The Flight of Bird T09(2000)

Osprey T09 is thought to be a female. It was translocated to Rutland Water on 11 July and released on 1 August. Just before release this bird weighed 1515g and had a winglength of 458mm. BTO ring number 1367853.

Bird T09 came from the same nest as 08(1997), R01(1999) and U06(2001). It carried a battery-powered radio transmitter. It was programmed to transmit for 8 hours on and 96 hours (4 days) off until about 25 August followed by a change to 8 hours on and 10 hours off .
 

T09's radio was probably located in the Chilterns by Pete Stevens, a member of Southern England Kite Group on 2/9/00. (For details see news on 15/9 by clicking here.)

T09 covered over 1200km in its first 36 hours of migration, flights which must have involved crossing the sea during darkness. The bird seems just to have missed the end of the Brittany peninsula and continued south across the Bay of Biscay. It then just failed to reach the Spanish coast.

Anecdotal evidence suggests that exhausted Ospreys have sometimes been seen arriving on the north coast of Spain to be mobbed and forced down by gulls. We would be interested to hear from anyone who has witnessed such an occurrence.

The interactive map shows the accurate positions we recorded during the following 14 days, until transmissions ceased. We believe that these data are consistent with the bird's body floating on the sea, with the radio still transmitting, until it eventually sank.

©2008 Rutland Osprey Project.
Photographs and images by members of the Project Team unless otherwise stated.
The project is a partnership between Anglian Water and the Leicestershire and Rutland Wildlife Trust,
with funding from Augean Plc through the Landfill Tax Credit Scheme.
The project is based at Rutland Water Nature Reserve.