INTERVIEW WITH TIM MACKRILL May 2005   Tim is now the Rutland Osprey Project Officer but at the time of this interview he was one of the Field Officers. He had had a long-standing association with the project, having first worked as a volunteer in 1997 at the age of 15. We thought it was about time he answered a few questions!   Tim, how do you come to be working with Ospreys? I've always been interested in raptors and so when the Rutland project started up, naturally I wanted to get involved. The rest as they say is history!   You've worked on the project for ages. Can you tell us what it was like for you in those early years? It was a real privilege to be given the chance to work with these fantastic birds at such a young age. The project was the first of its kind in Europe and so it was great to be involved in such ground-breaking work.

What's a typical day in the life of a Field Officer? It varies from day to day. My principal role centres around osprey fieldwork and so a good deal of my time is devoted to monitoring the birds. In addition I also help run our public events, analyse the data collected by the volunteers and assist with the day to day running of the project. Your best moment so far this year? Being at the nest site on 1 April when the breeding female (05) arrived back at the nest. The male's display as she arrived was truly spectacular. Seeing birds using the artificial nests we erected over the winter, runs it a close second. And the worst moments? Each time an unringed female left. Closely followed by the realisation that Cat and Adele had eaten the last biscuits in the shed, before I started my one and only night shift of the year. If I wanted to get a job like yours, what should I do? Well aside from formal qualifications (degree etc) then experience is vital. Qualifications are one thing, but if you haven't got the field skills to go with it, then qualifications will only get you so far. The more experience the better, so come and volunteer at Rutland Water for starters! In 5 years time how many Ospreys do you think will be breeding in Rutland? Well ever the optimist, I would like to think there would be 6 or 7 pairs. What do you do when you're not working? Aside from natural history, I'm a big sports fan and play cricket, hockey and tennis regularly. I also watch Leicester Tigers when I get the chance. What are the objects that every Field Officer should carry with him at all times? Scope, bins, notebook, sketch book (well I try), chocolate biscuits, sense of humour. What constitutes a very impressive piece of weed? I couldn't possibly say. This is a family website. Do you have any bad habits? Too many to mention here, I'm sure. What are your most over-used words? "That's an impressive piece of weed" (In no particular order.) (Editor's note - you need to see the Osprey Project DVD to appreciate this!)