The Flight of Osprey T03

Osprey T03 is thought to be a male. It came from a long established successful pair breeding in Morayshire; both adults are over 15 years of age. U04 in 2000 came from the same nest which was first established in 1976. It was translocated to Rutland Water on 11 July and released on 1 August. Just before release this bird weighed 1425g and had a winglength of 460mm. BTO ring number 1367837.

T03 was the dominant bird in its pen before release and the first bird to take to the air. It is carrying a solar-powered radio transmitter.

 

   

Date
Lat.(N)
Long.(W)
Near:
23/8
52.65
0.69
Rutland Water
24/8 03:15
51.4
3.8
Porthcawl, South Wales
25/08 04:49
50.08
5.58
Lands End
26/08 06:18
43.62
5.87
Gijon, N coast of Spain
26/08 12:37
42.89
5.84
NW of Leon
27/08 09:52
41.17
6.77
R Douro
27/08 12:28
40.31
6.98
Spain/Portugal border
27/08 17:34
38.99
8.31
70km W of Lisbon
30/08 21:31
38.56
9.13
30km S of Lisbon
02/09
38.11
8.72
70km S of Lisbon
04 - 08/09
37.26
8.75
SW tip of Portugal
09/09 11:17
37.34
8.05
20km N of Faro
10 - 22/09
37.40
8.75
80km NE of Cape St Vincent
23/09-5/12
36.43
6.19
Cadiz, Spain
11/12
35.58
5.49
SE of Tangier, Morocco
12/12
33.76
5.70
Fes,Morocco
13/12
31.20
8.27
S of Marrakech
14/12
27.94
9.82
Flying over the Moroccan Sahara
15/12 15:40
25.99
11.21
Crossing into Western Sahara
15/12 18:30
25.09
11.20
E border of W Sahara
16/12 21:00
22.56
12.96
Fderik, Mauretania
16/7/2001 &endash;
17.0
16.3
100km S Nouakchott, Mauretania,
40km NW of R.Senegal
Note: times in this table are GMT: add 1hour for BST.

T03 flew at least 1880km in the first 4 days after leaving Rutland Water. It then worked its way gradually south through southern Portugal. There were small movements recorded every day from 4/9 to 22/9 with the bird spending much of its time on the SW tip of Portugal, seemingly poised for another flight across the ocean similar to that from Lands End. Instead on 23/09 it flew SE, presumably along the coast to Cadiz. There it remained for 11 weeks making only small movements around the Bahia de Cadiz. (Click here for pictures of the area).

By 11/12, T03 had crossed to North Africa and flew quickly south across the Atlas Mts and into the Sahara. We received very regular transmissions from its radio showing that it was travelling large distances each day (203, 283, 219, 435, 351 and 331km). By the evening of 16/12 it had probably reached the small settlement of Fderik, deep in the Mauretanian Sahara. The radio transmitted briefly on 17/12 and once on the 18th and 19th.

There were no subsequent transmissions received for seven months. Then suddenly in July and August 2001 a series of inaccurate but consistent locations were received from 720km further south. The position seem to be on or near the Atlantic coast but are not accurate enough to indicate whether the bird is moving. However, it seems that we can say with some certainty that the bird did at least complete its crossing of the Sahara.

Back to main satellite page / On to flight of T04