Tragic news has reached us this morning that Ceulan, the osprey born six months ago in Machynlleth that was being tracked by thousands of followers throughout the winter, has been found dead in West Africa.
Ceulan grabbed the hearts of Mid Wales when Nora and Monty, the breeding ospreys that have set up home every summer in Montgomeryshire, gave birth to him and officials from the Dyfi Osprey Project immediately tagged him to learn more about the bird’s winter migration.
His marathon trip to West Africa has been followed by enthusiasts across the world with some local schools charting his weekly satellite positions as a project. He eventually settled on the banks of the River Senegal with the Project updating through a superb weekly blog.
Concerns were raised when last week’s satellite readings showed he had not moved and on December 11, the project contacted a local source to find out more. The sad news was broken this morning.
“Ceulan has died,” the blog announced. “Late afternoon to early evening on December 1, he dived into the Diawel River, a tributary of the Senegal River 3.7 miles to the south, looking for fish. He'd caught fish here many times before. Ceulan got tangled up in fishing nets and was unable to free himself. A local fisherman checking his nets found him the following morning and took his body to his nearby fishing camp, where he remained for the following two weeks.”
The fisherman, realising the bird may be someone’s property due to the tag, kept Ceulan and handed him back to the French team (left) that arrived to look for him.
Ceulan appeared to have struck gold in finding the remote West African river which was teeming with fish and would have been his winter home before returning north in the autumn. But some of the poorest families on earth also call the location home and fish the waters heavily to catch enough food to see them through the six months of annual drought.
The Project now hopes the legacy of Ceulan will enable them to work closer with families in the area.
The blog added: “These people are desperately poor. No clean water, no education for their children, no electricity, no cars, no nothing. They live in straw huts a few feet square and eke out a living in one of the most inhospitable places imaginable. These are not commercial fisherman with profits to make. Their only goal is to survive and eat for that day."
This year, Montgomeryshire Wildlife Trust is 30 years old and is about to start work on an ambitious £1.4 million project to build a 360° Observatory on Cors Dyfi Reserve. It will be the first of its kind and will allow everyone that visits to see, discover and learn about the natural world around them, including the summer resident ospreys.
The full sad story on Ceulan's final days can be followed at http://www.dyfiospreyproject.com/blog/2012/12/a-life-to-remember
MAIN PICTURE: Ceulan is returned to the Project's local contacts