At a few minutes before midnight last night, after being stood up for practically the whole day, Ceri lay down on the nest and quietly passed away.

It was three days to the minute almost to when she fell off the larch perch late on Sunday night - her first night roosting off the nest. Ceri dies at 57 days old, six days following her maiden flight last week.

Between Monday evening and Tuesday evening Ceri had been struggling. Her head was bowed down, stooping with her eyes closed, propping herself up on her knees. By Wednesday however, she looked a lot better. She was more mobile, standing on two legs with her head up looking around, alert, responding to behaviours and calls around her.

We took the decision not to intervene as this would have created more problems than we'd started with and possibly affecting her brother, Tegid, too. Ospreys often perk up and start eating again after two or three days of having no appetite. Indeed, we had seen T6, a Rutland fledgling on their Manton Bay nest do exactly this just a day or two before. Lady at the Loch of the Lowes nest in Scotland did the same also a few years back.

This short clip was taken yesterday (Wednesday) morning - we all felt positive that Ceri would pull through and start eating again soon, she was so close..

Sadly, Ceri only survived another 13 hours after this video was taken.

We'll never know exactly why Ceri fell off that perch late on Sunday night - inexperience probably played a large part, her first night roosting off the nest at just two days after fledgling.

We are not planning to remove Ceri's body from the nest at this stage.

Tegid only fledged himself on Monday afternoon - a 45 minute disruption by three men trying to ladder up to the nest is the last thing he wants now. We have to do everything in our power not to lose him. He would not land on the larch perch 10m away from the nest as someone suggested today - he would fly as quickly and as far from us as he could - who knows where he may land? The thought of losing him too is unimaginable.

Female ospreys usually dispose of a deceased chick by depositing it over the side of the nest - but this is the first time Glesni will have experienced this and Ceri probably weighs almost 2Kgs. Glesni and Monty may decide to cover Ceri with leaves and nesting material. We will monitor the situation very closely and make decisions accordingly, but for now, we'll leave nature taking its course.

Live Streaming

We will keep the live streaming on, but will leave the camera lens at its widest angle. It is deeply upsetting for all of us to see, but we will give the decision whether to view the Live Streaming to you, rather than we take it. After all, you paid for it.

Monty sees Ceri for the first time this morning

Today was our toughest day at DOP since we started in 2009, but it was today, of all days, we needed to be at our strongest. To smile through tears and engage with our visitors in a professional manner at a time of such adversity and emotional turmoil. I can't tell you how proud we are of our staff and volunteers today that conducted themselves in such a compassionate and professional way. So, so proud.

Finally, I would like to thank all of you that have left thousands of messages, emails, comments, voice mails, PMs, texts, donations, flowers, poems and cards today. We had chocolate too. We will read them all eventually. They mean so much to us - today would have been a lot harder, and lonelier, without you.

There have been some negative comments too - not many. Don't knock these guys. It is right that people are free to express their opinions; scrutiny is always a good thing when it comes to wildlife, our environment would be a much poorer place without it. I will happily talk to anybody over the decisions we've made this week and why we took them.

I would also like to thank Sian at Cambrian Veterinary Centre in Machynlleth and all the other professionals that readily and quickly shared their advice and opinions with us this week - they didn't have to and they never charged.

The last time we lost a grown-up chick like Ceri in Wales was 10 years ago in 2006 at the Glaslyn nest - the only osprey nest in Wales at the time. The remaining male chick from that clutch was ringed with a Darvic leg ring - Black 80. He returned as an adult two years later and in 2009 he sired chicks of his own at a nest in Scotland. He has been breeding there ever since and right now, he is bringing fish back to his mate and their four chicks.

Tegid reminds us of Black 80. Let's hope Ceri's legacy lives on through him and that we see Tegid return to Wales again as an adult in years to come.

We take comfort in one thing. Ceri died in her nest, in peace and with her parents caring and protecting her to the end and not in some ditch, scared to death and alone.

We will use your donations to pay for the printing costs of the 2017 DOP Calendar - they will be on sale as usual in the autumn on this website. You'll never guess who will be on the front cover.

You will never know how much we cared for you - Rest in peace dear friend