He hatched here on the Dyfi nest on 29th May 2019, so was three years old. His parents were Telyn and Monty. He was the Bobby Bach (youngest chick) of that three-chick brood along with his other brother, Peris and big sister, Berthyn.

To date, 2019 is the only year we've had two birds from the same nest brood reported back in the UK as adults. Berthyn was spotted last year in Scotland.

Hesgyn returned to Wales and was filmed at his ancestral nest as a two-year old in 2021 - here is the video:

We don't know what happened to Hesgyn and it would be improper to speculate, but it is quite rare for adult ospreys to be recovered having died. In fact, the only other adult osprey I can think of that has been found dead in Wales is a Scottish, non-breeding male I referred to as Jimmy, (Blue CU2) in 2015. Jimmy was accidentally electrocuted on power lines near Pentrefoelas, blog here.

Here is Hesgyn (Blue KA3) landing on Monty's perch last year. Hesgyn was the last chick that Monty raised.

Doubly Sad

Most ospreys leave the UK and make it to their wintering grounds. However, only around 35-40% make it back home as adults in future years. These are the sober facts of osprey ecology and survival.

So it is particularly sad when a young osprey manages to navigate its way through the most dangerous first few years of life, only to be brought down at three years old with his whole life ahead of him.

Hesgyn could have been the fourth Dyfi male to breed in Wales - alongside his full brother Dinas and half-brothers Aeron and Tegid. Another half-brother, Merin, is breeding in the Lake District, England.

You may remember me saying many times in the past: an animal needs two things for success - good genes and good luck.

Tragically, Hesgyn's luck ran out this week.

Rest in peace young man.

As standard practise when a dead bird of prey is recovered, the North Wales Rural Crime team have been informed. We'd also like to thank Glaslyn Ospreys for letting us know about Hesgyn.

A North Wales Police Spokesperson said:

“Shortly before 6pm yesterday, Tuesday, July 26, we received a report that a three-year-old Osprey from Dyfi Osprey Project in Machynlleth was found dead on Criccieth beach. The Osprey, identified by its rings as KA3, was collected by a member of the public and taken to Glaslyn Ospreys near Porthmadog. The bird has since been seized and will be sent to the Welsh Government’s Plant Health and Environment Protection branch in Aberystwyth for a post-mortem examination to help determine a cause of death. Anyone with information that could assist with the enquiry is asked to contact us on 101, or via the website, using reference 22000538765.”

*18^th August Update

Hesgyn has come back home.

Well, at least his soul and leg rings have.

We will put his leg ring - KA3 - next to his oak name block on our Dyfi Family Tree in the Osprey Room.

We would like to extend our gratitude to the kind folks at The Animal and Plant Health Agency in Carmarthen for sending us Hesgyn's leg rings. In due course they will undertake a Post Mortem on his body. 

And soon as we know the results, we'll let you know.

*26^th August Update

We have some additional news about Hesgyn we can share with you. We now know that he was not shot.

Yesterday we spoke to the kind people at the Wildlife Incident Investigation Scheme (WIIS) and they have confirmed that there is no evidence of any shooting as the cause of death.

The WIIS team are still undergoing a barrage of tests and their work will not be finished for quite some time yet. We will write a blog about their findings once all their tests have been concluded later on this year.

*11^th December 2022 Update

The kind people at FERA (Food and Environment Research Agency) have sent us their report via North Wales Police.

Below is the full report of Hesgyn's autopsy. Warning - this is not for the feint hearted...

(Autolysis means decomposition)

So it looks like Hesgyn died of natural causes, or at least not anything directly associated with human harm.

He was clearly weak and was not able to feed himself properly. But why would this be?

Ospreys are 'specialists' as you've probably heard me mention many times before over the years. This is in contrast to an animal that is more of a 'generalist'.

Ospreys only eat live fish that they've caught. That's it. They will eat dead fish they either stumble upon if desperate, or are artificially fed, like we've done on the Dyfi and on the Glaslyn in the past, but this is atypical.

The advantage of being a specialist is that there is usually far less competition for food. The downside - and it's a big downside - is that if something goes 'wrong', it will inevitably be fatal.

Pandas, most bees and ospreys are examples of specialist feeders. If something happens to the bamboo, pollen, nectar or fish, it's the end. A generalist - like a red kite for example - can feed on a large variety of prey items from other birds, mammals to worms and beetles and dead things, like carrion and even road kills. This evolutionary flexibility in terms of food-type accessibility may well save a bird's life in times of hardship or injury.

Hesgyn did not have these options.

This is what was happening in Wales one week before Hesgyn was found on Criccieth beach:

The hottest recorded temperatures in Wales ever observed.

But aren't these temperatures similar to those Hesgyn would have encountered over two winters in Africa? Well, yes, but there's a difference.

The humidity would be different, and we don't really understand how these extreme and rare temperatures affect prey availability in the UK. And Hesgyn, remember, only had one option for prey type... fish.

Don't get me wrong, these high temperatures may not be related to what happened to Hesgyn at all, and are just coincidental in terms of timing. Causation is impossible to prove, scientifically, here. But put it this way: 35C searing temperatures for three days would not have helped if Hesgyn was weak or carrying any kind of injury.

Ospreys hit the water at over 30mph when they dive for food. An osprey can probably survive for well over a week without eating, allowing a light-to-moderate injury to heal sufficiently to hunt again. That survival time would be greatly reduced in 35C temperatures though, dehydration would be a serious problem in a very short amount of time. Hesgyn may well have run out of options.

Hesgyn now joins the likes of Ceulan, Ceri and others on our Family Tree wall in the Dyfi Wildlife Centre. We know what happened to them and why they died. We continue to tell their stories, their memories live on in all of us.

As sad as any animal's demise is, death is part of life. Both have to exist.

Rest in peace. 

With immense gratitude and thanks again to North Wales Police and the kind people of FERA.