Breeding at Site B in 2009

During 2009 we are keeping a diary of events at Site B. 03(97) has bred at the site every year since 2001, raising a total of eighteen chicks, all but one of them with translocated female, 05(00). 05 failed to return this spring and has been replaced by an unringed female. The nest is on private land with no public access.

All the pictures on this page have been taken by John Wright.

26th August

With his family heading south we did not think 03 would linger in Rutland for much longer, and so it proved. He was at the nest site on Sunday morning (23rd August) but was then absent all day on Monday. By Tuesday he still hadn't returned; and we were sure that he had begun his eleventh autumn migration. We wish him well.

23rd August

By mid-August thoughts begin to turn to migration. When will the first bird leave, and perhaps more significantly, will the juveniles survive the epic journey to West Africa?

With her young flying and largely independent, it is usually the adult female who leaves first. However bearing in mind that the past few weeks have been anything but usual at Site B, we were not sure exactly what would transpire.

Since ‘moving’ to Site C in early August, the female has spent very little time at Site B and as a result it has been more difficult than usual to monitor the birds’ progress. What we do know though is that with their mother at Site C the chicks spent much less time than usual at Site B after fledging – often only returning to be fed. Significantly though, they did usually roost with 03 at Site B.

When 01 (below) did not return to roost on 13th August we suspected that he was probably still at Site C. The earliest at Site B chick had left the nest in previous years was 21st August so it seemed very early for him to have set out on migration. Perhaps he was just roosting elsewhere? However when he failed to return to the nest at any point next day, it became apparent that the young male had probably set out on migration. This was not altogether surprising, despite our experiences in previous years – within a week of fledging both youngsters had been venturing long distances from the nest and it seemed very unlikely, even at that early stage, that they would still be present by late August. And so it proved. It has been interesting to compare 01’s early departure with that of Rothes, one of the Loch Garten chicks. She left Scotland on 11th August and is now on a stop-over near Bordeaux. Perhaps 01 is not far behind?

With her brother flying south, 00 continued to return to the nest to be fed, betraying her presence with loud and incessant food-begging. However, on 19th August all was quiet at the nest. There was no food-begging and no sign of 00 – not even at Site C. Had she departed too? With neither chick to feed, 03 also disappeared and for most of the next day the nest was totally deserted – with a very end of season feel about it. But just when we were contemplating packing up the monitoring equipment for another year, 00 re-appeared. She landed on the nest, but with 03 absent she soon headed-off again. Next day all was quiet once again – it seemed that this time, 00 had followed the lead of her brother and begun the long flight south. Eventually 03 re-appeared on Saturday afternoon. With no chicks to feed though perhaps he too will soon set out on migration?

With the female so detached from Site B it has been interesting to record her behaviour. Although she has been given fish by 09 on a fairly regular basis, she has also been fishing herself – catching her own meals on numerous occasions. Initially we though she had flown south towards the end of last week, but then she re-appeared at Site C on 22nd August. Next morning she was again at Site C, holding the remains of a trout – as if waiting to see if 00 would want any. When the young female did not re-appear and Saturday developed into a fine Saturday, the female took this as her queue to leave.

Her behaviour over the past month has been really unusual and it will be very interesting to see what happens when she returns in the spring. Will she return to Site B, or breed with 09 at Site C? Seven months and counting…

13th August

Once a female’s offspring have been flying for a few days, her summer’s work is all but over. Until they migrate the young will be fed by their father and the female is left to prepare for her own journey south. Some females such as Roy Dennis’ Beatrice leave very early, whilst others linger for much longer. Satellite tracking has shown that those females who leave early will often stop off a few hundred miles south and feed up before continuing their journey. This strategy ensures that the young will receive a greater share of the fish brought in by the male. This though still doesn’t really explain what we have been observing at Site B for the last two weeks.   

Regular visitors to the website will know that for much of July the female made regular trips to Site C to scrounge fish from the male there – 09(98) (photgraphed above). Being a non-breeding male 09 was only too willing to feed the female and over time her visits to Site C became more and more frequent. Initially she would fly back to Site B with the fish, but from 31st July she began to spend long periods with 09 at his nest. The chicks soon followed their mother to Site C and for the next three or four days the three birds spent most of their time with 09. Initially he showed signs of aggression (see previous report below), but he soon accepted the two chicks – as if sensing that the female would only remain at the nest if the chicks did too. By Saturday the female and both youngsters were food-begging on the nest and 09 was providing them with a regular supply of fish. Significantly though it was always the female he took the fish to – never the youngsters. When 03 appeared, he was quickly chased off by 09 and temporarily at least, it appeared that he had lost his family.

By Wednesday though things began to change once again. 09 and the female were absent for much of the day and 01 eventually returned to Site B to roost with his father. Next day the female was back at Site C but now 09 appeared reluctant to feed her. The lack of food at Site C appeared to persuade the youngsters to return to Site B and by the weekend they were returning to the nest at regular intervals to be fed by their father once again.

So what caused this sudden shift? We contacted Roy Denis and even after 50 years of watching Ospreys in Scotland, he had never recorded anything similar. Sometimes hungry juveniles will land on neighbouring nests in an attempt to scrounge food, but Roy has never known of a female to move too. What we do know is that 03 has struggled to keep up with demand in recent weeks, and perhaps the female realised that she would be better fed at Site C? It will certainly be very interesting to see what happens if she returns in the spring. Will she return to Site B, or move to Site C? If she does move, will another female take her place at Site B? Or perhaps 03 won’t return and 09 will move to Site B? Spring 2010 is sure to be more interesting than ever.

For the moment though the chicks continue to return to Site B to be fed. They might now be highly skilful fliers but they are still very much dependent on their father for food. They will probably remain at the nest for another two weeks before setting off on their first migration in late August. So no peace and quiet for 03 quite yet!  

The female meanwhile has remained at Site C but is catching fish for herself. We suspect it won’t be long before she begins her own flight south.

31st July

The Site B chicks have now been on the wing for ten days and are growing in confidence on a daily basis. On Monday morning, just a week after leaving the nest for the first time, 01 (the male chick) demonstrated his new found aerial prowess by circling to about 3000 feet and then drifting off towards the reservoir(photographed right). It was hard to believe as we watched below that the young male had been flying for such a short period of time. Still, with a three thousand mile migration ahead of him in less than a month’s time, it was encouraging to see the male flying so strongly.

Despite their increased adventurousness, the chicks continue to return to the nest to be fed - and the photo on the left shows the whole family shortly after a fish delivery.

Although the photo above suggests otherwise, 03 has struggled to keep up with the demands of his family and food-begging has become an increasingly familiar sound at the nest in recent weeks.

Realising that her mate has struggled to provide sufficient fish for the family, the female has been making fishing forays of her own. She has caught at least two fish in the past couple of days but has also visited 09(98) at Site C and accepted fish from him at least six times. The photo on the right shows the female sheltering from very heavy rain having just been given a trout by 09. It is not unusual for unpaired males to feed females in this way - but it does not normally happen when the female in question already has a mate of her own. This does serve to highlight just how much 03 has been struggling this summer.

With the female often visiting 09 at Site C, the two chicks have followed her there on a number of occasions. Unsurprisingly 09 (left) has been less tolerant of the chicks than their mother and the series of four photos below show him chasing the male chick away from the nest site. It will be very interesting to see how things develop over the next few weeks.

21st July

For an Osprey chick fledging is the culmination of several weeks of preparation; put simply this equates to flapping, flapping and yet more flapping. The Site B chicks have been no exception –spending hour upon hour exercising their wings for the past three weeks. By the end of last week they were often lifting several feet off the nest. It was obvious even to the untrained eye that they were well capable of flying; they just needed to pluck up the courage to do it!  

By Sunday afternoon the chicks were lifting up to six feet above the nest. Still they couldn’t quite muster the courage to fly though. The male chick (01) certainly got very close – helicoptering up (left) and then landing on the branch adjacent to the nest. Did this qualify as a first flight? Not quite. Having landed on the branch (below) he remained rooted to the spot for the next six hours, not even daring to return to the nest when the female fed his sister.

Eventually 01 did manage to inch his way back onto the nest and heavy rain then kept the chicks quiet for the remainder of the evening.

By next morning the rain had cleared and it was apparent the chicks meant business. 01 was the first to fly – heading off remarkably strongly just before 6am (left). Within a matter of hours it seemed as if he had been flying for years – barrel rolling and enjoying the breezy morning with the confidence of an adult. The photo below left shows him landing on the nest after his first flight.

He sister watched on intently (above right). She began wing flapping vigorously, forcing the adult female to take evasive action (below).

At 10am she lifted off the nest and like her brother the day before landed on the branch adjacent to the nest (left). The adult female immediately took off and landed next to her daughter - obviously to give her some moral support (below right).

Twenty minutes later she lifted off again and this time launched herself into the air; completing a short circuit before landing with a bump back on the nest (below).

For the rest of the day both chicks made numerous short flights; enjoying their new found freedom for the very first time. The photo on the left shows the male chick returning to the nest after one such flight.

Although the chicks are now flying strongly and appear in better condition than a few weeks ago, 03 is still struggling to provide fish. Proof came on Sunday when the female arrived back at the nest with a trout. Initially it seemed possible that she had caught the fish herself, but when 09(98) appeared from the same direction shortly afterwards, it became clear that the female had in fact taken the fish from the rival male! 03 who had remained on the nest tree during the female’s absence then wasted no time in flying to the nest and tucking in to the fish himself (left).

Intruders have continued to visit the nest over the past few days. Aside from 09 - holding fish below right - 5R(below left) and AA(06) (below right) have also put in appearances at the nest recently.

Finally, although the chicks have now made their first flights, 03 continues to make running repairs to the nest. Most days he will bring one or two sticks to the nest, but none have been bigger than the enormous stick shown in the two photographs above. Surely this has to be a new record?!

16th July

The chicks are now really close to leaving the nest for the first time. The photos above and left were taken by John Wright last week and show that although the youngsters were wing flapping, they were still firmly rooted to the nest. However, two more recent photos (taken yesterday) show the male chick actually lifting off and 'helicoptering' above the nest. It is obviously just a matter of time...

Knowing her chicks are very close to leaving the nest, the female (above) has been making regular shorts flights to encourage them to take to the air. She will often fly very close to the nest - obviously to show the youngsters how it should be done.

Although 03 (below) has continued to bring good numbers of fish to the nest, most are only very small and are usually devoured quickly by the chicks. Whilst a large trout will keep the family happy for much of the day, he needs to catch at least seven or eight small fish to make up for the difference in size.

Dave Cole's latest footage from the nest (right) also shows that the chicks are close to making their maiden flights.

14th July

Unfortunately we have some sad news to report from Site B. From early June we began to notice that the smallest of the three was not developing as quickly as its siblings. John Wright’s photo (right) taken in late June shows that at four weeks it was noticeably smaller than the other two chicks. By the time the birds were ringed the size difference was even more apparent – whereas the two larger chicks weighed 1600g and 1350g respectively, the smaller third chick weighed just over 1kg. It was clearly very weak and in poor condition, and unfortunately it has subsequently died.

The initial findings of the post-mortem indicated that the cause of death was pulmonary aspergillosis; a respiratory infection that often affects birds with weakened immune systems. Clearly the chick’s small size meant it was unable to fight off the infection as a stronger, healthier chick might do. Whilst runt chicks are not uncommon in some parts of Scotland - particularly where food is scarce - it is not something we have seen at Site B before.

So what might explain the presence of the runt chick? The fact that 03’s new mate is a first-time breeder may be a contributory factor; it is possible that a more experience mother would have ensured the smallest chick received more food. This is based on the asumption that the male is bringing in sufficient fish to feed the entire family. Whilst 03 has regularly caught three or four fish per day, the fish have often been so small that they have only taken a matter of minutes to eat. Of particular significance is that 03 has again caught fewer large roach than three or four years ago - a trend that we first reported in the Osprey Observer over the winter. This changing pattern suggests that roach numbers may have declined in the reservoir, making fishing more difficult for the male Ospreys. Anecdotal evidence certainly supports this theory, but there is no definitive answer. Another more straightforward theory is that perhaps 03 is simply past his prime. Research in Scotland has shown that Osprey productivity declines with age and so it could be that nine successive years of breeding are beginning to take their toll on 03.

The one positive to come out of what have been a sad few days is that the two remaining chicks now have a better chance of surviving. If food availability is an issue, the death of the third chick means that there will be more food for the remaining two chicks. As a result they are likely to migrate in better condition, therefore increasing their chances of surviving the long migration to West Africa.

The chicks certainly seem to be devloping well and are now spending long periods exercising their wings as they prepare to make their maiden flights. Their wing flaps are now so powerful that at times they lift off the nest; suggesting that they are probably about a week away from leaving the nest.

Having ringed the chicks we can now be sure of their sex – the larger of the two is a female and the smaller, a male. They were ringed with blue rings on the right leg – 00 and 01.

June 30th

With 03 often away from the nest for prolonged periods as he searches for fish, intruders (left) continue to be a real nuisance. Except that is on one very unusual occasion yesterday morning.

Thick fog made viewing the nest impossible until just before 8am. By the time it cleared 03 was absent from the nest - as he had been for much of the previous evening. As the fog cleared, so the 'osprey bus' arrived. 09(98) was first to appear over the nest, followed by 5R(04), 32(05) and then the unringed female (below right). With 03 absent, the four birds got closer and closer to the nest, 32 (below left and right) landing in a nearby tree and the other birds circling low overhead.

The female was visibly agitated by the constant intrusions, but over the course of the next half an hour, something very unusual happened. On four separate occasions, 09 landed on the nest (left and below) and mantled as if he were defending his own mate and offspring. The female and chicks looked on as 09 defended them from the aerial bombardment; with 03 absent they appeared totally as ease with 09 on the nest. Of the intruders 32(05) is usually the most aggressive, but with 09 on the nest, he was unable to land next to the female.

Eventually after an absence of at least three hours, 03 returned and saw off the intruders. It was obviously a real relief to see 03 return safely, but it would have been really interesting to see what 09's next step would have been had 03 been away for longer. Would he, for instance, have brought a fish in for the family? His behaviour during the morning suggested that that would have been a real possibility. It also shows that if 03 fails to return one year, there won't be a shortage of takers for his nest.

Footnote: As I write this, intruders are again making their presence felt at Site B - this time AA(06) joining in the fun too. It is going to be a long summer for the Site B female.

John Wright's latest photo of the Site B chicks shows why we are now fairly confident that there are two females and a male. The two chicks to the right of the female are noticeably larger than the smaller male on the left.

So another great year for 03 - photographed at sunrise below.

June 25th

Now the chicks are over four weeks old we are beginning to get an idea of their sex. The largest of the three is very stocky with a heavy bill - definitely a female (far left on photo). She rather dwarfs the smallest of the brood who has a much slighter bill and is clearly a male. The middle chick is more difficult so we may have to wait until the chicks are ringed before deciphering his or her sex.

The largest chick is evidently more advanced than her two smaller siblings. While the two younger chicks always wait to be fed by their mother, big sister spent several minutes feeding herself for the first time today. She has also taken to moving sticks around in the nest - obviously getting some practice in for later in life.

The chicks' wings are now beginning to develop - of particular note is the fact that the main flight feathers (the primaries) are starting to grow. As they do so, the chicks will begin to spend more and more time flapping on the nest as they prepare for their maiden flights in about four weeks' time. It is amazing to think that they will then have just over a month to hone their flying skills before embarking upon the long flight to West Africa.

Meanwhile 03 is continuing to add sticks to the nest...as these photos show.

Volunteer Dave Cole has spent two evenings filming the Site B chicks and his two videos, filmed a week apart show how quickly they are growing. In the first video  (below left) filmed on 13th June, you can only just make out the heads of the chicks over the edge of the nest. Compare that footage with a week later (filmed on 21st June) and the difference is obvious; the chicks are now considerably larger and are even starting to flap their fast-developing wings, albeit very feebly!

You may need to click on the yellow bar at the top of your screen and select 'allow blocked content' to watch the videos.

20th June

The three chicks at Site B appear to be thriving - growing larger by the day and looking more and more like Ospreys in the process. The photo on the right shows the three youngsters surveying their surroundings as their ever-attentive mother looks on.

The youngsters' flight feathers are just starting to develop and they are already starting to think about flapping their stubby wings. With this in mind the adult birds have been bringing in lots of nest lining material to build up the nest cup and provide the chicks with a firm footing from which to launch themselves into the air in about a month's time.

The chicks really are starting to look like miniature versions of their parents, but one obvious difference remains; whilst the adults have piercing yellow eyes, the chicks' eyes are very orange - and will remain so for the first few months of their life. The photo on the left clearly shows the difference in eye colour between the adult female and one of her offspring.

The chicks insatiable appetites mean that 03 (below left) is now having to work very hard to keep them satisfied; spending many hours away from the nest on fishing trips each day. On Wednesday and Saturday passengers on the latest two Osprey cruises were able to enjoy great views of 03 as he searched for fish for his family.

As the summer progresses non-breeding birds become less tied to their own territories and begin to cause trouble at the breeding sites. In the past week John Wright has taken photos of four different males intruding at the nest site, each shown below. On one occasion all four birds visited together, forcing 03 and the female to sit defensively on the nest (above right). Three of the four birds - 5R, 32 and AA - fledged from the Site B nest, again demonstrating what an important site it has become for the project.

5R(04)

32(05)

09(98)

AA(06)

11th June

Now two weeks old, the Site B chicks are getting larger by the day. For the first fortnight of their life Osprey chicks are kept warm by a thick covering of down, but after two weeks the first feathers begin to develop. First to appear are the rusty-golden pin feathers on the head and neck. The emergence of these first feathers means the youngsters start to look like miniature versions of their parents; particularly so at Site B where we can still only see their heads over the edge of the nest.

John Wright's fantastic drawings below show just how Osprey-like the chicks already are!

At this age, the chicks have a very conspicuous crop, meaning the youngsters can go for lengthy periods without fish. This is just as well because the unsettled weather of the past week has made fishing difficult for 03. That said, on Monday morning 03 returned to the nest with a huge roach - perhaps over 2Ibs in weight and therefore a real specimen individual. Roach rarely grow much larger than this, so any coarse fisherman would have been pleased to net this particular individual. Its large size suggested that it was probably a spawning female - an easy target for a fishing Osprey.

At feeding time the female has been careful to ensure that all three chicks get their fair share of the meal. The two older chicks are noticeably more aggressive when the female is offering food, but she always takes time to feed the smallest of the three. Let's hope that the weather improves and that all three chicks continue to thrive.

4th June

The Site B chicks are now over a week old and growing fast. For the first few days after hatching they remained hidden deep in the nest cup but, by the weekend, tiny heads began to appear over the edge of the nest.

Each time the female leant forward to feed the chicks the volunteers monitoring the nest watched closely. First one reptilian-like head appeared as it stretched forward to accept food from the female. Next day a second slightly smaller chick could be seen jockeying for position at feeding time. Then, yesterday evening, three chicks were visible together for the first time.

It is fantastic news that all three chicks have hatched, particularly given that the female has not bred before. Although the third chick is slightly smaller than its older siblings, it seems to be receiving a reasonable amount of food. In some areas Ospreys find it difficult to raise a brood of three, but with a plentiful supply of food and an experienced father, we hope that this third chick will prosper. Having raised three chicks to fledging in five of the last six years, 03 certainly has a good track-record and this should outweigh his new mate's inexperience.

Intruding Ospreys continue to make regular visits to the nest site. On Saturday the Rutland birds were joined by a Scottish male. 'White AA' was ringed by Roy Dennis at a nest in Morayshire in 2007 and spent more than half an hour circling over the Site B nest with three other males. The photo on the right was taken by volunteer Colin Hewitt and clearly shows the white ring on the bird's left leg (with a close-up of the ring below). Unlike females, male Ospreys are usually very site faithful and so it was no surprise that white AA's visit was a brief one; it is likely that he has now continued north to Morayshire.

close-up of ring

27th May

Monday was day 36 of incubation at Site B and anticipation was in the air. When would the first chick hatch? Without a camera looking directly into the nest we needed to watch the adult birds for clues.

The first indication that hatching was imminent came during the morning. The female was noticeably restless; repeatedly changing position in the nest, standing up, sitting down again, and looking downwards inquisitively. By the afternoon we were convinced that a chick had hatched, but needed the male to return with a fish to be sure.

The problem was that 03 was finding fishing very difficult. On average he is usually away from the nest for just over an hour when searching for a meal, but this time he was away for much longer.

While 03 was away four of the bachelor males – 09(98), 5R(04), 32(05) and the new male, AA(06) – intruded at the nest site for more than half an hour. With a newly-hatched chick in the nest it was obvious that the female did not want to leave the chicks. So instead she was forced to lie low while the four males repeatedly flew low overhead. The photo on the right shows 09 flying over the nest.

32 was the most aggressive of the intruders. At one point he actually landed next to the female (see two photos below), but still she refused to leave her newly hatched off-spring. 5R meanwhile spent ten minutes perched in a tree close to the nest (photo on left).

After three hours 03 eventually returned with a fish and the intruders took their leave. As usual he took the fish to a nearby perch and tucked into the head. The female looked on expectantly and anticipation grew as we waited for him to take the fish to the nest. But then as 03 took off, inexplicably, he dropped the fish! Which of course meant we were back to square one.

After resting for half an hour 03 flew towards the reservoir again. Surely he wouldn’t take so long to return again? However by 9:15pm it was almost dark and he still wasn’t back. Now we were worried for two reasons; firstly the chick still hadn’t been fed, and secondly, we began to worry that something had happened to 03.

But then at 9:25 he suddenly returned, carrying a very small fish. This time he took the fish straight to the nest and the female eagerly took it from him. Rather than attempting to feed the chick though, she took the fish to a nearby perch. Obviously surprised by this 03 flew across to the female and knocked her off the perch. He seemed to want her to return to the nest to feed the chick. She did return, but rather than feeding the chick she merely settled back down to brood.

And so the wait continued.

Next morning fishing was again difficult for 03; high winds making his task even more demanding than the previous afternoon. At 10am he returned to the nest with a fish so small that he ate it all himself, and then he flew towards the reservoir again.

Finally, just after 1pm he returned with a much more substantial roach. This time there was plenty for the female, and after eating the head, 03 took the fish to the nest (see photo on left).

The female took it from him and this time she delicately offered tiny pieces of fish down into the nest cup. Encouragingly she seemed to be offering fish to two different parts of the nest, so perhaps a second chick had now hatched? The female then continued to feed the chicks at regular intervals for the rest of the afternoon. The photos on the right and below show 03 watching the female as she feeds the chicks.

03 meanwhile enjoyed a well-earned rest.

Of course the chicks are too small to be seen over the edge of the nest, but we will certainly be watching very closely over the coming days for the first tiny heads to appear over the edge.

21st May

03 and the unringed female are now nearing the end of the long incubation period. The birds began sitting on 19th April, so if all goes to plan the first egg should hatch early next week.

Having collated the data recorded by the team of volunteers monitoring the nest, we now know that the female undertook 85% of the sitting during the first three weeks of incubation. Interestingly, this is just under 10% more time than we recorded for 05 when she was breeding at the nest site. In his book on Ospreys, Alan Poole reports that there is usually a good deal of variation in the time spent sitting by different females. In a study on New Hampshire Ospreys, Poole found that female Ospreys undertook between 87% and 44% of incubation. So the Site B female is certainly at the upper end of the scale. For more incubation facts from Site B and also Site N, click here.

Incubation is usually a quiet period at the nest, but on Friday evening the new male, maroon AA (photographed left) intruded at the nest site. The young male is the fifth Site B chick to return to the reservoir, demonstrating the great importance of the nest to the long-term success of the project.

Mortality is very high in young Ospreys, but it seems that the Site B chicks usually leave in very good condition, helping them to survive the hazardous first migration to West Africa. This of course is testament to the parenting skills of the adult birds, but also illustrates what a good place Rutland Water is for Ospreys. The high food-availability and relatively sedate weather combine to make catching fish a relatively easy task for the adult males, thereby ensuring that their chicks leave in the best possible condition.

29th April

03 and his new mate are now almost two weeks into incubation and appear very settled. As usual the female has undertaken the vast majority of incubation, with 03 taking over for occasional short stints to give his mate a rest - as shown in the two photos below.

Although we do not know whether the female has bred before, the fact she has such an experienced mate is clearly a real advantage. If all goes to plan, the first egg may hatch around 27th May...so keep your fingers crossed!

During one break from incubation, the female took the opportunity to stretch her wings, playfully barrel rolling in a brisk south-westerly breeze.

Aside from providing fish, the male's other main responsibility during the breeding season is to defend the nest against intruders. On Thursday last week 08(01) intruded at the nest site and was quickly chased off by 03. The photo on the right shows 03 flapping his wings in defence as the rival male (photographed below) flew low over the nest.

Having seen off the intruding male, 03 flew off towards the reservoir. Having done his stint at incubation and chased off the intruder the only thing left to do was to catch a fish for his mate...

21st April

Sadly it now seems highly unlikely that 05 will return to Site B. She is now almost three weeks late compared to spring 2008, and so we suspect that she has come to grief over the winter. If that does prove to be the case, 05 has certainly left a lasting legacy on the Osprey population in central England, having raised a total of 17 chicks with 03 since 2003. One of those chicks, 5N(04) has already raised two chicks of her own, and perhaps there will be more to follow this year?

Having been a cornerstone of the population we always feared the year that 05 did not return. Would 03 find a mate to replace her? Well, that question has now been answered - on Sunday the unringed female who has been present at the nest since 3rd April, laid her first egg. So, whilst it is very sad that 05 has not returned, our disappointment has been tempered by the fact that a new Scottish female has joined the population. The original project rationale was based on the premise that the Rutland males would breed with passing Scottish females, but past experience has shown that these migrant birds have been reluctant to stay and breed. This spring's events though suggest that things are beginning to change.

14th April

It is now almost two weeks since the unringed female arrived at Site B, and she is looking more settled at the nest each day.

She is now mating regularly with 03 (see photo on the right), and making frequent forays to collect grass and turf to line the nest. These clods of turf usually have quantities of soil still attached and rearranging them in the nest has resulted in the female's head turning a remarkable shade of orange - the ironestone in the soil acting like a temporary dye!

Of course we are still not ruling out the possibility of 05 returning to the nest. She is now ten days later than last year, but there have been many instances of established birds returning to their nest site very late - the most recent example being when Logie (a female satellite-tracked by Roy Dennis) returned to her nest in Morayshire last year to find her mate had paired with another female - click here for more. Logie quickly evicted that female and we would epect 05 to do something similar at Site B if she returns in the next few days. So watch this space!

April 8th

Having returned to Rutland on 20th March, 03 has now been present at his well-established nest site for almost three weeks. Last spring his mate, 05(00) arrived on 4th April so we are hoping that her return is now imminent.

When and if she does return to the nest though, it looks as though she will be in for a surprise. On Friday an unringed female arrived at Site B. John Wright’s photos and field sketches suggest that she may be a bird who visited Rutland for two days in spring 2008. Initially we suspected that her visit this year would be equally brief. In recent years numerous unringed females have stopped off at Rutland nests, with the sole intention of enjoying a free meal or two. We expected that this female would be no different, but five days later, we are beginning to think differently.

After arriving on Friday evening, the female was still at the nest on Sunday morning. Eventually 03 responded to her food-begging by flying off towards the reservoir, evidently on a fishing trip. Half an hour later a male reappeared, but rather than food-begging the female began giving the intruder call. The short ‘chip’ notes indicating that the male flying towards the nest with a partly-eaten fish wasn’t 03. More significantly it was immediately apparent that the female was actually defending the nest as if it were her own. After circling the nest the intruder settled on a low oak tree nearby revealing a green colour ring on its right leg. Excitingly it was 5R(04) – the young male who fledged from the Site B nest in 2004 and who established a territory on the Lyndon reserve for the first time in 2008. The photo on the left shows him on the oak with the fish.

Once she realised this ‘intruding’ male had a fish the female’s behaviour changed. Rather than alarming calling, she now began food-begging! Almost instinctively 5R responded by taking the fish to the nest (see photo on right). Obviously this was too good an opportunity to miss.

The female immediately accepted the fish from 5R and began eating it.  He meanwhile moved to a perch adjacent to the nest, as if it were his own.

Fifteen minutes later 03 finally reappeared with a fish (see photo on right). He wasted no time in chasing 5R off the nest tree and presented the female with a fine looking trout – which she gracefully accepted. Amazingly, 03 then took the remains of 5R’s fish off with him and began tucking in on a nearby perch!

The female remained at the nest for the rest of the day, even taking a stick to the nest later in the afternoon. Intruders continued to cause trouble into the evening - 5N, 08, 09(98) and 5R all making repeat visits. The photo on the left shows 5N (below) and 5R intruding at the nest.

As the photo on the right shows the female was sick on a number of occasions during the afternoon – something we have not recorded before. Perhaps a fish bone became dislodged somewhere it shouldn’t have!

The signs were promising, but experience has taught us not to expect unringed females arriving early in the spring to stay and breed - so we fully-expected the female to leave on Monday or Tuesday. Remarkably though she is still there. Not only that but she is looking more and more at home. On Tuesday we observed two successful copulations – again something that we have not recorded with migrant females before, and even more significantly, she spent much of the afternoon defending the nest against an incredibly aggressive and persistent intrusion by another female. The photo on the right shows 03 and the female mantling defensively on the nest.

For two hours on Tuesday afternoon, a female with a metal ring on her right leg (presumably a Scottish bird) tried again and again to oust the female from the nest. So, remarkably, there were now two Scottish females fighting over 03!

Initially the intruding female merely circled over the nest but as time wore on she became more and more adventurous, repeatedly attempting to land on the nest. Both 03 and the unringed female gave chase, but this was a seriously persistent bird. Each time she was chased off she simply turned round and tried again. This series of photos shows 03 diving repeatedly at the female as he attempts to see her off.

She became more and more aggressive, and suddenly she folded her wings and dived at 03, making contact and leaving him sprawled upside down below the nest. Thankfully 03 was unharmed and quickly recovered to chase the female off. This series of three photos shows the attack as it happened. You can see 03 hanging below the nest in the photo below right.

Eventually she gave up and drifted off towards 09(98) who had been displaying high above, hoping to entice the female his way. It had been a remarkable two hours and to see two Scottish female fighting over a Rutland nest was a really encouraging sign for the future.

03 and the female remained at the nest for the remainder of the afternoon, copulating at regular intervals the signs are certainly very good!

Another intruder to the Site B nest on Tuesday was 32(05). 32 fledged from the Site B nest in 2005 and returned for the first time in 2007. He announced his arrival in Rutland this year by dive-bombing the Site B nest before drifting off south. The photos right and below show I'm hanging just above the nest before he was chased away by 03. It will be interesting to see if he now returns to Manton Bay where he had attempted to establish a territory of his own last spring.

March 28th

In recent days 03 has continued to add sticks of varying shapes and sizes to the nest. He's also added clumps of turf/soil as he prepares for the return of 05.

When 03 returned a week ago, the centre of the nest resembled an over-grown vegetable garden, but thanks to a good deal of nest-scraping he has managed to remove the unwanted vegetation.

Although it is unlikely that 05 will arrive until early April, 03 is always on the look-out for passing females. On Tuesday last week he suddenly rose off the nest and began displaying. Presumably a passing female had caught his eye - the Loch Garten and Loch of Lowes females are already back at their nests, so Scottish females must be passing every day. On this occasion though it seemed that the female was unimpressed - she continued northwards without giving 03 even a passing look.

Last spring 03 returned with a broken primary and this year he has an outer secondary missing in each wing (as the photo on the right shows).These missing feathers are an excellent way of identifying the birds in flight and should help us to identify 03 when he is fishing at the reservoir.

Normally 03 lets Buzzards pass close to the nest without giving chase - they have become very numerous in Rutland in recent years and pose no real threat or competition to nesting Ospreys. However when this very pale individual appeared, 03 clearly mistook it for an Osprey and immediately left the nest to see the intruder off.

March 21st

When 03 returned to Rutland in spring 2008 he spent much of the first week asleep on the nest tree, suggesting he had a difficult and arduous return migration. However he appears in much better shape this spring, and spent much of Saturday adding sticks to the nest. The settled weather over southern Europe appears to have helped in more ways than one.

In recent years Red Kites have become very numerous in the Rutland area and are regular visitors to the Osprey nests. In contrast to Ospreys, Kites will eat virtually anything, from live-caught prey such as small mammals to carrion. On Saturday evening two very persistent individuals attempted to take the tail end of a fish off the Site B nest.

As the photo on the right shows, 03 did not appear overly concerned by the presence of the Kites, to such an extent that he continued to move sticks around in the nest as a Kite prepared to dive.

March 20th

At 8:00am this morning an Osprey appeared over the Site B nest and dive-bombed several crows perched nearby. Very much the behaviour of a territorial male, but surely it couldn't be 03(97)? Last year 03 returned to the Site B nest on 28th March, and the earliest he had ever returned to his well-established nest was 22nd March, so it had to be too early. Didn't it?

A few minutes later the bird disappeared to the north - apparently confirming our suspicious that it was just an early migrant bird passing through?

However half an hour later it returned to the nest, this time carrying a fish. After circling the nest several times it landed on a branch adjacent to the huge structure and started tucking into a pike. Amazingly, it was 03. He was back after completing his eleventh spring migration.

For the rest of the day 03 remained at the nest site, clearly tired after the long migration from West Africa. But what had prompted him to return so early? Over the past week a high pressure system has resulted in Spain and southern Europe basking in early spring sunshine, and such weather obviously makes for ideal migration conditions. Upon arrival last spring 03 had to evict 09(98) from the Site B nest, and perhaps sensing that he may have even more rivals this year, it seems that 03 wanted to ensure that he arrived back in Rutland before any of the other males. The calm, settled weather in Europe obviously helped him to do just that.

Like last year a large amount of grass and other vegetation has grown up in the centre of the nest so over the next few weeks 03 will spend time scraping out the nest cup and building up the nest in preparation for the return of his mate, 05(00) - last year she returned on 4th April. For the moment though, it is just great to see him back!

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The project is a partnership between Anglian Water and the Leicestershire and Rutland Wildlife Trust, with additional funding support from the Peter De Haan Charitable Trust