Ex-Rutland males breed in Wales

The first known Osprey chick to fledge in Wales: 2004

On Friday 20 August 2004, the Welsh Wildlife Trusts announced the successful fledging of the first known Osprey chick in Wales - and this was particularly good news for the Rutland Osprey Project because the adult male was one of "our" translocated birds. During the opening ceremony of the Birdfair in 2004, Stephanie Hilborne, new Chief Executive of the Wildlife Trusts, gave the news that a pair of Ospreys had been quietly breeding at a remote and undisclosed site, under the watchful eye of Wildlife Trust Staff. Despite that summer's awful weather, they raised a healthy chick that set off for its journey to Africa a few weeks later.
	We are very grateful for permission to use these pictures which were taken for the Welsh Wildlife Trusts by Steve Phillipps. The first two picturesare of the chick on the nest, while those below show the two adults What was quite remarkable was that the breeding male was an ex-Rutland bird who was translocated in 1997. He was 07(97) and had a white ring on his left leg. He had never been recorded back at Rutland Water but may well have been in Wales establishing a territory during each summer from 1999. Of the eight Ospreys translocated in 1997, three are now known to have survived and two of these bred in 2004 - in Wales and in Rutland.
07(97)'s mate was also ringed. She came originally from a nest in the Black Isle in Scotland. Due to difficulties of access to the nest, the young bird has not been ringed. Wildlife broadcaster Iolo Williams praised all those involved in safeguarding the first successful fledgling and its parents. He said: It was fantastic news that this pair has successfully bred and reared a chick. I really would like to take my hat off to the Welsh Wildlife Trusts, the landowner, and the volunteers, who have handled the whole operation superbly well.
	Andy Brown, Anglian Water's Biodiversity and Heritage Manager said: This is brilliant news. The aim of the Anglian Water Osprey Project was always to bolster the UK population and the fact that Rutland birds have colonised Wales is an unexpected bonus. I am sure that more and more nesting attempts will take place allowing more and more people the chance to experience these magnificent birds. But bad news in 2005 Many Ospreys returning to north-west Europe in April 2005 may have been affected by bad weather during their migration and neither adult was seen at this Welsh nest that season. Although there were reports of Ospreys in the area throughout the summer, none were recorded breeding.

Another Welsh nest near Porthmadog

At the beginning of July 2004, the BBC News (Wales) website reported that Ospreys were nesting for the first time in Wales. A pair of birds had been incubating eggs at Glaslyn near Porthmadog in North Wales.

We are most grateful for the picture on the right, taken by local volunteer Anne Harrington-Rees. The photo, taken earlier in the summer, shows the adult male with an orange ring on its right leg. Rings like this were fitted to the young Ospreys translocated to Rutland Water in 1998.Two chicks hatched, but delight at the new arrivals turned to despair when bad weather swept part of the nest, together with the chicks, from the top of the very tall tree where the nest had been constructed. Once incubaton was over, the RSPB opened a public viewpoint where staff and volunteers could help visitors view the adults.

During the incubation the male often perched on a dead tree near the nest site. He was catching fish in the nearby estuary - a reminder that Ospreys eat both fresh-water and salt-water fish.
Photo: Anne Harrington-Rees.

In 2004 the nest was perched very precariously
high in a pine tree

On 13 July 2004, members of the Rutland Osprey Project team travelled to Porthmadog and were privileged to be able to view the nest.

The pair of adults were still frequently at the nest site and Field Officers John Wright and Tim Mackrill were able to get a good view of the male's coloured ring. It was an orange ring with the inscription 11 in black letters. This indicated that it was 11(98), a bird last seen at Rutland Water when it set off on its first migration in September 1998. He came originally from a nest close to Loch Garten, Speyside in the Scottish Highlands.

Unfortunately, in mid August 2004 it was reported that the rebuilt nest again collapsed.

Better more recent news

During the winter of 2004-5, the top of the pine tree was removed and a firm substantial platform was erected.

Both adults returned, quickly adopted the new nest and bred successfully. In 2005 they raised two chicks , a male and a female. The nest was protected during incubation, a camera was installed and viewing point established where 75,000 visitors were recorded during the summer.

Each year since then a Glaslyn Osprey Project diary has been publishedon the RSPB Wales website.

A local community-based group Friends of the Ospreys also have a website where you can see pictures of the nest and other artificial nests erected by the group.

A view of the valley from the Cob at Porthmadog

The history of 11(98)

Looking back at the monitoring notes made in 1998, we can see that on 23 July, before he could fly, 11(98) was brought to Rutland Water where he was held in a pen for two weeks. He appeared to be a very active and fairly dominant bird, frequently taking fish from the other bird in his pen.

He was released on 7 August , took about an hour to leave the pen and then had a long maiden flight , lasting almost six minutes. Unlike the other birds of that year and surprisingly considering his subsequent history, he stayed in the immediate locality of the reservoir for several weeks. There was a very worrying evening on 18 August . Tricia Galpin, the Assistant Project Officer in 1998, still remembers it vividly:

"I was on duty with a volunteer at the monitoring point, watching the translocated juveniles return to the pens to take the fish that we had put out for them. Suddenly I saw that one of the birds, number 11 had a length of orange baler twine and a small stick caught around its legs.

We were aware that there was nothing we could do except follow the birds' movements carefully, using telescopes and the yagi . It was a most anxious time and I rang Roy Dennis: "I'm sure he will free himself - keep following him" he said. Later that evening, to our great relief. we saw that the bird had become disentangled.

(For more details about that phase of the translocation project please click here.)

One of 1998 birds (notice the orange-brown ring) contemplates its maiden flight from the release pen. Perhaps this was 11(98)?
Photo: Martin Withers 1998

11(98) was last seen on 11 September 1998, when we presume he began his migration to West Africa.

Having never seen the bird back in Rutland, we had assumed that, like the majority of young Ospreys, he had not survived his migration. You can imagine our delight when we learned not only that he survived but also that he found a territory that he likes, built a nest and begun to breed. There is no reason why 11(98) should not be the founding father of a second Welsh population of Ospreys.

Comment from Roy Dennis (Highland Foundation for Wildlife)

It is great news that two of the translocated males established nests and encouraged two females to breed in Wales. I always expected some of the young Ospreys taken from Scotland to Rutland Water to breed in other places but these two were a surprise, being a good distance to the west. But as some of our chicks wandered to the west when they started their migration from Rutland this might have been expected. It is interesting that one of the males has almost certainly been visiting Wales since 1999 or 2000, and the other for a year less.

One of the females taken to Rutland returned to breed in Scotland and of course there may be others breeding in the UK but their colour rings have not been read. I do encourage people to read the colour rings of pioneering pairs - it will teach us much about these reintroductions.

There is no doubt that translocation of young is a most effective way of restoring the range and population size of Ospreys in the British Isles and Europe, and we must move to increasing the number of projects. The Osprey suffered massive human persecution in the last millennium and we should do more to restore it to its former haunts in these islands and through southern and western Europe.