The Ospreys are back !!
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Didn’t make it to see the ospreys today, it’s poured down without a pause. Will try again tomorrow.
Here is a photo that might surprise some. Not uncommon to see in some countries and much loved and encouraged by many. Bit like having a tit nesting box in your garden.1 -
I was talking to a Fish Farmer in Eastern Germany a few years ago after watching an Osprey try, but fail on numerous occasions, to catch one of his fish.
I asked him whether he minded the birds taking his stock. He said he didn't. He enjoyed watching them, especially the young ones as they try to master their technique. He likened his "losses" to a shopkeeper building in a natural amount of Shrinkage (I've modified our exact conversation to reflect meaning). His main enemy wasn't the Ospreys but the Otters. I didn't find out what precautions he took for them as his English and my German suddenly became incomprehensible!
He did have some dogs which looked a lot like photos I've seen of Otterhounds but never seen one in the flesh.Ospreys, especially inexperienced ones, have a high failure rate of taking a fish and will only take enough food to sustain themselves or their immediate family.
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This is my understanding too, WN. When I was a shooter, fly fisherman, the lakes I fished also didn’t mind the ospreys, mink were an issue mind. The ospreys tended only to take the lame, diseased or damaged fish, if they were lucky enough to catch. Damaged fish mainly by careless anglers I’d say or cormorants.
Suffice to say I no longer fish or shoot, I saw too much thoughtless cruelty and incomprehensible arguments in support of these so called ‘sports’. I saw the error of those and my ways. I must tar all with that brush mind as many fishermen are supportive of wildlife and rewilding.0 -
I was lucky enough today to see an Osprey on two occasions at Spey Bay, preening or feeding on free stump just when we arrived and then later on flying down to the River mouth, being harried by crows and gulls, then returning with a fish which he commenced for consume on the same tree stump.
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Last one I saw fishing was last year in the Dornoch Firth, saw it dive several times, unsuccessfully for what I think must have been estuarine fish species. Being so very few in numbers in the UK they must make little if any real difference to wild piscatorial population levels. A delight to behold it certainly was.
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Not that good at feeding on tame Rainbow trout. I recon they may be lucky on a 1 in 3 dive. As the easy prey will reduce drastically over the next few years it does not bode well. We at Clywedog supported the Ospreys for a decade before the RSPB turned them into cash cows.Our objection is we pay for the food source and the RSPB take all the income with no support to the fishery.,
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Finally made it to the Glaslyn Ospreys today. I must say that this small now independent charity are an excellent example of how things can be done. The visitors centre (with cafe) and lovely hides are clean, modern and the staff very pleasant and informative. There are two separate nests with two pairs of birds in active occupation, both viewable from the centre with one nest having live cam links showing on large screens. Surprisingly they told me, there is little interaction between these pairs and no observable competition.
They also told us that this year a new pair of ospreys have arrived in the country and have built their very own nest but the location is being kept relatively secret for very obvious reasons. This they said was an excellent indication of the health of the growing UK population and certainly bodes well for the future spread of the species across Britain. They are now truly wild birds free of human assistance and doing their own thing, fantastic! Given the chance it seems it can happen.
This place is well worth a visit, free car park and entry but of course a donation helps this good cause.
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ADP, a few bits of news that should interest you if you have not seen them.
It appears that Laddie, the male Osprey from Loch of the Lowes, died of natural causes, although investigations are still ongoing. At Manton Bay the sole chick was nearly lost over the side of the nest, knocked there by a live fish brought back by the male bird, but is now safely back in the cold and is growing rapidly. The third egg has not hatched, so must be infertile.
There has been sightings of the first wild-fledged Osprey at Poole having returned in the area, and a day later was photographed in a nest in the Usk Valley https://mailchi.mp/birdsofpooleharbour/summer-events-and-osprey-cruises-13762173?e=d5356d555d
Also there has been a report of the first of the Keilder 2022 offsprings, 1B0, intruding at Dyfi Osprey Project today.
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Thank you very much for the update Nellie it is much appreciated. It is a shame that Laddie died but natural causes is something that can't be helped and to know that our British offsprings are returning now to their origins of berth is always good news. I plan on going to the Dyfi site next month take the Caravan to a CL we stay at and a few days spotting.
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Hope all goes to plan for your visit, ADP. Here is a short video of the visit.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=A84ZMrEcH0Y
There is more news of another Keilder born Osprey returning, this time to Scotland.
"In Scotland another Kielder youngster is thriving. We posted a few weeks ago that 2020 Nest 4 210/Darden had been seen by Val Gall, who stocks her Perthshire lake with trout.
210/Darden has met an unringed male, called Clyde, who bred with a female named Bonnie by Val. They paired up in 2021 but didn't breed until 2022. Sadly, Bonnie hasn't returned from migration this season. But that left a vacancy, and 210/Darden has taken it. They now have eggs."
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This behaviour is in line with what we were told at Glaslyn, first time returnee ospreys will be drawn to other ospreys to pair with rather than search out new nest sites. They will cover vast areas to achieve this and of course political boundaries mean nothing to them.
The staff also explained that an established/stable population only need adults to produce a couple of fledglings during their lives. Of course there will be natural losses along the way. Our UK population is now beyond stable and is actually growing significantly in number. Let’s hope these young returnees we see in increasing numbers pair up and find new pastures to call home.0 -
Once again Nellie thank you. I would love a pair to stumble on a perfect nesting spot that is available at the Bodenham Wildlife Centre it has a 5* rating and the menu would be excellent also..............we think. But that is the problem what we think doesn't matter tt's what they think ,like the Robin that built his nest in the garden in a bush beside a nest box that was built for Robins.
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Drove past the Dyfi Osprey Project centre today, had hoped to call in but the car park looked full. They seem to be doing a sterling job mind and an asset to spreading the message and these birds. May make it back sometime soon mind.
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I have just come across this article about "Laddie", the LotL Osprey found dead earlier this month.
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Yes good news, and those watchers at Threaves believe there are at least a chick in one, if not both, of the nests there. Hopefully we will see them later next month when we visit.
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At Dyfi the second egg hatched today at 07:37. There are hatches of the first egg at the Alyth nest, either late yesterday or early this morning, and at Loch Arkaig at 06:17 today.
It looks as if there is a new male taking up with NC0 at Loch of the Lowes so hopefully they will form a pair for next season, and although a similar situation is happening at Loch Garten the new male (KL5 aka Klive), who chased away the resident male, Brodie, is not yet doing the best he can to ensure that Asha will accept him.
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Further updates :-
There was a second egg hatched in the same day at Loch Arkaig, at 22:25 yesterday
There is a report from Keilder of a chick being heard, but not seen, today in Nest 7, and at Poole the first egg hatched at 07:44 today.
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That’s good news RedKite, do you happen to know what these Poole birds are predominantly feeding on? I was reading an article about Ospreys abroad where much of their diet is course and saltwater fish. Apparently many course fish come to the surface in the spring and early summer to spawn making them then most susceptible to predation. The ospreys time their breeding to match this it seems.
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I would imagine they feed on fish in the local area.
I know that the Ospreys that were around the Brenne when I saw them earlier this year and they were feeding on the local lakes so a variety of fish even smaller carp which is a local fish and also that fish is used in local restaurants as well.
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A quick check back on the posts from Poole indicate that both salt and fresh water fish have been delivered to the nest, Bass and probably Rudd.
There have been more hatching recorded today.At Loch Arkaid the 3rd chick hatched at 16:36 today; at a new nest in Cumbria where the female is Blue W1 (Merin) a Dyfi 2015 offspring a chick was seen in 22nd; at Poole a second egg is staying to chip at Alyth the second chick emerged late yesterday, and at Keilder Nest 4 has 2 chicks hatch today and at Nest 6 there is at least 1 chick, seen today.
There has been an interesting intruder at Llyn Brenig, where Blue 041 a 2022 male from Threaves was seen at 14:02 today.
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Quick round-up of the recorded nest hatching so far.
Manton Bay, 1 chick.
Aylth, 2 chicks, 2nd on 23rd May
Loch Arkaid, 2 chicks both on 22 May
Poole Harbour, 2 chicks, the 2nd on 24th
Dyfi, 3 chicks, the 3rd at 05:31 on 24th
Llyn Brenig, none yet
Llyn Clywedog, 3 chicks, the 3rd at 18:18 on 24th
Foulshaw, 2 chicks on 24th and 26th
Keilder Nest 7, 3 chicks; Nest 4, 3 chicks; Nest 6. 1 chick, at least.
Batteries Loch, 1 chick at least
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Just a quick round-up from some of the nests
At both Loch Garten and Loch of the Lowes there is the potential of two new pairs for the nests.
At Poole there are 4 chicks which are being fed by both of their parents.
At Kielder there are 3 chicks in each of Nest 6, Nest 5A, Nest 7 and Nest 4.
There are 3 chicks at Loch Arkaid.
At Foulshaw there are 2 chicks but it looks as if the first egg was infertile.
I will update the Welsh ones later in the week.
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It looks likely that the UK population will increase again this season and apparently young/new pairings this year are exploring new nest sites and territories. Some finding and building potential future nests themselves without human assistance. We must not forget that as apex species the numbers will always be relatively small but thankfully all seems well and the future looks promising.
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Micky, there have been quite a few losses this year already, with only 1 chick at Manton Bay, none at Loch of the Lowes with the loss of Laddie, the 3 eggs at Loch Gartan being destroyed by the intruding male, KL5 (Klive) and a Foulshaw the first egg of 3 has not hatched. So perhaps this year there may not be as many chicks as only be previous few.
In Wales the news looks good. At Glasly there are 3 chicks, as there are at Dyfi and Clwydog, where a second nest has at least 1 chick. Today also saw the hatching of the second egg at Llyn Brenig.
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Thanks nellie, having just returned from visiting the Welsh sites and what I was being told by the wardens my understanding was about these populations. Interesting to read your contributions about the English populations particularly although fairly mixed here it seems at the moment. Having said that my comments were more to do with those first time migrant returnees. Am I correct in my assumption that the intruder you mentioned is one of these? If so, such is nature I’m afraid but hopefully the number and spread of these breeding birds will continue in the long run despite this as I was being informed. Some good and some not so good years it seems and positive, some neutral and some negative news is inevitably over the decades but thankfully they grace our skies as a wild bird species once more and on the whole the picture is looking rosier.
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Some bad news from Keilder and The Borders, because of the miserable weather, rain, cold and high winds, that they have been having up there.
Keilder Nest 6 and 4 have only one chick left at each, and Nest 5A there is probably only 2 alive now.
Border Ospreys have also suffered badly as the 3 eggs were exposed for 21 hrs and are probably unviable. https://borderospreys.co.uk/home/a-new-year-a-new-website/
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A wonderful piece on tonight’s SpringWatch about the history of the Osprey reintroduction programme since its inception decades ago. What a hero Roy Dennis is and what a fantastic job he has done to reintroduce not just ospreys but several other apex raptors over the last 50 years. The man is a legend. He has shown what can be done in the name of rewilding despite the actions of those ill informed sceptics, dissenters and doubters.
Well worth a catch up on iPlayer if you didn’t see it.1
