Leicestershire and Rutland Wildlife Trust
News from 1-9 April 2000

1 APRIL

RUTLAND WATER OSPREY

The first Osprey of the year was seen from the Anglian Water Birdwatching Centre at Rutland Water this afternoon at 3:00. It flew over Lagoons 1 and 2 and was mobbed by Lapwings and gulls before flying off in a northerly direction towards the north arm of the reservoir. Robert Mills reported that it was probably an adult female but it was not possible to determine if it was carrying a colour ring. Later attempts to relocate this Osprey were unsuccesful.

Most years, Ospreys are recorded on passage through Rutland Water. It remains to be seen whether this bird was just passing through or whether it will remain in the area.


Lagoon 1 from the Birdwatching Centre. Photo Dave Coles

SATELLITE NEWS

S10 has flown on 903 km, crossing the Mediterranean and most of Spain in the last two and a half days. By mid morning today it was 50km south east of Biarritz.

Meanwhile S09 moved about 4km on the Guinea coast.

At 19:26BST this evening, an inaccurate location for S06 was received indicating that she was close to Guernsey, possibly over water. There may be later more accurate transmissions later this evening which we'll report tomorrow.

The maps of the flights of S10 and S06 have been updated.
We are still awaiting suggested captions for the photo of the unusual nest site we published yesterday.
Send us an email.
 

2 APRIL

S01 IN THE DESERT

We received four locations for S01 early this morning. None was very accurate but they do indicate that:

  • she had moved 346km from her position on 30/3 (2 days and 3 nights ago);
  • she roosted overnight (no movement between 04:27 and 06:11);
  • she roosted near Atar, a small town near Mauritania's northern border;
  • by 08:11 she was on the move (5km NE of last location);
  • by 09:55 she had flown 141km NW across the border into Western Sahara.

S01's progress so far seems to be much slower than that of S10 and S06. Click here for S01's map.

The only other satellite data received today was a single (and therefore unusable) transmission from S09.

SIGHTING IN BRIGHTON BUT NOT RUTLAND

The Osprey seen over Lagoon 1 yesterday has unfortunately not been seen again, despite a lot of observer effort around Rutland water today!

However, we received news of a sighting on the south coast this morning.
PHOTO CAPTIONS

We are delighted to say that these are beginning to arrive and are they listed with the photo on the Bits and Pieces page. But we're sure that someone can do better than those we've had so far!
 

3 APRIL

SPRING (?) MIGRATION

Two days ago, at 18:26 on Saturday evening, S06 was probably in the Channel Islands and a look at her migration map shows that if she were to continue at the same rate she could well be "home" in Scotland by tomorrow when her radio is due to transmit again. However, what effect will the change in the weather have on her progress? The UK has been hit by a resurgence of winter. Here in the East Midlands there have been gale force northerly winds, continuous heavy rain at times turning to sleet and snow. The local rivers are now on flood alert. In northern England and parts of Scotland there is a heavy covering of snow.

What does a migrating bird do when faced with such weather? Will S06 and S10 have continued north, stayed put or even turned south again? We hope to know their current positions and have them on this website by tomorrow afternoon.

The only satellite data received today was a single transmission from S07's apparently faulty radio. Transmissions are being received with great regularity, but unfortunately they come as single spies !

UK SIGHTINGS

It was a busy weekend for birdwatchers and for Ospreys. We now have three recorded sightings on Saturday, 6 on Sunday, and, amazingly, one today. Click here for details.

 

Please keep sending us details of any UK sightings of migrating Ospreys.

Send us an email

4 APRIL

NO GOOD DATA

We have received only disappointingly inaccurate data today:

S06's radio transmitted but no locations could be calculated.

S10's position was calculated with a very poor accuracy class. He appeared to be about 60km west of Jersey and about 40km north of the French coast at 19:15GMT last night. His map has been redrawn to show this position. The total of the straight-line distances between the points on his migration route is now 3713km, an average of about 285km per day.

R03's radio also transmitted. Again it was a very inaccurate reading but may show a movement of about 60km to the NW from where it has been located during all the winter.

The poor accuracy may be caused at least partially by the awful atmospheric conditions over NW Europe. We hope that later today we will receive some better positions for S09 and S01 and these will be reported tomorrow afternoon.

5 APRIL

NEWS FROM GUERNSEY

Tim Earl has emailed to report that two Ospreys arrived at a reservoir on Guernsey at 11am yesterday, 4th April. One clearly had a small radio aerial sticking from its back and is therefore highly likely to have been one of 'our' birds - presumably either S06 or S10. Tim says that Ospreys are rarely seen there and of course, it could just be that the two birds were both S06 and S10. Unfortunately the observer was unable to see any rings.

Perhaps the next transmissions (due early tomorrow) from S06 and S10 will shed some more light on this.

SATELLITE DATA

A good position was calculated for S01 yesterday evening. It had moved 739km NE into Northern Mauritania and was at least 100km from any significant feature on our large-scale map of the area. Click here to see S01's map.

Today an intriguingly unreliable position was received for S09 which suggests that it too may have begun to move north. This young adult male would be expected to arrive in the breeding grounds after the more experienced birds. The question with this bird is whether it will return to to its natal site in Norway or to Scotland where it was caught last summer.

A later transmission from R03 yesterday suggests that it has not after all moved from its previous wintering site.
MANY MORE SIGHTINGS

Lots more sightings of Ospreys have come our way and are reported on the Spring Sightings page.

QUESTIONS FROM YOU

Sandra Johnson from Gerogia (US) who is a regular visitor to this website sent us this question.

If you get breeding adults at Rutland Water this year, will they be aggressive toward the translocated juveniles and try to drive them away?

Click here to see Tim Appleton's reply.

6 APRIL

S06 FLIES HOME

Early this morning S06 was back in Scotland - from Spain to Speyside in 12 days. With clearing skies over the UK, we received a series of transmissions indicating that she roosted near Aviemore before moving about 20km east.

We wonder whether her mate has also returned - and where he has spent the winter. No doubt soon they will tidy the nest in preparation for the next breeding season - and so the cycle continues.

Roy Dennis is monitoring the nest as usual this summer and we will report on their progress from time to time on this website.

© Tim Appleton

An adult Osprey on its eyrie in the top of a pine tree in Scotland.

 S10 CROSSES DEVON

Meanwhile this morning S10 was crossing the Devon peninsula. Two locations were received. At 07:30 (BST) he was in the Torbay area, 134km from the last known position near Jersey on 3 April. Perhaps this was the bird Tim Earl reported on Guernsey on 4th?

By 11:00 (BST) S10 had moved 84km north to Exmoor, approaching the north Devon coast. The next transmission from his radio will be on Saturday afternoon, by which time he too will probably have arrived back in Scotland.
MORE SIGHTINGS 

Another batch of reports Osprey sightings from several parts of England yesterday.
I wonder whether any of these could have been S06 as she went north?

STOP PRESS at 21:30, 6 April

The following email has just been received from Roy Dennis.

I checked S06's nest yesterday evening and it was still empty as per regular monitoring, but at 4pm this afternoon, the female was standing on her big nest and preening. I see from her coordinates on telnet that she was out towards Aviemore at 7am, at her nest at 8.20am and then over the Spey (probably fishing at 10am). Her mate is not back yet.

At S10's nest, the old female arrived back this morning. Observers saw a male there at 4pm but probably an intruder as from telnet I see that S10 was near Torquay at 7am today and over north Devon at 10am (I cannot believe he got to the Spey by 4pm!!) so expect him tomorrow. The south Devon location suggests an old male making a straight crossing to SW England from France. We will check for him tomorrow.

There's nothing at S01's nest yet but S07's nest has been taken over by a new pair but this has happened before and S07 is expert at repelling intruders.

Until today the nests have had three days piled with snow (8ins deep) but it's melted now. More news to follow as they arrive.

7 APRIL

S01 AND S09 MAKE PROGRESS NORTH

By early this morning S01 had completed its crossing of the Sahara and was north of the Atlas mountains in Morocco. It had flown 780km in two days and three nights since its last known position.

Also this morning S09 had reached the Sahel region, south of the Sahara in Mauritania. By 16:30 this afternoon it was about 180 km further north and over the desert proper.

The three maps for S01, S09 and S10 show these birds' migration routes - both last autumn (in orange) and this spring (in red). Is there a pattern for the routes they used across the Sahara? We would welcome your comments about this.

SIGHTINGS

Focalpoint reported over 80 sightings of unusual species yesterday - far more than the previous few days. No doubt the marked change in the weather brought out the birdwatchers in force! However, not one Osprey sighting was reported unlike the previous period of poor weather when there were several sightings each day. Perhaps this can teach us something about the way in which weather affects Osprey migration. What do you think?
 

We have just heard that a fisherman at Rutland Water saw an Osprey catch a fish last Sunday, 1 April. This was in the north arm of the reservoir and the timing is consistent with it being the same bird as was seen from the Anglian Water Birdwatching Centre. (Click for details.)

Just one rumoured report of an Osprey at Kingsthorpe, Northampton today.

9 APRIL

S10 IS BACK!

The following message was sent by Roy Dennis yesterday:

Just back from S10's nest site and he has arrived back. Just the female was at the nest site yesterday afternoon; and other observers saw the intruder male and the female eating fish in the morning. Today, there was nothing at the nest at 11:52am, but when I returned at 12:03am, I saw S10 diving out of a blue sky to chase the intruder male away from the nest; he saw it off to the east; then he returned to land on the nest, but was immediately buzzed by the other male. He gave chase and saw it off for a kilometre or so to the west. Probably take him a little while to see off the intruder. It's a lovely day with goldeneyes and red-breasted merganers displaying on the river near the nest. This is S10s 12th year.

S06's mate arrived yesterday (7th) and both were standing on the nest.

Satellite data received yesterday evening confirmed that S10 had arrived. His flight from Africa had taken 18 days. He covered 4547km which is an average of 253km per day.

We also received satellite data confirming S06's position but no other reliable locations.

There have been a quite a few sightings of Osprey over the weekend and these will be added to the sightings page tomorrow.

OSPREYS WINTERING IN SOUTH AFRICA

All the Ospreys we have been tracking wintered in west Africa but other European Ospreys move much further south.
Keith J Seaton has sent this email:

I have just returned from a 9 week trip to South Africa ... I saw only one Osprey at Midmar Dam N.R. near Howick, North of Pietermarisburg, Kwa Zulu, Natal. I would have been surprised if it had been from Rutland!

Last January Neil Smith sent this email

I live in the city of East London in the Eastern Cape of South Africa. Last week an Osprey was found exhausted on the beach of one of our coastal resorts and was picked up and taken by well meaning people to rehabilitate.

The bird was fed twice a day with pilchard supplemented with electrolytes on the advice of a bird rehabilitation centre in Pretoria ...The bird has since been released...

Alan Poole's book Ospreys: a natural and unnatural history (CUP 1989) points out that, in southern Africa, Osprey wintering density is much lower than in west Africa. He reports that ringing recoveries indicate that birds which go as far as South Africa come from the Finnish population, whereas Ospreys ringed in the more western breeding areas of Sweden, Norway and Scotland tend to be recovered in western Africa.

Later communication from Neil Smith:

We have Ospreys in the East London area in small numbers, I have only seen 2 around at the same time, mainly on the coast where I think they use farm dams as a source of food but seem to spend an inordinate amount of time around the coastal dunes. Although I have not actually seen them doing this, I suspect they also fish in the rock pools on our rocky shore.

I was most upset that t