First naturally reared osprey to return home

[Whitebridges]

Excellent news worth passing on to PW members who are mainly country folk and conservationists. Click on the link below and the osprey news at the top of the page to read the article run by the Daily Telegraph and Rutland Osprey project.

Please post your comments and thoughts. Many thanks.

 

Osprey returns to England

[Dunkield]

Great, another fish killer (JOKE!!!!!)

 

They are fantastic birds, I have never seen one in the flesh, but I look forward to it.

 

More quality pictures on this site, I have found a load on another site too, how the hell do they get them that good

[Paul in North Lincs.]

I am unable to download the article, but the a magnificent bird. There are a few more about than people think though, we've had a wild pair in N-Linconshire for several years now that nest and breed near a massive commercial fishery.

[Axe]

Heres the script:

 

Daily Telegraph

A naturally reared English osprey chick has returned home for the first time in 150 years, boosting hopes of reintroducing the bird across Britain.

 

The two-year-old male, identified as R5, left his nest in Rutland Water, Leics, in September 2004 to migrate to western Africa. He recently returned to his birth place.

 

An osprey chick has an identification ring attached

The sighting sparked celebrations among staff who have been working for 12 years to establish the site as an osprey colony.

 

Having moved 64 osprey chicks from Scotland to Rutland in the late 1990s, the first chick was born in 2001 and 11 were hatched in the following four years but none has returned from migration until now.

 

"It was a fantastic moment," said Tim Mackrill, the country's only full-time osprey officer and head of the Rutland Osprey Project.

 

"He flew back to the nest where he was hatched, although I don't think his parents were as pleased to see him as they were in 2004.

 

"The idea was always to create an environment where the ospreys think of Rutland Water as their home and this shows it is working.

 

 

A tree surgeon retrieves chicks from their eyrie 60ft up a tree

"They are faithful and will always return to their territories once they have been established, from where they try to tempt a female.

 

"When we started and brought down the ospreys from Scotland we had no idea if it would be successful.

 

"This gives us hope that we can re-colonise them across the south of England and that one day you will see them flying up the Thames."

 

Ospreys, which feed on fish, became extinct in England in the mid-1800s because of the Victorian trend for egg collecting and taxidermy. But they have slowly been re-introduced, mostly in the Scottish Highlands.

 

In the 1960s and 1970s attempts at re-colonisation were hampered by the amount of pesticides in the food chain but numbers are starting to creep up again.

 

As well as the Loch Garten reserve near Abernethy, there are two breeding programmes under way in England, at Rutland Water and in the Lake District, and one in Wales.

 

The Rutland project was the first of its kind in Europe and already conservationists in Italy and Spain are copying its methods.

 

Ospreys are hatched between May and June and fledge at nine weeks.

 

They first migrate, normally to Senegal or Guinea, when they are between two and three months old. Currently at Rutland Water, which is run by Anglian Water, they have one breeding pair among the five males and two females.

 

Mr Mackrill said: "Rutland Water is brilliant for them. It's got all the natural infrastructure and of course is stacked with live fish.

 

"What we really want to do is help the ospreys rediscover the areas they used to inhabit hundreds of years ago and make them their own again."

 

Yesterday, three chicks had identification rings put on them in preparation for leaving the nest in September for the journey south.

 

Gary Jones, a tree surgeon, went up in a cherry picker to fetch the birds from their eyrie 60ft up an oak tree.

 

 

The Project Report

On 11th June, Field Officer John Wright was at the Fisherman's car park overlooking the North Arm when a male Osprey came into view. The bird was fishing and seemingly oblivious to John and the other engrossed watchers, less than 100m away on the shoreline. The bird hovered briefly, dangling its feet in the process and revealing a green ring on its right leg.

 

06(00), a male who has been present in Rutland all summer has a green ring on his right leg, but John, who has an unparalleled knowledge of all the Rutland Ospreys, quickly realised that this bird was not 06. Unlike 06 it had not moulted any feathers, and its breast band was slightly more well-defined. So who could it be? Unfortunately the bird did not perch and so it was not possible to read the ring. However, through a process of elimination we suspected it to be 5R, a male who fledged from the Site B nest in 2004. Prior to John's sighting in the North Arm, the bird had intruded briefly at the breeding nest before being chased away by the male, 03(97): not a particularly warm home-coming from his father if it was 5R!

 

However, the bird remained a mystery until last week, when we received the photograph above from Keith Burtonwood. It shows a male Osprey with a green ring on its right leg and was of sufficient quality for us to read the ring number: 5R! Remarkably, Keith had taken the photograph at Coombe Abbey Country Park near Coventry at 5am on 11th June. So 5R had been present there in the morning, before appearing at Rutland Water in the afternoon. The distance from Coombe Valley to Rutland is about 35 miles - perhaps only a hour's flight for an Osprey.

 

5R(04) is the first naturally-reared chick to return to England or Wales for 150 years and so it a real milestone for the project. When he reappeared he was just over 2 years old, having hatched on 6 June 2004. You can click here to read the story of the beginning of his life, first flights and start of migration.

 

We have not recorded 5R since then, but this is fairly typical of two-year old birds who usually return only very briefly to their natal site. For example, a two-year old Finnish Osprey that was being satellite-tracked was recorded spending just one day at its natal site before starting the long migration south again.

[Whitebridges]

Thanks Axe. You can view pictures of the bird (R5) below:

 

Click on the kestral to enter

 

Clickonthewildside

[bertie]

See sometimes man interfering with nature can work!

[Cranfield]

That was quite an event, hopefully it will lead to a natural breeding population in England.

 

This might have been the same young male that stayed at the Royal Military Canal in Hythe for a week, or so, last September.

[the hitman]

If any of you are on a fishing trip in scotland , go to the watch water reservoir near Duns ,you will be in for a treat. A pair of osprey hunt there in full view of the fishermen, the owner told me they take some good fish. I was there last month and spent most of the day watching them .

[lurcherboy]

That was quite an event, hopefully it will lead to a natural breeding population in England.

 

This might have been the same young male that stayed at the Royal Military Canal in Hythe for a week, or so, last September.

 

Did you get to see it Cranfield?

 

 

Anyway it's good news all around. I have watched a video of these beasts taking fish and it was impressive to say the least

 

 

 

 

LB

[Whitebridges]

Thanks for your posts guys. It's a really landmark event. Man has actually tried to and succeeded in restoring something he messed up in the first place. I love watching Ospreys and remember seeing my first one fishing at Boat of Garten, Speyside a fantastic sight. If you happen to see any ospreys theres a strong chance they will be rung please pass the details to the BTO (British Trust for Ornithology). The numbers on the rings are fairly easy to read through binoculars.

 

BTO

[Cranfield]

That was quite an event, hopefully it will lead to a natural breeding population in England.

 

This might have been the same young male that stayed at the Royal Military Canal in Hythe for a week, or so, last September.

 

Did you get to see it Cranfield?

 

 

LB

 

LB, we went down a few times (after the initial crowds had reduced) and saw it.

On one occasion it had a common carp about 2 lb up on a tree branch and was pulling it to pieces.

That stretched the conservation credentials of a few of the fishermen.

[henry d]

I have to say I`m very lucky in that I can see ospreys most weeks here and if I set my mind to it I could see them most days through the summer.

They seem to be doing really well and the `keepers are happy to have them and even happier to take on anyone acting suspiciously within 1/2 mile of the nests.

[Dead-Eyed Duck]

Saw my first red kite last week at Ruthin, North Wales. Fabulous bird, and we left a few small rabbits out for it and the buzzards.

 

Don

[Whitebridges]

I have to say I`m very lucky in that I can see ospreys most weeks here and if I set my mind to it I could see them most days through the summer.

They seem to be doing really well and the `keepers are happy to have them and even happier to take on anyone acting suspiciously within 1/2 mile of the nests.

 

You'e very lucky henryd. Nice to hear attitudes have changed. I think a lot of keepers realise they are an asset to any area as people come from afar to see them and this helps local busineses and tourism in general.

 

Saw my first red kite last week at Ruthin, North Wales. Fabulous bird, and we left a few small rabbits out for it and the buzzards.

 

Don

 

Red kites are another big success story, they are now quite common in a lot of areas.

[Dunkield]

Red kites are another big success story, they are now quite common in a lot of areas.

 

 

The do stay very close to where they were re-introduced though, some days the sky is full of them near me, which is great to see. A friend of mine has see 17 in line down the valley his house overlooks - so you can't help thinking they need to start spreadin there wings a bit!

 

They are slowly making there way west along the M4 corridoor though

[Whitebridges]

 

Red kites are another big success story, they are now quite common in a lot of areas.

 

 

The do stay very close to where they were re-introduced though, some days the sky is full of them near me, which is great to see. A friend of mine has see 17 in line down the valley his house overlooks - so you can't help thinking they need to start spreadin there wings a bit!

 

They are slowly making there way west along the M4 corridoor though

 

Agreed they don't move far until there numbers are so high they have to spread out. I've seen up to 40 at Gigrin farm which was an impress site. We are getting more sightings here in Norfolk but they are still pretty thin on the ground.

 

Gigrin Farm

[henry d]

I was speaking to a warden(who shoots)on a wildlife reserve about Kites and he said that they were very good at lifting young rooks and crows out of their nests and should be encouraged

[Dunkield]

Good.

 

They get mobbed something rotten by crows, seems odd that a preditor that can be over 5' in wingspan can be harassed but such a small yet agressive bird

[Andy75]

I've seen Osprey hunting on the Tay when up there salmon fishing about 4 years ago - lovely site.

 

I went to Aberystwyth earlier this year and there's loads of Red Kites there - here's a couple of piccies :

 

 

 

Lovely birds!

[Highlander]

Some of these things aren't quite as rare as the preservationists (as opposed to conservationists) would have you believe. Mostly 'cause they don't know themselves. There are any number of Ospreys and other rare things, wildcats for another, that local keepers and the like don't always (if ever) let on about simply because they don't want to get overrun with twitchers and tourists or perhaps more precisely don't want interfering busy body knowalls sticking their noses into business they know little about.

[henry d]