was their tracker back!! No enquiries going on there!"
"I've since contacted Jeremy Roberts who has sent my mail on to the RSPB contact of the ONCFS man at Chizé (are you following this) in the hope that eventually the RSPB will come to their senses & realise that there IS NO ENQUIRY, HAS NEVER BEEN AN ENQUIRY & WON'T BE AN ENQUIRY unless the LPO can get sufficient evidence, & we need these feathers to do that."
Noisette.
Lest we forget.
This is the response we got to our strenuous efforts to get you sufficient information, albeit belatedly, to mount a search. Without your searches the tracker would never have been found.
"I can assure you that we have no hidden agendas and are not hiding information from our important blog followers; it has been very disappointing to see forum comments suggesting that we would do so. Please forgive the blunt words but, for a hard-working team, such criticism is very dispiriting."
" RSPB have taken up Noisette’s offer to send us the feathers and we will conduct an investigation as far as we can. However, it is likely that we will never know the true circumstances surrounding Breagha’s demise."
The consequences of expressing my feelings over the handling of this issue would undoubtedly result in my being banned and the post removed anyway. Hence I leave you all to your own views.
Noisette and Alain. Good luck.
Birdies LG DU update.