STAFF at the Dyfi Osprey Project have been subjected to “vitriolic abuse” and “threats” on social media, the project manager has claimed.

Defending his staff, Emyr Evans, manager of the Dyfi Osprey Project, which sits in the Cors Dyfi Nature Reserve on the A487 between Aberystwyth and Machynlleth, said the level of abuse was so bad that a volunteer of 10 years experience had decided to quit.

Mr Evans said he has been left “heartbroken” by the affair, which he added has been primarily directed at “ringers” — volunteers who risk their lives to fit identification rings on the talons of the birds of prey.

The warning comes after the main ospreys, Glesni and Monty, returned from their winter migration to Africa at the start of the month, marking the start of summer.

“Ringers are tree-climbers, cliff-hangers, cave-clingers and rope and ladder-hugging professionals working in inaccessible and tough environments most of us skip a heart beat just thinking about,” he said.

“They are amongst the most respected fieldworkers in the bird world, and most do it for no pay, purely on a voluntary basis.

“Yet, in 2016, some of these bird ringers in Wales faced a situation they had never really encountered before — a torrent of critical, vitriolic and abusive comments, mostly on social media.

“So severe was some of the abuse, one of our ringers has decided not to ring ospreys again, after over 10 consecutive years of doing so.”

And Mr Evans, who said the single theme of the comments was that the cause of any unfortunate events was down to the ringers, pleaded with people to be polite and courteous.

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