I can't find an Osprey Chat Thread for November, so here is one, in the hope I am not duplicating.
September and October were very sad months when we learned of the death of Breagha, whose tracker and feathers were eventually found by Noisette, Alain & Dominique, of the LPO, and the ONCFS. The last signal was on 14 September in a wooded area 2.8 km from the east bank of the Gironde River. Searches were undertaken on 26 September by ONCFS & then one by Noisette and her friends on 12 October. Feathers were found. Noisette asked Roy Dennis for his opinion and he confirmed they were osprey feathers. On 16 October Noisette, Alain and Dominque went out again to try to find Breagh's body. The terrain was extremely difficult with ponds, water filled ditches and bog . They were successful in finding Breagha's tracker and it was sent to RSPB LG, here.
There is more information can be found on the various blogs, here. Also on the various forum threads The Further Adventures of Breagha here; The Hunt for Breagha here; and Breagha, the Investigation here.
Currently the RSPB is liaising with the LPO. All information, photos, feathers (currently with ONCFS) etc were to be sent to the legal department at LPO HQ.
It is a very sad end to Breagha's short life, particularly after his first northward migration, where he decided to stay in the Loire area, and appeared to be safe and well as he headed back to his winter quarters. Much thanks is due to Noisette for her tenacity and persistence in recovering the tracker.
All seemed well, too, with Kielder's Nest 2 youngster, Blue 7H(14). She has been settled in her winter quarters in Morocco after an intriguing ship to ship migration south last year, until we read the 29 October blog. Some memories of 7H's short life were posted by jaydee, here, and Paul Wildlifewriter also wrote an interesting blog on 7H's travels, here Another sad end to too short a life. News of the other two from the Kielder year of 2014 is mixed. There has been no data received on VV(14) since 11 September 2014, when she was in the foothills of the Atlas Mountains. There might be some concern for VY as there has been no data received since 18 October, but she just might be out of range of cells towers. UV has not returned to his original territory on the Langue de Barbarie, but has moved to the northern end of the spit, and appears to be enjoying his beach holiday.
Meanwhile the LotL pair, FR3 & FR4, are doing well, and the latest tracking update is here. And quoting the Bassenthwaite blog: White 14(13) "crossed into Africa from Europe on the 23 September 2014, on 12 October he dipped his toes into the Gulf of Guinea. Yesterday morning at 6.00 am he was sitting in a tree on the south coast of Bioko, a tree that he last saw on the 21 April of this year before his 2015 European tour."
If I have got any facts wrong, please let me know and I will correct them.
The reason for starting this thread was really to put a link to an interesting BBC article on mangrove forests, which made me think of how many ospreys spend their winters in this area.
Birdie's DU Summaries 2018 https://www.imagicat.com/
Well I must say that I was underwhelmed by the news of the fate of Lonaig. They do not know what happened.
Tiger Signature
If, as was said,they recovered the body surely they must have had some idea?
Birdies LG DU update.
Mike B said: If, as was said,they recovered the body surely they must have had some idea?
Well it was the waiting all these months for the "big revelation" and then it turns out that it is "we do not know"
Loniag was reccovered in a marsh area. When they recovered the body it was so badly decomposed they could not determine the cause.
This is the report I received on the 27th December 2014 - We need to take it of the page as this bird will appear on a wildlife series, and we were giving the game away about its demise! We don't know what happened to the bird! As the body was to far gone to draw any conclusions...
Found on a Portuguese FB site. (Sender is obviously a sat tag)
Osprey in aveiro with senderA Scottish Osprey ceased the movements and the sender is the issue in the same place (near the murtosa) since the 4th of December (there are locations today, day 8).The "Highland Foundation for wildlife" (UK) asks the aid of observers of birds in the area, to demand the eagle / issuer on the spot. Apparently, he is in an area of difficult access, in the middle of the slough.If anyone can help, please contact me to the e-mail adias@cibio.up.pt so I can provide the details of the place.Very grateful for the help,Andrea days
Águia-pesqueira em Portugal
11 December 2014 ·
Was found this morning the body of Osprey whose transmitter signal emitted Scottish at the same venue a few days ago. Thank you on behalf of the "Highland Foundation for Wildlife" by Ricardo Timoteo, Nelson Silva and firemen in Murtosa all commitment and readiness. The body was already collected by SEPNA and will be investigated as possible causes of death. Thanks also to all who have expressed willingness to help. Andreia Days
Translated by Bing
or
Was found this morning the corpse of the osprey whose scottish issuing broadcast signal in the same place a few days ago. Thank you in the name of "Highland Foundation for wildlife" to Ricardo Timothy, Nelson Silva and firefighters of murtosa all the commitment and readiness. The Corpse was already collected by the sepna and will be looked into the possible causes of death. I am also grateful to all those who have expressed willingness to help. Andrea days
Automatically translated
It is a pity that although those who found the body felt it was possible to determine the cause of death, but it proved not to be so after all. It took longer to find Breagha.
SheilaFE said:It took longer to find Breagha.
In fact Breagha hasn't been found. We found parts of wings & satellite tag but the head body & feet have never been found. He was obviously scavenged & it's my belief that the body was either removed by the scavenger (probably fox) or by persons unknown. The feathers & bones certainly appeared to have been cleared up & hidden.
Best wishes
Hazel in Southwest France
So sad Noisette. It rather weighs the balance towards unauthorised killing.
ShielaFE - The body was collected by SEPNA but unfortunately as it was in such a bad state they were unable to determine the cause of death.
Obviously at the time of writing Andrea was confident that maybe the cause of death was possible to determine.
My feeling was that Lonaig may have had difficulty in fishing in his particular area as the days grew colder and shorter and fish deeper. Maybe he grew weak.
Maybe not and the body decomposed in the space it took to recover him as he was recovered in a difficult marsh area.
Thank you for the further explanation, Keith, and for your thoughts on what may have happened to Lonaig.
Big news promised from the Gambia.