Today Dulas is one year old. Actually, he had started to pip out of his egg at the same time as Einion on June 5th, but he had quite a struggle to fully emerge. He finally popped out of his egg at 06:35 on June 6th, 2011. Dulas was already a record breaker - as far as we know, he holds the record for the longest hatching of any osprey in the UK - 42 days.

Dulas always seemed to be in the shadow of his older brother, Einion. He wasn't as independent as his brother and seemed much more aligned with his sister, Leri. It wasn't long, however, before he was making headlines again. He didn't migrate for almost a fortnight later than Einion, by which time the British weather had turned against him. With 60 mph winds swirling across the UK, we hoped that Dulas would wait a few days before embarking on his southward journey. Right in the middle of the storm on September 12th, however, he was off. But he didn't head south - he went east!

Strong winds pushed Dulas off course across Wales and England towards the Essex coast

Then the worrying started. By nightfall he was showing as being 10 miles off the coast of Clacton-on-Sea, Essex, and he was hardly moving. A few metres north, then a few metres west, for hours on end and all at an altitude of 10m. He had surely bitten off more than he could chew for his first long haul flight and perished in the sea, the tide moving his body a few metres per hour as his GPS data suggested?

Gunfleet Sands wind turbines - Dulas' first roosting spot away from his nest

After a bit of research, we realised that Dulas had stopped for the night on a series of wind turbines in the North Sea, hopping from one to another, which explained his limited movement. Each turbine has a gantry platform 10m up from sea level, which accounts for his altitude readings. Perfect!

The following morning he was off again, and Dulas soon corrected his heading once the winds had died down over France. Astonishingly, 16 days after leaving his sister and father behind in a stormy Wales, Dulas had made it to Senegal. A few days later he had settled on the Gambia River where he stayed until mid January.

Then on January 15th, a day before our own Janine got to the very spot Dulas had spent the last 3½ months, he was off. To say Janine was gutted is a bit of an understatement - she had missed Dulas by hours. What she saw however, explained Dulas'  reasoning for leaving. The dry season had taken its hold and where a few weeks earlier there would have been dense mangrove swamps teaming with fish, now there was dry, desolate scrub with a few water holes scattered around - no place for an osprey to hang out.

Panchang, Gambia, where Dulas had spent his first 3½ months in Africa. By Janine Pannett.

Two days later, Dulas was 200 miles south on the huge estuary system of the Rio Cacine, Guinea-Bissau, just to the west of the Guinea border. He's still there today, clearly benefitting from a more reliable source of food, plus taking advantage of less competition from other, more established ospreys who are now back in Europe breeding.

Dulas would make a great after-dinner speaker. In his short one year life, he has some truly remarkable stories to tell. Even before he left Wales, he had an almighty tussle with his sister that, at the time, we thought had killed him.

Roy Dennis puts a Blue 99 leg ring on Dulas at his Dyfi nest on July 19th, 2011. An eventful year was to follow.

Behaviourally, Dulas was the exact opposite to his brother, Einion. He was more reliant on his parents and had formed an alliance with his sister. Einion had done neither. Yet, one year on, both young ospreys share many similarities. Their migration down to Africa was uncannily similar, visiting the exact same areas en route several times, separated only by time.

Today they are both residing on the African Atlantic coast separated by just 300 miles. Just like his brother, Dulas has taught us much about osprey behaviour and migration in his first year. Whatever life has in store for him for his second year, we wish him well.

Happy Birthday - Penblwydd Hapus Dulas

Andy Rouse's beautiful image of Dulas, shortly before he migrated - his sister Leri not far behind. © Andy Rouse