Osprey Chat Thread for November & December 2015

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.