Summary of translocation and subsequent sightings of birds released in: 2005 - no news so far 69 of the 74 translocated birds successfuly migrated from Rutland. Of these 13 have now been positively identified as returning to the UK. Leaving out the 2005 birds, the return rate is therefore currently 22%. |
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1996 (Red-ringed birds)
In 1996, 8 chicks were translocated. However, a number of chicks died through natural causes, mirroring natural occurrences in the wild population. However, in September four birds set out on the initial stage of their long southerly migration.
Soon after leaving Rutland, one of the juveniles was seen over Chichester Harbour with a fish in its talons.
Subsequently we received reports via the British Trust for Ornithology that a Rutland juvenile had been found dead in Senegal, West Africa in February 1997. The cause of death is uncertain. It was disappointing to hear of this loss but it demonstrated that the translocated young travelled to winter in the same region as the Scottish birds.
In 2001 from June to August an adult osprey with a red ring on its left leg was present with another adult at Lough Beg in Northern Ireland. Unfortunately its ring number could not be read but it is possible that this was one of the 1996 birds.
1997 (White-ringed birds)
In 1997, eight male chicks were translocated and set out on their southerly migration. One of these birds was subsequently sighted on an RSPB reserve near Exmouth in Devon.
04(97)
In August 1998 this Osprey number 04(97) was reported killed in Guinea in West Africa. It had travelled 4936 kilometres and had survived 389 days. Guinea is further south than Senegal. This bird had followed the behaviour expected of young Ospreys by staying in its wintering area during its first summer.
08(97)
On May 29 1999, 08(97) was seen back at Rutland Water. He has returned every summer since then. He has had a series of short-term relationships with females, but until 2007 he never bred. The life history of 08 is here.
03(97) On June 25 1999 this bird also arrived back. During the rest of the
summer there were regular sightings at the Nature
Reserve and also at lakes and reservoirs in the
near vicinity. |
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07(97)
Although never
seen back at Rutland Water, the male 07(97) was
discovered breeding at a site in Wales in 2004.
Reports suggest that he may well have been in the area
establishing a territory and buiding a nest for
several summers previously but his ring number and
colour was not determined until 2004. His mate was a
young Scottish bird from the Black Isle. They
successfully raised one chick - the first known Welsh
Osprey chick - under the watchful eye of staff and
volunteers of the Welsh Wildlife Trusts. The location
of the nest has not been made public.
Unfortunately 07(97) did not return to breed in 2005.
(Details)
1998 (Orange-ringed birds)
In 1998, 12 young Ospreys were transferred from Scottish nests to Rutland Water. DNA testing confirmed that 3 were females and 9 males. The birds were released between 28 July and 13 August. A number of birds were absent from the reserve for extended periods prior to migration and a number of possible local sightings were received during this period. Migration or last-seen dates for the twelve birds were from 26 August to 12 September.
03(98) No subsequent sightings were reported until 25 July 2000 when a male bird with an orange ring returned to the release pens, almost exactly two years after its release. Later it was identified as 03(98). The 1998 Project Report indicates that it was translocated to Rutland Water on 13 July 1998, released on 7 August and migrated on 11 September. It was described as "generally a quiet bird and late-developer" but after its release it became quite vocal. It was positively identified again on three occasions until 1 September. 03(98) returned again in the spring of 2001 and was seen regularly throughout the summer. He was seen with an unringed female from 17 to 26 August. In 2002 he built a nest for himsel on private land away from the reservoir and the following year he attracted a mate to his nest - the very young 06(01). They began incubating very late but produced two healthy young. Click here for full details.In 2004 03(98) returned once again, but unfortunately not his mate. He was seen regularly around his nest site throughout the summer. Sadly he did not return in 2005 or subsequently . |
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09(98) On 6 August 2000, 09(98) a second male from the 1998 contingent was positively identified and then seen very frequently until 12 September. He repeatedly came in to take fish that had been put out for the translocated juveniles and associated very closely with them. It seems to have left the reserve on the same day as the last two of the translocated young.This bird has returned in every year from 2001 to 2006 and has established territories and engaged in some nest-building activities. For the first three years sightings were sporadic but in 2004 he adopted a territory close to the breeding nest and was seen almost every day. In 2005 for the first time he was seen in the regular company of a female bird - an unringed female, U2, on a newly erected nesting platform. Unfortunately she only stayed for about 4 days but later another female U4 spent some time with 09 during her summer-long stay. He returned again in 2006, 2007 and 2008 succeeding in attracting other unringed females for short periods of time. |
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11(98) In 2004, a pair of Ospreys was discovered with a precarious nest at the top of a tall tree a valley near Portmadog in North Wales. They hatched two chicks but severe weather caused the young birds to fall from the tree. It was subsequently found that the adult male was 11(98). He has never been recorded at Rutland Water and it may well be that he had been in the Porthmadog area establishing a territory and nest for several years prior to this breeding attempt.After the failure of the nest, the pair rebuilt it but once again the new structure fell from the tree.The male's favourite fishing ground was the nearby estuary - a reminder that Ospreys eat both salt-water and fresh-water fish. He arrived back at his nest site with his mate early in April 2005 and they produced two chicks. In 2006 and 2007 he returned and bred there again (without his orange ring!) He has returned again in 2008. |
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1999 (Black-ringed birds)
12 young Ospreys were translocated: 3
females and 9 males.
5 were satellite tracked. (Shown
yellow below - click to see each bird's migration
map.)
R02 Male. Died near Rutland Water c. 29/8.
R03 Male. Migrated 21/8. Stayed at Baie de Bourgneuf area of
Brittany for 1 month where it was observed. Eventually
reached the Sahel region, Mali but its radio has showed no
subsequent movements.
R04 Female. Migrated 30/8. Flew directly south from Rutland
Water in 21 days. Wintered near the mouth of the Senegal
River.
R05 Male. Migrated 21/8. Stopped in Central France for 3
weeks. Overwintered near Dakar, Senegal.
R06 Male. Migrated 21/9. Last recorded near Dover on
27/9.
In 2001 a female 01(99) was seen at Welbeck fishing lakes, Nottinghamshire on 7-8 June 2001. It was apparently around for about a week. The observers were able to read the ring number as either D1 or 01 but ,as it was a black ring with white lettering on the right leg, it must definitely have been a Rutland bird. Welbeck is about 70 km north of Rutland Water and this behaviour may be typical of a young female - unlike the males who return to the area from which they fledged, females can wander more widely. It is also interesting to note that 01(99) is probably the sibling of 08(97). Other birds from the same nest are T09(00) and U06 (01).
In 2002 01(99) was observed on an artificial nest at Piperdam near Dundee and bred succesfully. She returned to the same site in April 2003 and laid three eggs, all of which survived. In 2004 she laid two eggs and raised two chicks with the same male as the previous year , orange ZT. However, in 2005, like many other adult Ospreys, she failed to return.
No other Osperys from the 1999 release are known to have returned to the UK.
2000 (Green-ringed birds)12 young Ospreys were
translocated from Scotland: 05(00) In 2002 this female arrived back at Rutland Water on 9 May, joining 08(97) on the artificial nest in Manton Bay for just two days. She was the first of any of the translocated females to return to Rutland. She was sighted again early in 2003 and replaced an older unringed female as the mate of 03(97). They produced three healthy young. She returned to the same nest and mate in every year from 2004 to 2008 producing a total of 14 young.(Details are here). 06(00) This male returned in 2002, being identified in Manton Bay on 18 and 19 June. He was seen again in Manton Bay in 2003 and at various locations around the locality in 2004. He returned and established a territory in 2005, attracting an unringed female, known as U5, late in the season. He came back again in both 2006 and 2007, built up his nest again but did not succeed in attracting a female in time to breed. He was the first Osprey to re-appear in Rutland in 2008. 10(00) This male was first identified back at Rutland Water when he was three years old. On 26 June 2003 he was indentified intruding at the nest where 05(00) and 03(97) were raising their young. Later he was seen several times at the other nest site too. On 15 August he appeared to have taken over the nest in Manton Bay from the previous incumbent, 08(97).10(00) was seen at the Fishponds on 19 April 2004 and several times at different locations during the summer. Very late in the season he began nest building and for a short time attracted the interest of a female Osprey. Unfortunately he did not return in 2005. |
 15 August 2003: 10(00), the 3-year old male, was in Manton Bay. Photo: Ray Broad
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2001 (Red-ringed birds)
Again 12 young Ospreys were translocated from Scotland: 3 females and 9 males. Four were satellite tracked:
U03 Female. Migrated 27/8. Probably perished in central Sahara
where it arrived less than 18 days after leaving Rutland
Water.
U04 Female. Migrated on 23/8. Its body was recovered from a
beach on Fuerteventura, Canary Islands, on 12/9.
U05 Male. Migrated 27/8.
U06 Female. Migrated on 3/9. She spent the winter and following
spring near Lisbon, Portugal (most unusual). Then moved
north through the UK in June 2002 until transmissions ceased near St Abbs Head. She
unexpectedly returned to Rutland Water in April 2003,
having shed the transmitter as intended. She bred at a nest
site away from the reservoir with the five-year old male
03(98) and raised two chicks. (Details
are here)
However, she did
not return in 2004 or 2005.
U10 Male. Migrated on 27/8. Reached eastern Atlas mountains,
Morocco by 8/9.
In addition in 2001, ring number 13 was used on the first Rutland-bred juvenile. Size suggested that it may have been female, but no DNA testing was carried out. Its father was 03(97) and its mother an unringed adult female.The chick fledged on 30 July 2001 and was last seen at the nest site on 30 August.
During 2003 one, or possibly two, red-ringed males were seen several times at Rutland Water, but on no occasion could the ring numbers be made out. In April 2004 a red-ringed Osprey was seen intruding at the nest site at Loch Garten. Its ring number was not read but ,since the bird was thought to be a young male with the red ring on its right leg, this could have been one of the translocated males. 02(01) On 25 May 2004 02(01), was identified in the Manton Bay area and elsewhere. He turned up again on 5 April 2005 at a very surprising location - providing fish for the resident female at the Bassenthwaite Osprey nest, before her regular mate returned. By 1 May he was briefly back again in Rutland and was reported at two other locations in England later in the season. We began to use a nick-name for him: the Red Rover. A red-ringed bird, thought to be 02(01) was seen again near the Bassenthwaite nest in 2006. |
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08(01) On 17th June 2006 an aggressive red-ringed male was frequently sighted at Rutland Water. The next day his ring number was read as 08 as he sat eating a fish on Lax Hill close to the site of the release pens. He stayed in the area for the rest of the summer and began to establish a territory and nest site. Later we received news that this bird had had a very lucky escape: he had been caught in netting over a fish pond in Farnham, Essex, in April 2006. Details are here. We were amazed that a bird who we had written off as lost should have returned in this way as a five-year old. 08(01) returned to Rutland again in 2007 and 2008 . |
