The Osprey Weekly

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Ospreys. Ospreys everywhere

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Ospreys. Ospreys everywhere

The weather changed, and all of a sudden birds are returning. It's getting busy…

Apr 6, 2020
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Ospreys. Ospreys everywhere

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That was one heck of a week. If it carries on like this, I will be doing multiple issues a week…

Let’s start with my “home” nest.

Loch Arkaig

The Woodland Trust nest in Scotland was my gateway to the world of ospreys, so I am delighted to report that Louis is back. He was lonesome at first, as Alia didn’t return straight away, but he’s been busy getting the nest ready:

Happily, on Monday morning, just before I pressed “send” on this, Alia arrived:

Manton Bay

Our star couple, Maya and 33, are being disturbingly quiet and adult. They’ve had two eggs, are busy incubating them, while we wait for a third, and they work on creating it.

All in all, seriously lacking in drama. Luckily, there’s plenty of drama to be found elsewhere.

For example…

Llyn Clywedog

This nest has been a hive of osprey activity this year. Blue 24 spent a little while there, but she is now happily occupied elsewhere (see later on). Then, who should surface but Blue 5F? She’s been hanging around on the nest for some days now. Initially, she was visited by Tegid, a 2016 male from Dyfi, whom she appeared to be bonding with last year. But, as it turns out, the resident male, Dylan has returned, and has been getting cozy with Blue 5F, including some mating. The resident female - Delyth - is a little late, but could yet return.

Oh, and Telyn from Dyfi decided to pop by the nest on Sunday, triggering mantling from Dylan and Blue 5F.

Do we have a new settled pair? Or is there drama ahead? It all depends on what happens with Delyth, Tegid and maybe even Monty… But then, Telyn has her own distraction this year.

Glaslyn

Talking of Tegid, last year he was a persistent intruder at Glaslyn, leading to an epic battle with the resident male Aran — who has just returned this year. The venerable Mrs G seemed delighted to see her mate back:

The two are happily mating and bonding. For now, this is a happy and quiet nest.

Loch of the Lowes

With Lassie nearly two weeks overdue now, resident male Laddie and new female NC0 are bonding more securely. This 2016 bird from Loch Ness shows every sign of being a first time breeder, not yet quite sure what to do. This could be a hair-raising year as she learns on the job…

It’s already been a nest-raising year, as a gust of wind undid much of Laddie’s nest work earlier in the week:

And NC0 is learning the art of nest defence after several intrusions from an unringed bird:

Kielder

While the lockdown is preventing monitoring of some nests, the ones whose cameras can be accessed remotely are filling up. Nest 6 has both its residents back and ready to breed. And Nest 1A’s breeding pair was completed by the return of Mrs YA on Sunday.

Dyfi

A difficult start to the week at Dyfi, as the staff were furloughed due to the coronavirus crisis.

But happier news later in the week, as Telyn arrived safe and well.

No Monty yet, but on Sunday a young, unringed male started hanging around. He’s a handsome chap - and he can fish, to boot:

Still plenty of time for Monty to return, and we’re still within his usual return window, but nice to see such a strong young male around, too.

Telyn is yet to be convinced. His attempts to mate were firmly rejected. Fish before oats, young man. That’s the rules…

By Monday morning, things were looking very different. The young pretender brought sticks and moss a’plenty, and then a fish for Telyn. She dropped it - but was sufficiently impressed to allow several successful matings.

It’s hard not to warm to this impressive young male. But there’s trouble ahead of Monty comes home.

Other Nests

  • HR7 joins Blue 24 at Llyn Brennig. Hopefully that’ll put an end to her nest tourism for now…

  • FK4 is back at Roundhouse Loch Doon

  • They’re 99% certain that it’s KR3 back at Balgavies.

  • 51 back at Gwash as is…

    Twitter avatar for @GwashOspreys
    River Gwash Ospreys @GwashOspreys
    We have another Osprey back! This evening we’re pleased to report that Male 30(10) spent some time fishing with us. He’s the 6th Osprey to fish here within the past couple of weeks. Who will be next? Watch this space! Photos taken last year
    Image
    Image
    8:06 PM ∙ Apr 2, 2020
    67Likes14Retweets
  • Poole Harbour has seen a familiar face back:

    Twitter avatar for @harbourbirds
    birdsofpooleharbour @harbourbirds
    Guess who’s back! We had a brief visit on one of the other harbour platforms this AM from CJ7 at 11:11. Welcome back! @RSPBArne @DorsetBirdClub @DorsetWildlife @timmackrill @RoyDennisWF @Bournemouthecho @OspreyEurope @BirdGuides @NarwhalSh @BCPCouncil
    Image
    12:22 PM ∙ Apr 2, 2020
    271Likes45Retweets

    And an unfamiliar one:

    Twitter avatar for @harbourbirds
    birdsofpooleharbour @harbourbirds
    We had a mystery visitor to one of the harbour platforms this AM. An un-ringed bird briefly at 06:43. Hopefully more to come over the coming weeks! @DorsetBirdClub @timmackrill @OspreyEurope @RSPBArne
    Image
    7:10 AM ∙ Apr 5, 2020
    58Likes5Retweets

Tracked Migrations

  • The latest on the tracked Lake District bird 14. He’s now back in the UK:

    Twitter avatar for @lakelandosprey
    Lake District Osprey Project @lakelandosprey
    Look who is back in the UK!👀 He should be back in Cumbria either later today or tomorrow. Welcome home 14.�35
    Image
    9:06 AM ∙ Apr 5, 2020
    101Likes20Retweets
  • Kielders’s 7A/Aln started her migration, made good progress, before taking advantage of changing weather to speed up.

An Obituary

Osprey ringer and campaigner Ciril Ostroznik passed away, and a lovely obituary of him was posted.

A Movie

An 1970s Osprey documentary is now available to watch for free on the Poole Harbour site.

And Finally…

This was sent to me by one of my former students, Charlotte:

Twitter avatar for @LettersOfNote
Letters of Note @LettersOfNote
Having recently misidentified a bird of prey, David Attenborough writes to Eric Morecambe.
Image
11:39 AM ∙ Apr 3, 2020
1,801Likes396Retweets

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