Countdown to the 2025 season
If there’s a bin lid on a nest, you know it’s nearly osprey season. The Manton Bay nest saw its regular Egyptian geese visitors, one of whom laid an egg (and then left it to be snaffled by a gull). To discourage squatters, the bin lid was promptly applied…
Meanwhile, all around the country, nests are being prepared for the coming season.
At Glaslyn, they checked the cameras last month:
Chris Parry
And then… they built a whole new nest, to replace the old one. Why?
Built in 2014 the old nest had been well used by all three of our Osprey pairings – 11(98) and Mrs G, Mrs G and Aran and Elen and Aran. In that time 26 chicks successfully fledged the nest but parts of it had started to deteriorate. It served the Glaslyn osprey families well!
Chris Parry
Meanwhile, on the south coast, the Birds of Poole Harbour team have been checking the nest:
And Tweed Valley have been, too:
Big works at Kielder
More than a nest tidy was needed in Kielder Forest after the last year:
Occasional work up on the fells culminated in 4 long days last week when new poles were erected at Nests 2 and 6 and improved capacity for monitoring was established. Nest 4 received a power upgrade to allow for longer recording therefore greater insight. This post covers some of the events.
Read on:
joannadailey
The news made the local websites:
Cultured. North East
Optimism in the West Country
Meanwhile, in Devon, new nests are going up in the hope that birds will take an interest…
Descendents
This is a video of S2(15)’s season. He is Maya and 33(11)’s offspring, born on the Manton Bay nest in 2015.
According to the Rutland Osprey Project:
This was the first year Maya and 33(11) bred together and S2 was one of 3 chicks that were raised on the Manton Bay nest that year.He was first recorded in the Netherlands in 2017 and has spent the spring and summer there ever since.
Events
Osprey talk at Llyn Brenig on March 15th:
Become a watcher
Usk Valley Ospreys are having a training session for volunteers later in the month. Check out the details, if you’re in the area:
Fran Groves
Llyn Brenig are having a recruitment event this Saturday:
Glaslyn are also looking for volunteers.
Research
A new paper has been published on the mortality and return rates of translocated Scottish Ospreys. The conclusions reached will be… controversial:
Available information indicates a return rate of 6.2% (five from 80) for satellite-tagged juveniles from European migratory populations, which suggests that tagging is associated with a lower survival. Further investigation is needed to verify whether satellite tagging negatively affects the survival of juveniles. Meanwhile, we advise against satellite-tagging young Ospreys in reintroduction projects, and in other small populations, because it could reduce the chances of success and jeopardise their viability.
The countdown is on…
Caroline Woodley has recreated the old osprey return countdown time, and it gives us a sense of just how close the new season is.Last year, the first osprey back was NC0 at Loch of the Lowes. And she arrived on 8th March. That’s just four days away…
Tick tock.
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