TRANSLOCATION - COLLECTING OSPREYS, A DIARY

Saturday

Our weekend started at 8.45a.m. when we began the steady slog to the Highlands in our VW van. Andy offered to drive the first leg of the journey and we arrived for what proved to be a rather expensive coffee break at a Newcastle service station at around 12.00. Thankfully the weather was holding as I took the wheel - that was until we crossed the border. Virtually at the moment we crossed onto Scottish soil the heavens opened. Our spirits however were lifted as we tuned into Radio 5 to hear Venus Williams defeat Lindsey Davenport in the Wimbledon Women's Singles Final.

Although our scheduled stop for scones just north of Perth rather disappointingly wasn't possible - we arrived virtually as the 'closed' sign replaced the 'open' one on the door! - a slight diversion to the Loch of Lowes was much more successful. We were able to enjoy fantastic views of the Osprey nest, complete with three healthy young, from an impressive double-storey hide at this Scottish Wildlife Trust Reserve.

No sooner had we continued our journey north than we almost caused a major pile-up on the A9 - an Osprey fishing in the River Tay providing a rather dangerous but nevertheless very welcome distraction. After checking out another nest site where we were treated to fantastic views of a female and her two chicks, we arrived tired but relieved at Roy Dennis' beautiful croft shortly after 7.30pm. After a few beers and a fantastic meal, courtesy of Roy's wife Marina, we went to bed knowing Sunday would be a busy day and hoping the weather (it was still raining) would improve…

Sunday

…it didn't. We woke to the sound of rain falling against the windows - and my annoyingly loud alarm clock.

As Roy felt we would be unable to visit any nest sites in such bad weather, we took the opportunity to visit Loch Garten. Here we met Stuart Taylor, a Rutland volunteer and now an Information Warden at Britain's most famous Osprey site. Stuart showed us around the impressive visitor centre from which excellent views of the nest were possible. As we walked through the beautiful Abernethy forest to the Osprey monitoring hide, where it was good to be able to compare monitoring techniques with the Loch Garten volunteers, a Red Squirrel provided a very welcome sight.

The rain relented sufficiently around lunchtime to enable us to visit our first Osprey nest of the day with Roy. The nest, situated in a large area of open heather was located no more than 500m from the nest of a second pair. This not only highlighted the success of Ospreys in Scotland, but also bodes well for Rutland and the number of breeding pairs the reservoir could potentially support. Roy, having visited several nests yesterday had now collected four young.

After a quick break for lunch we were about to set off to visit another nest site when - you guessed it - the skies opened and it began raining…again! So as not to waste time, we took this opportunity to fill the van up with diesel in Aviemore and to buy me a pair of wellies - I had earlier realised why Helen had suggested I brought some with me, when my walking boots were, to all intents and purposes flooded, as we walked through very wet heather!

After what seemed like hours waiting for the rain to relent, we left at about 5.00pm for what would prove to be our final nest visit of the day. At one point, as we drove the twenty or so kilometres along typically winding roads, a Pine Marten ran out in front of the car. When we told Stuart Taylor this the next day, he was extremely envious telling us it had taken him three months to see this Stoat-like mammal - this was only our second day!

As we were now coming to expect, this nest site was completely different to any of the other sites we had previously visited, being located as it was in a coniferous woodland clearing. Interestingly, Roy also told us that this nest was 8km away from the nearest fishing site, showing just how adaptable Ospreys can be.

Having collected our fifth chick, further rain during the evening preventing us from visiting any further nest sites - this meant Monday would be even more tiring than we had first thought.

Monday

An early start saw Andy and I leaving at 7.30 to visit our first nest of the day along with Roy, Bob (one of Roy's assistants) and a couple of the guys from Loch Garten, including Stuart Taylor. The nest, situated at the top of a Spruce was located in a large conifer plantation, and on arrival we were treated to an impressive display by the adults in cloudy, but thankfully, dry weather, whilst a couple of Red Deer stags walked across the track ,increasing our mammal list to three.

We returned to Roy's house for a quick breakfast before driving some distance to the north where we collected a further two chicks during the morning. After a fish and chip lunch, Andy, Helen and myself drove the two chicks back to Roy's. The drive, which took just over an hour was enlivened by the sight of three Ospreys fishing in the Cromarty Firth, a couple of Buzzards and our first spell of sunshine for three days!

During the course of the afternoon, Roy and a colleague visited a further five nests, and by the end of the day we had ten young Ospreys ready to be driven back to Rutland Water during the night. We left the Dennis' home just before 10.00 in the evening. After eight hours, several packets of sweets and countless cups of coffee, we arrived back at Rutland Water. The birds were immediately placed in the holding pens and all quickly adjusted to their new surroundings.

Despite the weather and the fact that Andy and I had, rather disappointingly, failed to see either Crested Tit or Scottish Crossbill, we had had a fantastic three days for which we would particularly like to thank Roy and his wife Marina.