Tim
Mr Rutland does it again
There is no more important Osprey in the Rutland colony than 03(97). He was nick-named ‘Mr Rutland’ by Simon Barnes in his column in The Times, and for good reason; of the 53 Osprey chicks who have fledged from nests in the Rutland Water area since 2001, 03 has fathered 24 of them. His offspring include several birds who have gone on to raise chicks of their own, most notably 5R(04) (the breeding male in Manton Bay), 5N(04) (the first wild-fledged Rutland bird to breed)and 03(08) (or Nora as she is better known – the star of Springwatch and breeding female at Cors Dyfi).
The really great news is that chick number 25 has now hatched at Site B – the nest on private land that 03 has remained faithful to since 2001.
In the twelve years that 03 has been breeding at Site B, he can’t have endured a colder or wetter incubation than this spring, and we have been hoping that conditions would improve in time for hatching. Having started incubating earlier than ever this year, we knew that the first egg should hatch towards the latter end of this week – and so it has proved.
The fist signs of hatching at Site B came on Tuesday evening when 03, who had been struggling to catch a fish for most of the day, finally returned with a Trout. After eating most of the fish himself he delivered what was left to the nest. This would usually be a cue for him to take over incubation, but instead his mate ate the fish on the side of the nest, with 03 looking on attentively. Volunteers Tom and Ann Price who were monitoring at the time, watched her intently for signs that she may be offering fish down into the nest. Unlike at Manton Bay we don’t have a camera on the Site B nest and so, instead, have to rely on the behaviour of the birds themselves to know when the first chick has hatched; and the only way to be sure is when the female feeds her new arrival for the first time. This time the female finished the fish in a matter of minutes and then settled down to incubate without attempting to offer any fish into the nest. So although there were signs that a chick was close to hatching, it obviously hadn’t happened quite yet.We were sure, however, that we wouldn’t have to wait long.
The female was clearly far more restless than usual yesterday - another sign that something was happening – but we needed 03 to return with a fish to be sure that a youngster had hatched. Like the previous day though, 03 was finding fishing difficult and he was absent for much of the afternoon and early evening as he searched for a fish. Finally, after an absence of more than three hours he returned with a Trout. Like the previous day, the female remained on the nest with the fish and this time she carefully tore up tiny pieces and offered them gently down into the nest cup. Fantastic! The first chick had hatched and, what’s more, the sun was shining.
Female feeding the newly-hatched chick
03 looks on as his mate feeds the new arrival
Although we don’t know how many eggs are in the nest, there is every chance that there will be another two to hatch in the next few days. It will be another week or ten days before we start seeing their tiny heads appearing over the edge of the nest, but for now it great to know that 03 has done it yet again. In his twelfth year of breeding at Site B, chick number 25 has arrived; a truly amazing statistic and one very much befitting of ‘Mr Rutland’.
03 (near bird) looking into the nest at his 25th chick
Come cruising with us!
There are few more spectacular sights than an Osprey diving, talons-outstretched, into the water to catch a fish. It’s something you have a great chance of seeing if you join us for an Osprey Cruise on the Rutland Belle. In the past we have been treated to some truly amazing views of fishing Ospreys, some of whom have caught fish less than 100 metres from the boat.
5R(04) fishing
This summer we’ll be setting sail on eighteen hour-and-a-half cruises around the reservoir. On each trip we’ll visit the various different parts of the reservoir the birds favour for fishing – at the best time of day to see them in action. Of course sightings of fishing Ospreys can’t be guaranteed but one thing you are assured of is a very warm welcome from the Osprey team and an entertaining and informative evening learning about Rutland Water and its superb wildlife. That coupled with spectacular views of the reservoir should make it an evening to remember.
The Rutland Belle
We meet for evening cruises at the Anglian Water Birdwatching Centre at Egleton where you will be greeted with a cup of tea and coffee. An introductory talk – normally lasting around 40 minutes – will then give you the full low-down on the project, from the early days of the translocation, to satellite-tracking migration and the more recent breeding successes. We then ask you to drive to Whitwell Harbour where we set-sail for the cruise.
In addition to our evening cruises, we’re also running four dawn cruises, departing from Whitwell Harbour at 6am. Each of the early cruises is followed by breakfast at the Birdwatching Centre at Egleton.
The first of our cruises is this coming Saturday and there are still places available. To book your seat, click here or phone 01572 737378 and ask for a member of the Osprey team. You won’t regret it!
News from Spain
5R and his mate have now been incubating their eggs at the Manton Bay nest for thirty days, meaning the countdown to hatching is now well and truly on. If all goes to plan the first chick could hatch as early as next Monday or Tuesday. Be sure to keep a close eye on the webcam over the weekend and in the early part of next week.
There’s not much to report from the nest today. A gusty north-westerly wind has made fishing difficult for 5R and, as I write, he has just left the bay on another fishing trip. Hopefully it will be third time lucky – his two other fishing trips this afternoon has proved unsuccessful.
Away from Manton Bay, I have just received an email from Adolfo Villaverde to say that he hasn’t seen 11(10) at Villaviciosa marshes in Northern Spain for over a week. He has e-mailed a few of his friends along the coast to ask them to keep an eye out for the young male, but it could be that he has continued north. I wonder if he flew direct across the Bay of Biscay? If so, he may well be in Northern France or even Southern England by now. According to Birdguides, Ospreys have been seen in Essex and West Sussex today. Wouldn’t it be great if one of them was 11(10)? If you live in the south and see a migrating Osprey in the next few days, be sure to check it out for colour rings!
Paul Stammers with 11(10) shortly after ringing him in 2010
It is 670 miles from Villaviciosa to Rutland Water. How long will it take 11(10) to make it home?
The disappearing egg
If you’ve been watching the webcam you’ll probably have noticed that only two eggs have been visible again today. The birds have made no effort to uncover the third which is now completely buried in the nest cup. This isn’t something we’ve recorded on camera before at Rutland Water, but we can only assume that, sadly, the birds know the egg isn’t viable – it is hard to believe that they have accidently buried it, particularly when you consider how careful they are to turn each indivdual egg at regular intervals.
5R turning the remaining two eggs
Although we haven’t seen it on camera before, it is not uncommon to find ‘dud’ Osprey eggs among a clutch of three and that is almost certainly the case with this one. From the colouration of the clutch we think it was the first egg to be laid – it was much paler than the other two – and given that Osprey eggs hatch in the order they were laid, first hatching may now be delayed by a day or so. At this stage it is very difficult to know what has gone wrong, but given some of 00(09)’s aggressive intrusions, there is a chance that 5R or his mate inadvertently damaged the egg when they were defending the nest. This video shows the kind of incident that may have lead to things going wrong. Perhaps we’ll be able to find out more when we visit the nest later in the season to ring the remaining chicks?
The situation has parallels with what is happening at Bassenthwaite Lake in the Lake District, where the breeding pair have actually removed one of their clutch from the nest completely. Although the nest cameras add hugely to our knowledge of breeding Ospreys and give us a unique insight into their life, they bring us the bad news as well as the good. Let’s just hope that the two remaining eggs at Manton Bay and in the Lake District both hatch.
The young pretenders
It is not just England that has been suffering from bad weather recently. Like us, France and Spain have been sitting under a veil of low cloud, mist and rain. As a result, many of the later-arriving migrants – Garden Warblers, Whitethroats and Lesser Whitethroats – have all arrived at Rutland Water later than usual this spring. We’ve also had to wait longer than might otherwise have been expected for our three year-old Ospreys to start returning. Although 00(09) beat the poor weather by arriving in late March – incredibly early for such a young bird – the three 2009 males we identified in Rutland last year were almost certainly delayed by the weather in southern Europe. And they aren’t the only ones – Rothiemurchus, the three year-old Osprey that we saw in Senegal in January, is still in France. Excitingly though, two of the Rutland males have finally made it back. Over the past few days two different male birds have been seen intruding at Manton Bay and Site B and John Wright has identified them as 03(09) and 06(09) – both birds we saw last year.
03(09)
06(09)
Although it is too late for either 03 and 06 to breed this year – three year-old males rarely do – there is every chance that one of them will pair up with 00(09) before the end of the summer. With AW(06)’s mate also unpaired following his failure to return from the Ivory Coast, we hope that one of the males will settle with her later in the season too. For the time being though they are more likely to make a nuisance of themselves by intruding at the established nest sites. The Who’s Who of Rutland Ospreys has been updated, for more information click here.
Exciting news from Spain!
So far eleven of the young Ospreys who have fledged from nests in the Rutland Water area since 2001, have made it back. We now know that a twelfth is on his way home too.
This morning Roy Dennis received an email from Adolfo Villaverde. He monitors the Villaviciosa estuary in northern Spain and often sees Ospreys passing through in spring and autumn. One of Roy’s satellite-tagged Ospreys, Morven, regularly stops off at the estuary on her annual migrations between Scotland and the Atlantic coast of Mauritania. Morven is now back in Scotland, but yesterday Adolfo identified another colour-ringed Osprey. Excitingly, it turned out to be one from Rutland Water.
11(10) was one of two chicks to fledge from the Site N nest in 2010 and left Rutland Water in late August that year. We don’t know where he wintered, but thanks to Adolfo’s sighting, we now know that he was at Villaviciosa yesterday. The estuary is a superb place for Ospreys to stop-off during migration, with plenty of grey mullet and flatfish for 11 to feed on.
It will be really interesting to see how long he stays there for. Two year-old Ospreys often don’t return to the UK until June or July, and so 11 may spend several weeks at the estuary before heading north. When he resumes his migration 11 will have a long flight over the Bay of Biscay to contend with – it is 300 miles to the Brittany coast – but stopping-off at the estuary does at least mean he will be in good condition for the flight. Let’s just hope he chooses to make the crossing in good conditions – and not when there are strong easterly winds that may blow him out into the Atlantic.
Adolfo reports that 11 was still there this morning and has said he’ll keep an eye on him while he is at Villaviciosa. We’ll be sure to keep you updated.
Very many thanks to Adolfo for this great news.
Careful of those eggs!
It’s been a much warmer day today, and we’ve even had the occasional bit of sunshine. 5R has just arrived at the nest with a trout and taken over incubation.
Earlier on, the young three year-old female 00(09), made a brief appearance at the nest. 5R, who was incubating at the time, went into defensive mode, mantling over the three eggs. It is just the type of intrusion that can lead to eggs being smashed, and as you can see in the video, it almost happened as 5R clumsily fell across the eggs, knocking into two of them in the process. Fortunately he didn’t do any damage and his mate took over incubation to allow 5R to chase the intruding female away.
What a difference a day makes
After the horrendous wind and rain of yesterday, the reserve has been basking in glorious spring sunshine for much of today. It has probably been even more of a relief for the Manton Bay Ospreys than it was for us.
The sun may have been out, but a brisk north-easterly wind has continued to make fishing difficult for 5R today. He finally arrived back at the nest with a small Roach at about 4pm. As usual he ate part of the fish before taking the rest to the nest. There wasn’t much left though and the female polished it off within fifteen minutes. Clearly not satisfied by her meal she flew back to the nest and began food-begging again. When 5R didn’t respond she simply pushed him off the nest – thereby forcing him to go off in search of another meal. Now that told him!
Well done Brian!
It has been an extremely wet and windy day at Rutland Water with the Manton Bay nest battered by strong north-easterly winds and driving rain. The female has sat resolutely on the eggs all day, which can’t have been a pleasant task – as this video shows.
Its not just the Ospreys who have suffered in the rain today. Just after 2pm this afternoon a rather soggy, but very relieved, Brian Anderson arrived at Rutland Water having completed his 450 mile charity cycle ride from Loch Garten in just six days. Brian, or Black Jaguar as he is better known to the Loch Garten bloggers, has raised over £2000 for the RSPB’s work at Loch Garten – a fantastic achievement. We welcomed him to the Lyndon Visitor Centre with a cup of coffee and plenty of congratulations. Well done Brian! If you would like to know more, or to sponsor him, check out his JustGiving page.
Brian Anderson at the Lyndon Visitor Centre having completed his amazing ride
Tim Mackrill, Lizzie Lemon and Paul Stammers with Brian Anderson at Lyndon
Hold on tight!
We were hoping that today would provide the Manton Bay Ospreys with a respite from the recent bad weather, but no such luck. The nest has been buffeted by a strong north-easterly wind for much of the day with occasional heavy showers mixed in for good measure. It can’t have made incubating much fun, but as this videos shows, sitting hunkered down in the nest may actually have been preferable to the other perches favoured by the birds. In the video below 5R appears to want to take over incubation, but his mate was in no mood to let him! With more heavy rain forecast for tomorrow, it looks like they’ll be in for another rough day.
