The Osprey Saga....... The Sequel

My father was a journalist on the Bristol Evening World (and coincidentally his brother was a journalist on the Bristol Evening Post) and my Dad always said “If you’ve got something that makes good copy, milk it as much as you can!!”  

So with his words ringing in my ears, I’m back to the subject of Ospreys and what is a continuing saga, and does indeed make good copy.

My blog of the 23^rd June 2016 mainly revolving around Blue 24, was an interesting story, but as you will see to-day subsequent events turned the story into a drama, in fact with elements that included at least 4 of the 7 deadly sins**.

Oh Yes? You say… read on.

Let’s recap the characters in my earlier blog    

            Blue 24.           A female Osprey. Born at Rutland Water. 2010  Seen at Carsington Water 11^th June 2013, at Rutland 13^th June 2013. Tried to muscle in at Dyfi estuary in early 2014 and 2016.     

            Glesni              Female “Owner/resident” of a nest at the Dyfi Osprey project. In 2014 and 2016, she ejected Blue 24 who returned first to the nest after migration.

            Monti              Male, Glesni’s mate who lets the girls sort things out themselves, but is happy to mate with either or both.

So far we have evidence of Blue 24 returning, obviously with envy**(1) , with covetousness (2) intentions and lust (3) for the attentions of Monti, only to face the anger (4) of Glesni. 

Some may wonder how a Rutland bred female seems to have developed a liking for the Welsh, and keeps returning to Dyfid. My Welsh relatives will give me plenty of reasons, but one coincidence is a geographical fact. Each time Blue 24 set off to return to the UK, she would fly more or less north, and the Dyfi estuary is virtually on the same latitude as Rutland Water, her natal home.  I guess the satnav needs tweaking! 

28^th July 2016, and I read of a tragedy at Dyfi. My research reveals that in fact the tragedy happened on the 18^th and 20^th July, but the newspaper had to wait for political dramas to abate before finding 10 column inches to report the event.

When I left my 23^rd June report, Monti and Glesni had 3 eggs on their nest in the Dyfi estuary, and Blue 24 also had 3 eggs at her nest in a separate location. Monti is responsible for all 6.

The first bad news was for Blue 24. During the first 6 days of incubating her eggs, Monti made no attempt to bring her any food, and Blue 24 took off to get some food for herself. Whether she stayed away too long, or due to predation, her 3 eggs were lost. Knowing how persistent she is, hopefully she will have more success in 2017.

Blue 24 at Carsington captured by James Owen during a short visit (by Blue 24!)on 11th June 2013.

Glesni, watched by and fed by Monti, continued to incubate her 3 eggs, and on the 24^th May the first egg hatched, a male to be called Ceri. He was then followed 5 days later by a female, called Tegid. (So far I have no English translation of these names!) The third egg sadly failed.                                              

Both of the young Ospreys were continuously fed, and had got to the stage of stretching and flapping their wings attempting to fly, including some short flights away from the nest.

The real tragedy was on the 18^th July, when for some reason Ceri toppled backwards off the nest, and fell 25ft to the ground. He did manage to get back to the nest, but on the 20^th July he died.

So in what looked like being a good year ahead for Monti, only one egg out of six actually produced a healthy chick, the female Tegid.    By now she will be getting ready to her first migration journey to Senegal. Hopefully despite being the only survivor of 6 potential chicks, she will have a safe and speedy journey, and she will back, most likely in 2018.

As for the remaining deadly sins, I saw no evidence of (5) Pride, maybe some (6) slothfulness towards Blue 24 by Monti, but not to Glesni, and no (7) Gluttony!

Just think how this story came together, all due to being able to read leg rings.