Monday 16 April 2012

Sad News

I have just returned from a week away to an email from Roy Dennis to say that it seems something happened to Ozwold around the 23rd March.

Roy's message copied and pasted below;


Ozwald was in his usual wintering area from March 12th to 21st. On 21st at 1000GMT he was flying south at 36km/hr at 110 metres altitude and two hours later was tracking down the Atlantic coast at 38km/hr at 190 metres altitude. He stopped about 7 kms south of Morven's wintering area and was on the coast between 1300 and 1600 hours, before moving a few kms inland to roost overnight in the desert. Next morning 22nd, he was perched about 7 kms inland at 0700-0900GMT.
The next signals were at 2300 hrs on 23rd March when ozwald was 38.5 kms back north and 650 metres inland in the sand dunes. Next day his signals were from exactly the same spot at 0700-0900hrs and 1600-1800hrs. The place seemed to have been a dune with a few sparse bushes. Checking the data shows that transmission occurred on 25th March, which gave the previous data, but the activity meter showed no movement at 1013, 1111 and 1512 GMT. No further signals have been received.  I am afraid it looks as though Ozwald is dead - how is impossible to say especially as there was a big gap between received GPS data on 22nd and 23rd - may be he was killed by a jackal at night while roosting in the desert.
No further signals have been received - I have been waiting just in case. Very sad to loose him after his earlier exploits when I thought he might die in Scotland.
Sorry to be a bringer of bad news - but being a young osprey is difficult.

It is very sad and such a shame, especially after his successful migration and settled wintering site. There is a small window of hope that maybe there has been transmitter failure or maybe the transmitter has fallen off. We would only know if this is the case if Ozwold is identified by his leg ring in the future. However, we know for now that transmissions have failed and there is the high likelihood that he has not survived his first year. 

It is also a shame that transmissions come in less frequently during the wintering period, as a window of opportunity for a search for him is reduced. If there are any developments here, I will update the blog. Or indeed, any news of him in the near or distant future. 

I would like to say a huge thank you to the following sponsors for their support and generous donations. I would also like to say a huge thank you to Ozwold's 15,000 + followers. Children and adults worldwide have been following Ozwold. Although his journey may have ended here, maybe he has brought wildlife and wild places closer to many people. I only wish that we could have followed his incredible journey for longer. Who knows...maybe we will....?

Thank you to the following UK, US and foreign language publishers. As with the story of Sky Hawk, the support shown by all these publishers reflects our shared responsibility for our natural world.


Chinese        
Yilin Press http://www.yilin.com/

Danish
Forlaget Flachs  http://www.flachs.dk/
Dutch

English (UK)  
Oxford University Press http://www.oup.com/


English (USA)  
Atheneum

KIDS.SimonandSchuster.com



Faroese       
Bókadeild Føroya Lærarafelags http://www.bfl.fo/


French
Gallimard Jeunesse
http://www.gallimard-jeunesse.fr/


German         
dtv junior  www.dtv-kinderbuch.de



Greek           
Patakis http://www.patakis.gr/

Hungarian    
Könyvmolyképző Kiadó Ltd.     http://www.konyvmolykepzo.hu/

Korean         
Yewon Media Publishing Co  


Norwegian    
Cappelen Damm  http://www.cappelendamm.no/




Slovenian     
Zalozba Alica Publishing House    http://www.alica.si/ 


Welsh          
Rily Publications     http://www.rily.co.uk/


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