Osprey created by “His Dark Materials” animatronic team presented to Sacha Dench for Flight of the Osprey Expedition

Sacha Dench, the Flight of the Osprey Expedition team and staff at the Dyfi Nature Reserve yesterday met a very different kind of Osprey.

A “biomorph” Osprey created through a collaboration between Wild-Connect owner and founder of the Creature FX department for the TV series “His Dark Materials”, welshman William Todd-Jones (Todd) and Coleg y Cymoedd College, was presented to Flight of the Osprey Expedition leader Sacha Dench as she visited Dyfi as part of the journey following the Ospreys migration route from Scotland to Africa

The Osprey given to Sacha and her team is built on the same frame as the original “His Dark Materials” Serafina Pekkala’ daemon Kaisa.

Molly Morgan, Coleg y Cymoedd College and her colleagues, have been deeply involved in creating the puppet – from sculpting and painting the feet to making and attaching the feathers.

The Osprey’s name was revealed as Ceisiwr ( pronounced Kaiz-oour ) meaning “seeker” and very similar to his original incarnation of Kaisa in His Dark Materials.

Sacha receiving the Osprey puppet Ceisiwr from Todd / Molly and Todd with Ceisiwr

Ceisiwr will be joining the expedition on the 10,000km journey from Scotland to Africa and become an integral part of the expedition’s educational and awareness programme. Todd who is very keen to make the puppet work to engage people across the 14 countries also ran a workshop for the expedition team to teach them how to operate the Osprey puppet and bring it to life

The osprey was once common across Europe but was driven to extinction in many parts, including Britain, in the 1800s. In recent years, with active reintroductions, it has been trying to make a comeback, but threats and mysteries still remain. The expedition team will be investigating why so many birds disappear on their migration and asking “is our insatiable consumer demand part of the problem” ?

The Expedition

The Flight of the Osprey expedition is an epic 10,000km conservation journey from Scotland to Ghana through 14 countries, bringing together UN agencies, scientists, governments and communities to address the effects of climate change & human threats to the osprey and other migratory species. They and local country partners will be following the track of 4 GPS tagged ospreys. The team will meet people and communities along the flyway, showing grassroots conservation projects and highlighting inspiring new initiatives with practical solutions to mitigate against the effects of climate change and rampant consumerism. They will also be filming from air, land and underwater – providing a legacy that will be open for use for educational or scientific purposes in the future.

Journey to the biomorph Osprey

Todd said

“Biomorphs are natures ambassadors of the wild. This astonishing expedition by Sacha really grabbed my attention and I felt compelled to create her this Osprey which will help her engage with communities all along the journey. She can’t take a live Osprey everywhere she goes but she can take Ceisiwr.

I am planning to create more surprises for Sacha before her journey ends – perhaps in the form of something involving complex robotics!”

Molly Morgan added

"As a third year university student, I feel privileged in having the opportunity to contribute my creative skills to such a meaningful cause, knowing that the expedition will raise more much needed public awareness of the natural world and the threats against it."

Sacha Dench commented:

“I am incredibly honoured to be the very first person to see and receive this truly magical animatronic Osprey. Our expedition is designed to shine a light on some of the fantastic efforts and support organisations and individuals are making to address the challenges Ospreys and other migratory species face. In the long run we humans can do so much to help a wide range of birds and animals whose lives, like our own, depend on healthy, unpolluted land and oceans.”

Todd (William Todd-Jones) began his career as a builder and performer of puppets for Jim Henson’s film “Labyrinth”. Other award-winning projects include Harry Potter V, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, various Muppet movies, Batman, Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, John Carter of Mars and many others. He travelled the world as the Master Puppeteer and Manny performer of the Monlove/Stage Entertainment touring show Ice Age Live. Todd established the ground-breaking and multi award winning Creature FX department for the BBC/HBO TV series “His Dark Materials”. 

Sacha Dench, known as “the human swan” for her journey following Bewicks Swans from Arctic Russia to the UK by paramotor is not yet able to fly following a tragic accident during last year’s Round Britain Climate Challenge leaving her legs damaged. But as a champion freediver, she intends to dive to investigate some of the wetland sites so important to the fish-eating ospreys, including sites of dynamite fishing, seagrass beds, looking at the impact of ghost nets and plastics at critical sites along the flyway.