May 2002
03(97)
with last year's mate low on the
nest |
The picture on the left shows
the nest as it was last year. The red line
indicates the part remaining at the end of the
winter.
In the spring of 2003, an
orange-ringed non-breeding male, 09(98), was the
first bird to arrive back at Rutland Water. He
perched briefly on the nest on 30 March.
|
30 MarchonB30.3.03.jpg)
09(98)
glances round nervously: Is this nest vacant this
year? |
03(97) arrived back the
next day on 31 March and quickly set about
repairing the nest, much of which had blown
down in winter storms. However, his unringed
female did not re-appear, causing the project
team (and no doubt the male Osprey!) some
concern.
Then on 15 April he was
joined at the nest site by another
translocated bird, the green-ringed female
05(00), who had been seen in the company of
08(97) in Manton Bay the previous summer.
|
4 May
Here
the female is just visible in the nest and the male
is in close attendance (and well camouflaged!) on
the lower branch. |
With 03(97) she quickly
formed a close relationship and by 3 May she was
sitting tight on the nest. The long period of
incubation began.
The male supplied the fish
and took over incubation from time to time when she
took short flights or moved to a nearby tree to
feed. |
4 May
Here
the pair have swopped positions. Notice the dark
breast band on the lower bird - the main
distinguishing mark of an adult female
Osprey. |
12 June
The
male, 03(97) sits on the right while the female is
standing to look over the rim of the
nest. |
After 40 days, during which
time the nest was kept under constant surveillance,
the adults' behaviour changed - indicating that
hatching had occurred.
The female started eating in
the nest itself and was seen presenting fish to
something low down in the nest cup. |
12 June
One
day
after hatching and the male delivers a substantial
fish to his partner, who is sitting very low down
in the nest |
15 June
Here
the female stands on the edge of the nest.
Compare this with the pictures above to see how
deep the nest cup must be. |
At first we had no idea
how many eggs were laid or how many chicks may have
hatched. Ospreys generally lay three eggs and it is
quite usual for inexperienced breeders to have
smaller clutches or infertile eggs. The male is now
six years old, whereas the female is only three and
breeding for the first time.
The number of fishing trips
taken by the male increased dramatically and he
often brought in four fish per day.
|
26 June
After
hatching occurred the nest cup was gradually filled
with extra nest lining material. Here the female is
seen bringing in some grass.
|
26 June
Look
carefully and you can see the female's wings
outspread as she shelters the young from the
intruder overhead.
25 June
You
can just make out the heads of two chicks on this
photograph.They are both facing right and are in
profile beside their mother.
|
On 26 June while 03(97)
was off fishing, an intruder male appeared,
swooping over the nest. The intruder flew to a
nearby tree and, obligingly, showed us his legs:
another green-ringed bird. It was number 10 and the
first time that he had been identified back at
Rutland Water.
Soon 03(97) arrived back and
joined the female on the nest. 10(00) sat in the
nearby tree while 03(97) and 05(00) gave him hard
stares. Then the older male flew over and gently
shepherded the young intruder away, leaving the
female to feed herself and her chicks.
By the end of June we were
convinced that there were at least two healthy
Osprey chicks in the nest .
The chicks grew quickly and
by 29 June this picture was taken showing more
clearly the two chicks as they were being fed by
their mother. |
26 June
The
male arrives back with a large trout which he
presents to the female before seeing off the
intruder
.
29 June
The
chicks do not only eat - notice the white mark that
has appeared on the upright at the back of the
nest. |
2 July
The
male continues to add to the nest, bringing in
grass to fill the nest cup... |
Eventually three small heads
could sometimes be seen, though during the very wet
weather at the beginning of July they still spent
much of the time crouched low down and hidden from
view.
As well as catching fish, the
male continued to add to the nest and also,
sometimes, helped to feed the young. |
2 July
..
and also more small sticks. The young are still
well hidden.
|
4 July
The
male, still looking in good condition despite the
rigours of looking afrer the family |
Here are two pictures of the
adults taking a break away from the offspring. The
ash trees are probably only 50 metres away from the
nest. |
2 July
The
female is more rarely away from the nest - again
notice her darker breastband |
4 July
The
first picture showing all three chicks
together |
It is particularly pleasing
to see three chicks in the nest since young females
often have infertile eggs.
Things are looking good but
there are still lots of hazards ahead for the young
birds. |
4 July
One
of the chicks spreads its wings:
" I want a fish this big, Mum ". |
13 July
The female on the left and the largest of the
three chicks on the right |
What a difference a week can
make! The young chicks are growing really fast and
are often very active. They will soon be 5 weeks
old now.
But what's that object in
front of the female in the picture on the right?
It's a log table! |
13 July The
female and a huge log which is a recent addition to
the nest. It appears to be part of a dead branch -
would have been very interesting to see the male
carry that in!
|
18 July.jpg)
Introducing
08(03), one of the three chicks to be ringed.
It is probable that this is a male Osprey.
|
On 18 July the chicks, now
aged five and a half weeks, were brought down from
the nest to be ringed. A metal BTO ring was fitted
to the left leg and a yellow plastic ring to the
right leg, numbers 07, 08 and 10
The three chicks seemed to be
in excellent condition. After ringing, some simple
measurements were made and they were returned
quickly to the nest.
|
18 July .jpg)
And
this is 10(03) being weighed.
This is a spirited bird - perhaps a
female, |
18 July
Three
in a row. As usually happens with young birds of
prey, the defence mechanism is to keep your head
down |
While the ringing team
worked, the adult birds circled anxiously overhead,
calling. As the ringers left , the adults returned
to the nest and very soon resumed feeding and
business as usual.
The picture on the right
shows a fully grown chick, now aged 6 and a half
weeks.
|
27 July
03(97)
takes off to ward off another intruder. But that's
not mother on the nest it's one of the
young! |
30 July
3
chicks in a row and the female below.
All week they seemed on the verge of flying. The
female has no need to tear fish for them now, they
can feed themselves. |
It's Sunday 3 August, just
before mid-day and volunteer Norman Gordon
witnesses the moment we have all been waiting for -
the first flight.
A youngster takes to the air
for about two minutes and lands perfectly back on
the nest. That afternoon number 10(2003) took 6
further flights watched by its siblings and
parents.
|
3 August
"Is
this how you do it Mum? "
This is not the first flight - that had occurred
some 20 minutes before this picture was
taken. |
4 August Secondlanding.jpg)
Ray
Broad captured the moment when 08(2003) arrived
back after its second flight. Despite 07's attempts
to hide (she's low in the nest), 08 still landed
perfectly - on top of her!
|
The following day 08 took to
the air and on 6 August the third juvenile (07).
During the week while temperatures soared, the
three juveniles increasing tried to do the same,
urged on by the adults.
At one point 10(03) landed on
the ground causing concern to the monitor and the
mother. The latter flew low overhead urging the
juvenile into the air and within 4 minutes she was
back safely in the nest tree. |
4
Augustabout to go.jpg)
Another
picture from Ray Broad with 10(2003) on the point
of taking off. 08 is at the back of the nest and 07
still in the nest cup. |
4 August10(03)Mum.jpg)
Here
is 05(00), the mother, on the right with 10(03)
plucking up courage for another flight. |
14 August
With bigger and longer
lasting flights occurring all the previous week,
this morning for the first time two of the
juveniles were seen at the reservoir, over the
Hambleton peninsula. They were flying in close
proximity to a glider - I wonder if the pilot
was aware?- and mimicking its use of a thermal
to gain height.
However, the nest and its
immediate area is still the centre of operations
and the juveniles are still using it very
frequently to rest and to feed there.
16 August
One of the youngsters,
07(03), flew to the other nest where the two
young still haven't fledged. She was
food-begging and tried to land on the nest but
was driven off by one of the adult
birds.
|
17 August
Volunteer Chas Maxfield
reported really noisy food-begging from all
three juveniles while the adults sat with fish
resolutely refusing to feed them. Eventually
08(03) and 10(03) flew off towards the reservoir
and came back 20 minutes later with wet plumage.
Perhaps this is the way the adults encourage the
young to begin to catch their own
fish.
18 August
Again a juvenile returned
to the nest looking wet. Later all three were
seen spiralling very high into the
sky.
22 August
The adult female 05(00)
was not seen at all today while the young and
father 03(97) were repeatedly seen in the
vicinity throughout the day. Has mum started off
south for the winter? She has no role now - she
no longer needs to tear up the fish and feed it
to the youngsters and they do not seem to need
her close attention at all times. |
24 August
The female was not present
again yesterday but this morning John Wright saw
her, catching fish in front of Lapwing Hide.
John said that the sound was defeaning as she
hit the water right in front of the hide. She
had great difficulty with the fish and it was
obviously swimming around and turning her in the
water. With a great struggle she took to the
air, bringing out an absolutely huge trout - at
least 3 lb. in weight. To gain height she flew
in a spiral and then, with great effort went off
towards the nest.
29 August
Another period of 3 days
with no sight of mother, 05(00). She was not
recorded between the morning of 26 August and
today at 10:35 when she suddenly turned up with
a fish. The three juveniles have still been
expecting 03(97) to feed them - whenever he is
in sight, one or other of the youngsters breaks
into incessant food-begging calls.
5 September
The young are spending
longer period of time in the air and away from
the nest site. During the last week they have
also been seen trying to catch fish. Yesterday,
one of them was seen by Pete Minting returning
to the nest site with a live fish. However, Pete
described how the inexperienced youngster
dropped the fish and, rather than flying down to
retrieve it, flew to the nest and began begging
for food from Dad.
Mother, 05(00), was last
seen on 31 August . |
.jpg)
The
three juveniles lined up on the nest on 27 August.
From left to right there is 08(03), 07(03) and
10(03). 08 was feeding from the remains of a fish
and his two sisters were food begging loudly. The
adult male sat, apparently tryig to ignore them, in
a nearby tree.
|
12 September
Today the nest site is
only occupied by corvids- some magpies and
crows, clearing up the remains of
fish.
The
last sightings of the family were as
follows:
Adult female 05(00), 31 August .
Juvenile 07(03), c. 6 September.
Juvenile 10(03), 8 September.
Juvenile 08(03), 8 September.
Adult male 03(97), 8 September .
|
|
goodbye.jpg) It's
goodbye from her.
Juvenile 08(03)near the nest site on 8th
September.
|
It is just over 10 weeks
since the chicks broke out of their eggs. Now they
have a 5-foot wingspan and, hopefully, are making
their way independently to West Africa.
Since successful breeding
pairs mate for life, we hope to see the adults
again next year. However, juveniles that survive
the first migration and winter do not usually
reappear until they are at least 2 years old - so
we will be looking out for the yellow-ringed birds
in 2005.
|
Goodbye.jpg) And
it's goodbye from him.
The last sighting of the adult male 03(97) on 8th
September.
|
