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A lonely gannet has been found dead next to a fake bird he had spent three years trying to woo.

Nigel had cuddled up to his concrete counterpart every day and even built a love nest for the pair to share in Mana Island, off New Zealand’s Kāpiti Coast.

But it was not to be as the feathered creature never realised the object of his affection was actually made of cement.

Residents of the island had perched a group of the artificial gannets on a cliff edge some 40 years earlier.

They were desperate to establish a colony of the birds and hoped the move would lure in the real thing.

(Image: Friends of Mana Island)

But only Nigel took the bait - but he came alone, meaning there was no chance of him setting up a flock.

Last week, Nigel's body was found dead next to the imitation female he had loved for so long - in the love nest he hoped they would one-day share.

Ranger Chris Bell, who discovered the gannet’s corpse, said he was "incredibly sad" to lose him, just as three real birds had joined the colony.

"This just feels like the wrong ending to the story,” he said. “He died right at the beginning of something great."

Around 80 concrete birds were put on the island's west side in 1976, but they never managed to attract the real thing and were eventually overgrown by weeds.

In 2012, the colony was unearthed and moved to another part of the rocky isle. A solar-powered sound system played gannet calls out to sea and volunteers repainted the fake guano every year.

(Image: Friends of Mana Island)

Nigel, who was given his name because he had no mates, became something of a celebrity after his arrival on the windswept island in the Tasman Sea in November 2015.

It was the first time in 40 years that a gannet had flown in to roost there, but instead of bringing a partner Nigel quickly became infatuated with one of the 80 decoys designed to lure the seabirds to the island.

Nigel built his “girlfriend” a nest out of seaweed and sticks and was seen by volunteers apparently trying to woo the imitation bird with mating rituals.

Volunteers described him as "a lovely bird”, but admitted he seemed “a bit confused”. They believed he must was a young male who had been kicked out of another colony.

Gannets are from the Morus family of seabirds whose name is derived from Ancient Greek for "foolish", due to the lack of fear they have of predators which makes them easy targets when breeding.

They also often mate for life.

Last month, after a slight change to the sound system used to lure birds to the island to nest, three more real gannets arrived and set up home at the opposite end of the colony.

But despite the company, Nigel stuck to his concrete mate, and it was next to "her" that the ranger found him.

"I certainly feel sad. Having had him sit there year after year with his concrete mate, it just doesn't seem how it should have ended,” added Chris.

"It would have been nice if he had been able to hold on a few more years and found a partner and breed."

Chris said there were hopes the three new gannets would stay and reproduce on the island, establishing the colony that Nigel unwittingly began.

"His legacy was that he was the first coloniser and, if this turns into a real colony, he will always have been the first.

"It's because of Nigel that the other gannets know about Mana ... maybe in six months' time there will be a happy story to tell."

Now Nigel's remains will be sent to Massey University in New Zealand’s capital Wellington to find out how he died.