Ospreys at Oundle School
As we wait to hear news from the rest of the team in West Africa, the Osprey Road Show has started the 2012 season in style with a visit to Oundle School near Peterborough. Here is Ken’s report…
Whilst the main focus just now is quite rightly on the fantastic work being done by the Osprey Team in West Africa, some activities are still taking place a little closer to home. Today, for example, Michelle is leading a talk to the Junior Science Club at Oundle School in Northamptonshire, and I am assisting her.
Michelle is not quite sure which continent she is in ~ just two days ago she was in The Gambia watching wintering Ospreys and many other birds and animals in searing heat, and now here she is on a gloomy Tuesday afternoon preparing for the first school presentation of 2012. We meet in a café to update our talk, but in fact I spend most of the time listening to fascinating African tales! If you’ve not watched the video diaries on the ‘News’ pages yet, do so without delay ~ they’re brilliant!
Suddenly it’s time to move to the School, and we make our way to the Needham Science Building, where we find a cheerful welcome from members of staff, including the teacher in charge Ms Fernandez. About fifty chairs have been set out around the lap-top, screen and projector. The boys and girls, aged 11 or 12, come in in small groups and enjoy the drinks and biscuits which have been set out for them. It’s 5.00pm now, so they’ve already had a long day in school. We hear that after our talk there’s prep to do for some, while others have a birthday party to attend! One girl will be writing a report on the presentation, and another member of staff tells us she will be taking a few photos for the school website.
We start, and the familiar pictures appear on the screen. I feel a little ‘rusty’ as we haven’t done this for a few months, but we soon warm up and get into our stride. ‘Has anyone here seen a wild, live Osprey?’ A few hands go up ~ yes, they have seen Ospreys, mainly at Rutland Water, but one person has been to Loch of the Lowes. We describe the main features of Ospreys and their world, and have a small diversion to define and even spell zygodactylic, that special word to describe an Osprey’s ability to turn a toe backwards to allow a better grip on a fish. Michelle deals with all the new data on AW’s and 09’s autumn migration and how we followed them thanks to the satellite transmitters, and she ends with a few photos of areas in Gambia, where she was herself just forty eight hours ago. The pupils are keen to ask questions, but it’s nearly 6.00pm, and everyone has commitments, so after a vote of thanks and a round of applause, we pose for a few last photos and we are given a lovely gift of a bottle of wine each. Ms Fernandez says she will be in touch with Michelle to arrange a trip to the Lyndon Reserve in late May or early June when (fingers crossed) we may have some Osprey chicks for the pupils to see, as well as the adult birds.
And with that we drive off into the Northamptonshire night ~ for me just a short drive home and for Michelle, I hope, a well-earned rest after all her travelling in the last few days………
Festive Work Parties, Sloe Gin and Scallops…
Since the beginning of November the Osprey Project staff and volunteers have been keeping busy by attending weekly winter work parties. These get-togethers have provided a great opportunity for us to get our hands dirty and carry out some important conservation work on the nature reserve at Lyndon. Over the last few weeks we have been coppicing, creating wonderful weaved willow fences and clearing vegetation in front of several hides. Yesterday we decided to have a go at managing part of the woodland on the way down to Waderscrape hide. A good woodland needs plenty of open space and shrubby areas along the edge, often known as scallops. This creates a mosaic of habitats for many plants, insects, mammals and birds.
We decided to create a new scallop next to the path between Tufted Duck hide and Waderscrape hide. We cleared the willow and used the logs to make a habitat pile and the rest of the willow was used to make a brash fence around the back of the scallop.
We then all retired to the Lyndon Visitor Centre for some of Tim’s venison stew and Paul’s Sloe Gin. A job well done.
Today another group of volunteers met and created another scallop close to the one we made yesterday, followed by more stew and even more Sloe Gin. Well done everyone!
Michelle and Ken with the ‘Ladies that Lunch’
Thursday 17th November, 11.30am : We’re on our way to Leicester to give another talk about the Osprey Project. We’ve given ourselves plenty of time ~ it’s only twenty miles or so from Rutland Water, and we’re not expected till 12.30. Our destination is The Leicestershire Golf Club, where we will be the guests of the Concorde Ladies Luncheon Club. We have a map and Michelle is navigating. We need to turn left off the A47 at some point. We chat as we drive along, and Michelle tells me about the changes she has made to the presentation as we have a shorther slot than usual for our talk today. The Project took delivery of a smart new lap-top yesterday, and we are giving it its first outing. It’s now 12.10am. Shouldn’t we have turned off the A47 by now? We’re almost in the centre of Leicester now. I see the de Montfort Hall and other buildings which tell me we are a little off course. We stop and ask a postman where the Golf Club is, and he looks at us blankly, but at least gets us back on the A47. ‘We’ve passed that hospital before’, says Michelle helpfully. We can’t be far from the place now. We drive through leafy suburbs and suddenly see a sign for Evington, and then there it is at last : The Leicestershire Golf Club. The car-park is huge, but absolutely heaving! The place is packed! These must be golfers’ cars surely….but no, the people getting out of them are nearly all smart ladies on their way to lunch….and a talk about Ospreys. We sit in the car for a few minutes to regain our composure and equilibrium. ‘OK, let’s do it,’ says Michelle suddenly, and we gather our equipment together and make our way purposefully towards the very imposing club-house.
The bar is filled with a crowd of women chatting animatedly in groups. We are greeted with genuine warmth by the Chairman of the Luncheon Club and others, and shown through to an equally grand dining room where we are to have lunch and then do our presentation. The members are extremely smart. Should I have worn a tie? The building is octagonal in shape, and the dining room covers two, or maybe three, of the eight sides, making it slightly difficult to know where to place our screen so that everyone can see. We choose the best location, and set up. Drinks appear for us. About sixty to seventy ladies are expected. Everyone has to take a numbered disc from a box and this tells them where to sit ~ that way they all meet different people at each monthly lunch. Very clever. Our places are reserved on the ‘top table’ next to Madam Chairman. While we are still setting up, the ladies enter the dining room and find their places. They are all talking. The Chairman bangs the table with a little brass gavel and says a charming Grace which mentions the ‘birds of the air’ ~ very apt in view of today’s talk. As we sit down I survey the scene : here I am, surrounded entirely by congenial and elegant female company, about to enjoy a sumptuous lunch, and then to take part in a talk on a subject dearest to my heart! Is this heaven? Well, it’s pretty close anyway.
Our neighbours on the table chat away as we begin our first course. One lady assumes Michelle can’t have been doing this for very long, as she only looks 20 or 21! That pleases her. The Chairman tells us a little about the Club, and asks us not to be offended if one or two members close their eyes while we are speaking! We won’t be offended, we assure her! My first course is ‘Smoked mackerel and beetroot salad with horseradish cream’, while Michelle has gone for an ‘Avocado Salad’. Both are very tasty! The chatter is friendly, pleasant and very warm. We hear about our neighbours’ families, travels, previous jobs, grand-children…..and ospreys! One lady has seen them in Canada, another visited her daughter and family, who were holidaying this summer just above Lyndon and could see the Osprey nest in Manton Bay from their caravan. Michelle and I start to relax. This is going to be fun.
Time for the main course. It’s amazing. ‘Stuffed roast loin of Pork with apple sauce and seasonal vegetables.’ Michelle’s ‘Double Baked Cheese souffle’ looks delicious too, and she soon confirms this as we start to eat. When did I last eat like this on a Thursday lunch-time? I’ll have to be careful ~ if I eat all this I won’t be able to stand up, let alone do my bit of the talk in a few minutes time! Anyway, I do eat it all ~ it would be rude not to, wouldn’t it? While we are having coffee and scrumptious chocolates, our Chairman bangs the table again and calls for order. After a few domestic notices, she gives both of us really good build-ups, mentioning Michelle’s degrees, my ‘almost four decades’ of teaching………. and then we’re on!
After a few fiddles with blinds, curtains and the screen, and after checking that everyone can see, we go into our by now familiar double act. We even get to use a microphone, so that those furthest away can hear every word! We keep it light, inject a little humour where we can, swap over as seamlessly as possible, and add little details as we think of them. Audience reaction is good, spontaneous and encouraging, and this gives us both confidence as the talk progresses. No-one has dropped off yet. Michelle has added a movie sequence of the Osprey diving and then being followed by the underwater camera as it grapples with the fish and eventually pulls it out of the water. That is very popular, and she has to play it three times, to great acclaim each time. The new lap-top has performed well.
The last slide shows an Osprey sitting in a tree in fading light just off a Gambian beach ~ one of John Wright’s most evocative images. As we look at it, the questions start coming in from our audience ~ and what a wide variety there is! We answer them all as well as we can, and as usual invite everyone to come and see us in the spring, when the ospreys they have heard about today will hopefully be back on familiar territory just 20 or so miles from where we are. Our Chairman thanks us very warmly, and then wishes her members an equally warm farewell. Many of them linger to tell us they have enjoyed it so much, and how much their grand-children would have loved it. We pack up with a rosy glow on our faces as departing ladies wish us and the ospreys well. I think we’ve gained a lot of new fans today…….and no-one fell asleep.
Back at the reserve, dusk is gathering as we go into the Anglian Water Birdwatching Centre. Tim is still in the meeting which prevented him from doing today’s talk, but Michelle will tell him all about it later. We stand by an open window and look out over the lagoons as night takes a hold and begins to embrace the flocks of wildfowl and lapwings which are swimming and standing about. Lax Hill looms large over to the south, and stars are already twinkling through the trees on its crest. We take stock, and conclude today was a good day, a job well done, and we thank one another. I look out over the water one last time. Did you ever read Karen Blixen’s ‘Out of Africa’? I read it first in German, many years ago, and always recall one phrase she used after describing her life in those high African realms :
‘Hier bin ich, wo ich sein sollte.’
I say it quietly to myself now:
‘Here I am, where I ought to be.’
Spreading the word about Rutland Ospreys…..
During the autumn and winter, when our Ospreys are enjoying life down in West Africa, there is still plenty of activity amongst Project staff and volunteers. As well as the winter work-parties (see previous post), and all the administration involved in report writing and preparations for the Gambia trip, Tim and the team members carry out a large number of speaking engagements for organisations, schools, colleges and societies throughout the area. This is a valuable opportunity to inform and educate people from all walks of life about the work of the Osprey Project.
Today Michelle and I are on our way to meet a group of people in Peterborough and give them an illustrated talk about the Ospreys at Rutland Water. As arranged, we meet beforehand for coffee and plan how we are going to present the talk. We have done lots of school presentations, but this is our first ‘grown-up’ event, so obviously we need to change our tactics and use more advanced material for our adult audience. We are both a little nervous, but re-assure one another. It’s good to work in twos! The group have hired a room in The Cresset, a large community facility in Peterborough. Last time I came here was to see a Jools Holland concert, when the audience was numbered in hundreds if not thousands! Fortunately today’s event is a rather more intimate occasion. Our room is called the Milton Suite, and as we enter the audience is already in place and waiting expectantly for us to begin. Our hostess Carole introduces us. She is a former teaching colleague of mine, and this group is called the o5o Club (standing for ‘over 50′). Michelle is the youngest person present by at least 25 years! She has expertly plugged in the lap-top and the projector, and it’s ‘all systems go.’ She has even prepared a slide with our names on and the time and date of the presentation.
The next hour flies by. Our pre-agreed divisions work out well, and we take over from one another at all the right moments. The photos (all by John Wright) are wonderful, and have the audience ‘ooing and aahing’ every few minutes. We take them through every aspect of Osprey biology, status, distribution, migration, diet and breeding. We look at their history in Britain. And then of course we talk about the Osprey Project at Rutland Water ~ from the early translocation days 1996 – 2001, right through to the satellite tracking of 2011, not forgetting all the highlights and setbacks along the way, including first breeding, first chicks returning, first pair not to include a translocated bird, the loss of 08, and much, much more. We have ‘visual aids’ to pass around ~ a darvic ring, a transmitter with its antenna, and a very realistic osprey egg (actually made of wood!). Michelle introduces some of our ‘characters’ – 03(97) of course, 08(97), 5R and 5N, and then our two ‘stars’ of the autumn migration AW and O9. Their journeys are shown on the screen and cause genuine amazement. We briefly look at family relationships, who is related to whom, and so on ~ ‘Hope you’re all keeping up with this’, says Michelle, to the audience’s amusement. They are keeping up, and their questions show they want to know more.
We end by summing it all up and emphasising the rationale of the Project ~ that is, the re-introduction of the Osprey first of all into Central England, and then into the whole of England and Wales. We explain that the only two pairs in Wales this summer both contained birds from Rutland, 11(98) in North Wales and 03(08) in Dyfi. No-one had known that before, even though they have been watching the current Autumnwatch series. We answer questions about the Osprey’s fishing techniques, about the situation in Scotland, about human attitudes towards Ospreys, and many others.
It’s time to stop. Carole proposes a vote of thanks and there is a round of applause (and an envelope containing a kind donation to the Project’s funds). We suggest they might like to come over to Rutland Water in Spring 2012 to see the Ospreys in real life, or maybe an early evening cruise on the ‘Rutland Belle’ with a good chance of seeing one fishing. This is a popular suggestion. One gentleman approaches Michelle and asks if we could possibly do the talk to another organisation of which he is a member. Another lady says how much she has enjoyed it, and ‘how good it is to see such a young person doing such valuable work.’ I think she means Michelle, not me……!
We leave and go back to the cafe where we met early this morning, and have another coffee, and meditate over a good morning’s work. For me, it is an excellent way of ‘staying close’ to the Ospreys even though they are all over 3,000 miles away at present. November can be a dreary month, but not when we can share our enthusiasm and passion with other people like this. I am so grateful to Michelle, Tim and the team for the opportunity to be involved, and to help in a small way. And next week, we’re taking the Osprey story to a group in Leicester, and Michelle has just sent me another e-mail ~ Oundle School want us to talk to their Science Club on January 24th!! And just a few weeks after that……..you guessed it……the Ospreys will be back!
Keeping up appearances…
Throughout the winter we all like to keep ourselves busy as we eagerly await the return of the Rutland Ospreys next spring. Lyndon Nature Reserve is well known for having a breeding pair of Ospreys present throughout the summer but it is also home to a vast array of other wildlife. This includes many other bird species, insects, reptiles, amphibians, mammals and plants. These are all supported by our woodlands, hedgerows, wildflower meadows and ponds and for this to continue it is vital for these habitats to be effectively managed throughout the year. This creates a superb opportunity for the Osprey volunteers to get together every week and carry out important conservation work on the reserve, as well as giving us the chance to have a good old chin-wag. The hot lunch provided by Mackrill and Stammers Catering Limited is also a plus.
Yesterday several volunteers joined Tim, Paul and myself at Lyndon and we spent the day working in front of Tufted Duck hide. This was the view from the hide first thing in the morning:
Our aim was to coppice willow and cut back other vegetation in order to open up the area and encourage new growth. This in turn will be beneficial for many breeding birds and feeding insects. It is also jolly good fun!
Four hours later we had completed our mission for the day:
We then all retired to the Lyndon centre for a well deserved meal of leek and potato soup prepared by our very own Masterchef – Project Officer Tim Mackrill. What a great day, well done everyone!
A Grand Season Finale…
Following the departure of our last two Ospreys a few days ago the quietness in Manton Bay sadly marks the end of the season. The last six months have been truly amazing. All that we have achieved this year just wouldn’t be possible without our many volunteers, who have dedicated over 8500 hours of their valuable time to monitor nests and talk to visitors about Ospreys, particularly the antics of the Manton Bay family. This is incredible and we thank you!
On Sunday evening we held our end of season party so we could all get together and celebrate the achievements of the 2011 season. The fish and chip van made it’s annual appearance and the turnout was fantastic! Everyone enjoyed listening to Tim as he recaptured the events of the season, the highs and the lows, and the exciting journeys of the satellite tagged Ospreys.
A brilliant evening! We all enjoyed the entertainment and when it was time to leave no one felt an end of season sadness, instead we are all excited for the coming months. We will follow the every move of our two satellite tagged males on their wintering grounds as we begin the long wait for the return of the Rutland Ospreys next spring.
An irresistable call to depart…
Here is the latest diary entry from Ken, brilliantly summing up the last shift of the season. Enjoy!
Sunday September 4th, Manton Bay: Keeping up with AW(06)’s amazing progress through Southern Morocco and Western Sahara has kept me occupied for most of the morning, until suddenly I realise it’s time to leave the house and make my way to Lyndon for what is possibly my final shift of the season in the Bay. I drive comfortably and calmly through leafy lanes and sleepy villages, avoiding major routes wherever possible. My mind is still on that incredible journey being undertaken at this very moment by AW, that sturdy male I watched as a juvenile at Site B in the summer of 2006. He was known as AA(06) then, with a maroon colour ring, and I was lucky enough to be around when he took his first flight during the morning of 14th July. He had two sisters, 7T(06) and silver-ringed AA(06), both of whom flew during the next few days. Just a week or so later, 7T disappeared, and despite extensive searching over the whole area, no trace was ever found of her. The two surviving juveniles stayed around with their parents, 03(97) and 05(00), but all four had departed on migration before the end of August 2006. My next meeting with AW(06) ~ as we’ll call him from now on ~ was on the evening of May 15th 2009, when I was reporting for night-duty at the cottage on the Hambleton road. As I drove in I noticed an Osprey sitting on the T-perch on the new lagoon (Lagoon 4), but at that stage I had no idea which one it was. As I left the car and started transferring my gear into the vehicle Lucy and I were going to use for our night-watch at Site B, I noticed another Osprey in the dead tree in the creek behind the cottage. I did manage to identify this one ~ it was 32(05), a four year old which had been around for a while. So who was the one on Lagoon 4? We were at a loss ~ but then John arrived. He had seen the new bird earlier on, but had not given it much attention as he was sure it would be one of the ‘regulars’. But then he looked more closely ~ no colour ring, metal ring on left leg, strangely familiar feather markings…….We left him preparing to go through his folders of flight photographs to find a match. In the fading light at Site B, and again in the early morning, we saw two intruding Ospreys, one of which could possibly have been the new arrival. During the following day, the exciting news arrived that it was in fact AW(06), minus his maroon colour ring, but with identical underwing feather markings to the bird first photographed in 2006, and now back again in 2009! The following year, 2010, he settled with a female at Site O, and returned there again in 2011, breeding successfully both times! And now, with a new designation and a newly fitted satellite transmitter, he is somewhere in Western Sahara, and sending us fantastic information every day. Long may it continue!
I’m immersed in all these thoughts as I arrive at Lyndon ~ a strangely quiet Lyndon, with hardly a car in the car-park and very few people in the Visitor Centre. Tim is there, of course, in front of his computer screen, studying the incoming data regarding AW’s latest position and migration, which is proceeding at an incredible pace ~ he is covering vast distances each day, barely pausing to rest and eat. He will soon be in the unforgiving desert country of Mauritania……..and only eight days ago, he was still here. A few of us crowd around as Tim goes over his route again ~ this jet-setting Osprey has really hit the hot-spots…..Paris, Madrid, Malaga and Marbella, then over into Morocco, following the northern side of the Atlas Mountains, then Marrakech, and a river valley through into Western Sahara. Another thought strikes us: his female is still here in Rutland, feeding one of the juveniles at the nest! This is not what the books say should happen!
I’d almost forgotten! I’m here for a shift down in Wader Scrape hide. Barrie and I collect the kit and make our way down, where, incredibly, we find the hide completely empty, all flaps closed, no-one in sight. There are Ospreys here! 5R sits on his perch, with the female and one juvenile (32(11)) still present. It’s great to see them ~ even though it’s slightly unreal somehow…….5R’s younger brother is in Western Sahara, all the other Ospreys, apart from the three here and the two at Site O, have left, and there are no visitors! A very strange atmosphere pervades the Bay, the hide…..and us. We don’t speak much. It’s all very ‘end of season’……..
David Gessner in ‘Soaring with Fidel’ frequently quotes from the 19th Century American poet Walt Whitman, and in one section he refers to a line which seems so right for today:
‘……you are call’d by an irresistible call to depart……’
All the birds today appear to have received the call. Clouds of House Martins and Swallows are dashing around, skittering after insects, chasing one another in intricate patterns of flight. Common Terns are high in the air, circling, calling, preparing to leave. Nervous flocks of waders ~ already part-way through their migrations from the North ~ alight momentarily on the muddy edges but then are off again, glinting in the light, turning and twisting, destined for who-knows-where before they can settle properly. Primrose Yellow Wagtails dance in the air, floppy Lapwings are buffeted by the breeze, a single Sedge Warbler climbs a reed and descends again rapidly. All of them are tense, uneasy, wary, on edge. Only the three Ospreys remain calm: 5R on his post, the female on the perch above the nest, and the one remaining juvenile hunched on the rim. Surely they’ve had the call too, but they are impassive, napping, preparing mentally and physically…….
There is an evocative single German word ~ again found in Soaring with Fidel ~ which perfectly defines Whitman’s ‘irresistible call to depart’. It is Zugunruhe, literally ‘journey unrest’, but better described by Gessner as ‘the restlessness birds feel before they migrate……..the general unease, the bristling, of a creature about to embark on a journey.’ Wildebeest in the Serengeti, Caribou in Northern Canada, even the great Whales in the oceans and the clouds of Monarch butterflies in the United States ~ Zugunruhe touches them all. We humans feel it too. Today it is almost palpable: every migratory creature in the Bay before us is sensing the approaching great journey ahead.
Judging by the almost total lack of visitors this afternoon, people have assumed the few remaining Ospreys have already gone. We are almost resigned to the first-ever visitorless shift, when the door slides open and a few come in. An Australian woman and her elderly mother are thrilled to see Ospreys, and their enthusiasm warms us up: we wax lyrical and try to counteract Zugunruhe! Another couple arrive, having just left the Burghley Horse Trials which are now in their final day. They are refreshing themselves before driving back to North Yorkshire. And so it continues…..a trickle of people on this, the final Sunday of our season. The juvenile has been holding part of a fish all afternoon, and occasionally he takes a rather desultory peck at it. 5R flies over from time to time, just checking if he still has any of it left, as if thinking ‘I’m not fishing again for you until you’ve finished that’. He is finally roused into action by the loud food-begging of both female and juvenile and lifts himself off the perch to fly over the bund. Scattering the gulls, Lapwings and Cormorants, he makes just the one dive…..and with all the skills of an accomplished parent and consummate fisherman, he emerges with a pike, which he takes back to his perch. At this point, we have no visitors at all. We train all four telescopes onto him as he eats. Their lenses peer forlornly out across the water, but with only the two of us watching. About half the pike is left when he dutifully delivers it to the juvenile on the nest, and the caterwauling ceases at last.
As the afternoon draws to a close, Vikki and Liz arrive, closely followed by Lloyd and Becky. What is this? An end-of-season gathering of Information Officers, Wardens and Co-ordinators? There is a clue: Vikki arrived carrying a big box containing a chocolate cake in the shape of a ‘cheeky monkey’. It’s her birthday, and what better way to celebrate it than with her colleagues and friends over a piece of ‘cheeky monkey’ cake while watching over the Ospreys for this last time? Michelle, Mike and Tim are on the way down too. So we leave 5R and his family eating pike, and Vikki & Co eating cheeky monkey……..
I take one last look back. 5R is back on his perch, calm, unruffled, looking good, contemplating his achievements and watching his mate and one remaining offspring. It’s nearly time for us all to go ~ for me a short journey, for them a mammoth one. Suddenly I don’t want to linger, I need to be away. Zugunruhe has kicked in. I avoid the Burghley traffic by following my beloved rural lanes, and I’m soon home. It’s over for another year. I loved it, every single second.
Oh, I’ll see you at the Party next Sunday! I might even write about it if anyone is interested in seeing what one hundred and fifty Osprey staff and volunteers do to celebrate the end of another great summer season……….
On the first day of Birdfair…
Here is Ken’s latest diary entry, and as usual, it’s a cracker! He tells the story of the first day at this year’s Birdfair including the Osprey Cruise with Simon King. For me, it was the best cruise of the season. Seeing 09 catch a fish so close to the boat was certainly one of my highlights of the season. But enough from me, enjoy Ken’s account of the day…
‘On the First Day of Birdfair…..’
‘On the first day of Birdfair,
Rutland Water gave to me,
Friends for a-greeting,
Lectures for a-ttending,
Coffees for a-drinking,
Books for a-buying,
And a cruise on the Rutland Belle’
(Sung to the traditional tune)
Friday August 19th: The day dawns fine, a great relief after the rains of yesterday which dampened down the preparations rather. Even though I arrive early, there are still queues of cars awaiting admission. The efficient car-parking attendants wave us briskly into neat rows in the fields, where only a few days ago sheep were grazing peacefully. Rows of blue portaloos are in the corners. ‘You are in Red Car Park B’ says the notice. The kiosks are not open yet to allow public admission to the site, but exhibitors, volunteers and stewards are hurrying about, setting up stands, arranging their starting points, receiving instructions. I locate the Osprey stand in the LRWT tent, where I will be doing a shift later, and find it already buzzing with activity. The big screen is primed to show highlights of the Osprey season, the tables are arrayed with colourful masks and drawings for children to complete, and Andy and Anne are putting the finishing touches to an impressive display of natural history books, which have been donated by generous volunteers. All proceeds from their sale will go towards funds for the Gambian Foundation. I buy a couple of books which immediately catch my eye. Suddenly it’s 9.00am and the crowds are pouring in. The loudspeakers announce the first of the lectures and book-signings, and the carts selling food and drink start to trundle around. The ringing group on the edge of the site have trapped a Nightingale very early on, and people are invited to go and watch it being ringed and released. A group of colourful African musicians and dancers start to perform in the central area. Crowds build up amazingly quickly. The ‘Flyways’ mural outside the Art Marquee already displays several migrating birds on its panels. Excitement and anticipation in the air. This is Birdfair 2011. It’s started.
I still have plenty of time before my shift, so I begin my tour of the marquees. As always, the diversity is incredible. If I as much as hesitate for a second in front of a stand, an enthusiastic person approaches me to tell me about the attractions of their country as a destination for a birding tour, or offers to demonstrate the latest piece of optical wizardry, clothing to beat even Antarctic extremes, and books and DVD’s which apparently I can’t be without. My own favourites are the conservation stands, and I actively seek out a few which I have been reading about in advance. I particularly want to hear the latest news from the team which has been working in remote parts of Eastern Asia to save the rapidly dwindling population of Spoon-billed Sandpipers, and I meet again dedicated field-workers from Russia and the UK who are leading this project. Then I’m in the Art Marquee, indulging in a ‘Fantasy Wildlife Art’ spending spree, and rapidly ‘acquiring’ wonderful works of art worth well over £10,000! Back to reality, and I buy a brilliant little sculpture ~ a life-sized Treecreeper, delicately carved in wood and climbing up a tree-trunk. Exquisite ~ my one extravagance of the day…….well, apart from that new book on ‘The Norfolk Cranes’ Story’, and that other one, a monograph on ‘The Black Woodpecker’. Birdfair only comes once a year after all!
Familiar faces are everywhere. Ray, my brilliant night-watchman from Site B, is demonstrating hedge-laying to a crowd of onlookers in the central area, and another night-watchman, George, is on the LIPU-UK stand. Rick is on the Leicestershire and Rutland Ornithological Society stand, and then on the track outside I run into Anya, who accompanied us on a school visit earlier in the season. Her exam results went well last week, so she can go on confidently to her final ‘A’ level year next month. I remember to compliment her on her special ‘Osprey Cakes’ ~ I had one last week! Michelle is in one of the optics marquees. We have a quick word and she asks me to deliver a collecting box she has made to the Osprey stand ~ all donations to Tim’s ‘Berlin Marathon’ fund! As I arrive with the box, the LRWT tent is thronged with people ~ some browsing and buying the second-hand books being offered for sale, others ~ especially the children ~ sitting at the tables and making a variety of items with card, crayons and scissors. Still more are gathered around the screen, where Osprey staff and volunteers explain what has been happening with our birds this year.
My shift begins with Norman, part of the Tuesday afternoon Site B team, and we are soon busy with visitors wanting to know everything about the Manton Bay Osprey family, whose 2011 edited highlights are being shown on the screen. Many are incredibly well-informed, and ask detailed questions about the juveniles from all the nests. Others are less well up, and say things like ‘Is this being filmed at a Scottish nest?’ ‘No’, we say, ‘it’s actually less than a mile from where you’re standing, and you can go and see them for yourself if you want to.’ ‘Well, I never knew there were Ospreys in Rutland’ is the response. Several visitors have come from Wales, and one couple expressly thank Tim for sending them Nora, or, as we prefer to call her, 03(08)! Fellow volunteer Moira is here with her son and his friend. The two boys run off and return with a bag of delicious mini-doughnuts, which they generously share around. Lynda is here too and we talk about our latest diary entries. All the while, Andy and Ann are selling books. How well organised they are! The books are disappearing fast : Ken Baker has found a little gem of a picture book by James McCallum, and another chap has ‘put aside for later’ over £50’s worth of books. As he hasn’t returned yet, it is decided I should take them to him on his own stand and collect the money! This works very well, and the cash box is filling up!
3.00pm and I’m feeling the pace. Time for a break. I meet yet more old friends and colleagues on my way back to the car, and finally sit down for a late lunch/early tea. A very satisfying day so far, but it’s not over yet! At 4.00 I’m in the Lecture Marquee hearing all about efforts to save another threatened bird, the Sociable Lapwing, or Sociable Plover as I used to call it back in the days when I managed to see one not far away in Northamptonshire. An excellent presentation and yet more evidence of the valuable work of Birdlife International and the Preventing Extinctions Programme. After a final brief stay on the Osprey stand, I bid farewell and make the short drive around to Whitwell Creek, where my next date is with ‘Rutland Belle’ for the Celebrity Osprey Cruise with Simon King!
Weather : sunny, calm, set fair. Passengers all gathered on the quay by 5.30 ~ an air of quiet excitement pervades the early evening sunshine. Osprey team: Liz, assisted by volunteers Anna, Mick, Ken Baker, and me. Skipper today: Matt. All present and correct then ~ just need the Celebrity Guest now. A large BMW arrives at the quayside. Simon King emerges, in trademark cap, smiling and genial as always, and accompanied by two representatives from Zeiss, one of whom, Nanette, will join us on the cruise. Out on the water, Simon takes the microphone and greets everyone. Many of those on board are old friends of his, having joined him on previous trips or holidays in Shetland. We scour the skies for Ospreys, but find none. Liz takes over the microphone for a while and fills everyone in on the Osprey Project, its history and successes so far. We see many other species, of course ~ terns, egrets, a buzzard, grebes, geese and ducks. Simon suggests we re-name the cruise ‘The Canada Goose Cruise.’ We have spotters in the bow, the stern, port and starboard, and we visit all the well-known bays favoured by the Ospreys. Observers on the shore keep us informed as to which Ospreys are ‘at home’, and which are away from their territories. The atmosphere on board is relaxed and friendly, and Simon and Liz do expert jobs with the commentary. Just as we are beginning to think this might not be an Osprey day, skipper Matt from the wheelhouse calls out ‘Osprey ahead!’ and there it is, circling and soaring high over the water in definite fishing mode. We ensure everyone is ‘on it’ and then proceed to follow it as it passes over us, from side to side, giving tremendous views against the blue sky. A shout goes up ‘It’s fitted with a transmitter!’ and everyone strains to see its back-pack and antenna, fitted just a few weeks ago. So we now know who this is! Liz tells everyone the story of 09(98) ~ his translocation from Scotland thirteen years ago, his regular returns since 2000 and lonely vigils at Site C, his recent liaison with 5N(04) at Site N following her widowhood, and, of course, his most recent fitting with the satellite transmitting apparatus, which has already given us so much valuable information about his flights and fishing trips. Everyone is buzzing when he suddenly goes into a dive and hits the water not far from the boat with a great splash. Nothing this time. But he’s up again, still looking down, crossing in front of us and coming straight towards us when he suddenly banks again and arrows into the water for a second time, much closer to the clicking lenses and sharply focussed binoculars! This time we know he has struck! He flaps in the water, feet strenuously working beneath the surface to secure the fish. Once, twice, he tries to rise. No good. It must be a monster. Matt silences the engine. The Belle idles in the water, the Osprey not far away still struggling with its mammoth catch. At last he rises, a monstrous trout precariously hanging from one talon. He approaches the boat, the fish writhing and twisting vigorously. He makes a massive effort to secure the fish with the other foot, but in so doing he releases his grip for a moment and it falls back into the water. A collective groan rises from the deck. ‘Oh, no!’ calls Simon over the microphone. As always happens in these instances, 09 does not descend to look for the fish, but rises high above the water and flies up one of the arms to the north before disappearing over the hill. We do not see him again.
The rest of the cruise passes in relative calm and tranquillity. Several people have captured the catch and the attempted lift on camera, and are comparing results. Our friend from Zeiss, Nanette, is thrilled: it’s her first English Osprey, and a spectacular one at that. Liz sums it all up brilliantly in her commentary. Simon thanks everyone and hopes they have enjoyed a wonderful cruise. And how could they not? He lingers after the boat has docked to sign autographs and pose for pictures. Everyone is thrilled to have met such a genuine, committed and friendly person, who has made such a contribution to the evening’s success. And Liz was great too. And Matt. Oh, and not forgetting 09(98)……the star of the show! Hope you caught another fish after we lost you. And thanks to Lesley, who took lots of brilliant photos from the boat, including these two!
- Thanks to Lesley for sending this picture
- Thanks to Lesley for sending this picture
It’s nearly 9.00pm when I get home! That was some special day at Birdfair. Tomorrow and Sunday will find me over at Lyndon, in the hides overlooking the Osprey nest in Manton Bay. All part of the great Birdfair experience!
A different family fun day
As I began to write this report I learned that the Site B female had not been seen for over a week and that 33(11) has rarely been returning to Site B and is therefore probably catching his own fish – how wonderful if he is, it will stand him in good stead to hone his fishing skills before he departs on migration. It made me realise how lucky I had been last week to see all of the Manton Bay Ospreys, here’s my report.
I was pleased to be going to Manton Bay, as not only would I see the Osprey family in the bay but I had heard that Moira was going to be doing the shift before me. I hadn’t seen her since the day she’d had her cycle accident and apart from suffering nasty injuries to hand and chin, she had also missed 52(11) fledging.
I arrived at the hide and was delighted to hear from her that she had seen all five Ospreys and at that moment only one juvenile was out of sight. She showed me a photo that she’d taken earlier of a kingfisher, it had been darting about landing on reed stems and had quite distracted her. She had also spotted a green woodpecker in the trees behind the nest. We chatted away but soon realised that we needed our wits about to us to keep track of the Osprey family. Once she had left the hide, I set about heading up the report sheets, however, I began to have a minor panic as so much was going on, I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to write it all down. As I rummaged through my bag for a pen, I came across a small digital voice recorder that my husband had given me at the beginning of the season, thinking that it might come in handy one day if the hide was busy and I didn’t have time to write. It was just what I needed. This is what I hastily dictated:
Absolute manic morning, one on fallen branch, one on the nest, one on the near perch, 5R on the far perch. One juvenile missing on my arrival. Then the other juvenile arrives, Mrs. is eating a fish, 5R flies off to catch a fish right in front of our eyes, brings it back to eat it, as he’s the only one that hasn’t eaten yet this morning, then drops it, goes off to fish again – not successful, quite funny, comes over to the nest to see what’s left that the juvenile has been eating. And they’re just dispersing all over the place right in front of my eyes; to the left fallen tree, to the fallen tree to the right, to the shore, one’s been pecking at mud, 5R’s had a bath, it’s very choppy, very windy, very cool and they’re just flying all over the place, all five of them are here and it’s wonderful! And now a juvenile comes back to the French perch and he’s eating a fish and 5R’s on the near perch eating a fish. Where they came from, goodness only knows.
(Later) Not forgetting one juvenile who’s pecking on the shore – was he eating grubs I wonder?
At 09.50, once I’d stopped panicking, one of the juveniles took his fish to the shoreline. Every season, I see different behaviour – last year at Site B, again in a panic, I’d telephoned Tim to report that the two juveniles were on the ground in the ploughed field, one actually down low in the earth, but I was reassured that they’d been doing it on a regular basis. Today was the first time that I’d seen a Rutland Osprey, let alone a juvenile, actually eating on the shoreline. After fifteen minutes he was getting seriously hassled by a magpie and flew with his fish to the right-hand fallen poplar. 5R immediately dipped down to the shore and sorted out the magpie.
At 10.20 the female took after a heron and there ensued an almighty and prolonged battle. It was right in front of the hide and I was able to get some very close shots of them both. The female won and the heron retreated towards Deep Water Hide. 5R then had another spat with a magpie and the two juveniles flew up, one returning to the nest. 52(11) meanwhile was still eating his fish on the fallen poplar. A few minutes later 32(11) flew over the bund wall, followed by the female, who attempted to fish. They both returned low over the water, dipping their feet in flight. As they approached the nest, 32 swung at the female, as if trying to beat her to the nest and she decided to join 5R on the near perch.
The weather took a distinct turn for the worse with light rain sweeping across in front of me, almost like drifting fog. 5R and the female hunkered down against the strong wind on the near perch, one juvenile retreated to the shore and the other to a low branch of the left-hand fallen poplar. Meanwhile 52(11) was still eating his fish on the other fallen poplar, which is thickly leaved and he appeared to be very sheltered, quite oblivious almost to the weather and the rest of his family.
Shortly before 11am 5R flew over to the far perch and a juvenile followed him to the far shore, landing in the water. He began to lift out of the water, hover a couple of seconds and then land in the water again, until he landed on the fallen poplar. Some 20 minutes later, those of us in the hide were treated to a wonderful sight of two juveniles attempting to fish immediately in front of us near the dead tree. They didn’t push their feet forward at all, but most certainly hovered, feet dangling and swooped down to the water, pulling out at the last minute, like fighter pilots. They practiced several times and then one of them drifted out of sight towards the Lyndon Centre. In the years that I have been volunteering, I had never seen such advanced behaviour from juveniles. On the far shore, to the right of the fallen poplar, a young buzzard was sitting on top of the camera transmitter box, I wondered how long he’d been watching this family at play.
The other juvenile flew to the shore behind the nest, landing on a very small branch sticking out of the mud and was joined on the shore by the third juvenile who began to peck at green shoots growing in the mud. In the grey murk I saw four or five wagtails approaching him, but with just one glance from the Osprey, they sensibly made a hasty diversion. Watching these two birds on the muddy shoreline was so evocative of what we had observed in Africa – Ospreys on the beach or marsh, either on the mud or sand, or perched on branches protruding from the ground. The only difference from today for this family when they reach their wintering ground, is that each of them will be alone. Today though, to have watched the whole family was truly wonderful and totally unexpected – another lucky shift; they will be few and far between until the end of the season.
When I played the recordings back, to write this report, I discovered that I had left it switched on inside my pocket for 10 minutes – there was much rustling of paper as I hastily recorded events, but there was also the sound of one of the juveniles food-begging, loudly, it is so very clear – I can’t bring myself to delete it, although I’m not sure whether it will cheer me up or send me into a deep depression when I play it back in the dead of winter and think of them all on the muddy sand in Africa. I hope that they will be as well fed as they have been today.
Autumn in the air
Project volunteer Linda Jones is back from her recent trip to Scotland and had two contrasting shifts at Site B and Manton Bay last week. Here’s her account…
I really enjoyed my holiday in Scotland last week. But, I really missed our Rutland Ospreys and so it was with great excitement and anticipation that I approached my usual duties at Site B and Manton Bay.
I was at the Site B nest as usual about 6am on Monday. I had kept up to date with events the previous week through the Rutland Osprey website, so I wasn’t sure what I would see. All of the Ospreys had been spending so much time away from the nest, with 33 being particularly adventurous! As I approached the shed, I could see 03 sitting on the small oak eating a fish. No sign of the female or 33. 03 left about 20 minutes later. An hour later 33 appeared, sat on the nest calling loudly for food. Having got no response, he left. At 8.10am, 03 returned, again to an empty nest! He had brought a large twig and spent 10 minutes tidying the nest, before he too left. I had not seen the female whilst I was there. I know that the Ospreys will spend increasing amounts of time away from the nest now that 33 is fledged but it seemed rather sad that the various members of this special family kept missing each other! It was not all a sad morning though. As always at Site B, there was a lot to keep me occupied. 2 young Wrens played on the oak tree, I could hear the raucous squawking of a Jay and later it flew from the clump of trees nearby into the wood. There were also the usual visitors of Blue and Great Tits and lots of rabbits! I was not disappointed.
On Friday, it was my duty at Manton Bay. Wow, was I looking forward to it! I arrived at the Lyndon reserve at 5.30am, collected the telescopes and monitoring books and proceeded to Waderscrape hide. It was a rather drizzly, dank morning, but not cold. The first thing that struck me was how different the atmosphere was. It had been 2 weeks since I had been there and there is no doubt that Autumn is on the way. Last time I was on duty, there was a cacophony of noise – with the harsh grating of Sedge Warblers and the pretty chirps of Reed Buntings. Today, it was – almost – silent. The most strident sounds were of a hungry Osprey chick: pew-pew-pew, across the Bay. There were only the occasional Sedge Warbler flitting about, I didn’t see any Reed Buntings but I did get a glimpse of a Reed Warbler. The Autumnal atmosphere continued with over 150 Black Headed Gulls roosting beside the water and swathes of Canada and Greylag Geese flying overhead.
What did not disappoint, though, was my 3 hours of Osprey watching. It was an eventful morning. When I arrived in the hide at 5.45am, despite the murky conditions, I could see the female sitting on the near perch and 1 large chick in the nest – how it had grown in 2 weeks! The chick was calling loudly for food but to little effect. Over the next hour and a half, the other 2 chicks arrived back, spending time flying around, on the perches, nest and the large poplars; the female went off. There was no sign of 5R. At last, at 7.15am, the female brought in a large trout. She took it to the perch and started to eat. But after only a couple of minutes – perhaps she could cope no longer with the plaintive calls of her offspring – she took it to the nest. One of the chicks, presumably 22, immediately purloined it, the others not getting a look in. The loud protests continued to resound across the bay. 20 minutes later, the female swooped down from the near perch, hit the water just in front of the nest, rising with another fish which she took straight to the nest and proceeded to feed the “starving” chicks. It was not until 8am that 5R returned, without a fish, and was immediately banished to the far perch!
There was another, rather amusing, drama during the morning – the saga of the Magpie. It started when one of the Osprey chicks sat on the far perch. A Magpie joined it, sitting on the opposite end. They spent some time eyeing each other up, before the Magpie decided to move in closer. It reached the middle of the perch, before suddenly making a lunge at the chick, which “jumped” in surprise, before they resumed their cautious eyeballing and eventually the Magpie left, probably fed up with the game! Later, I would like to think the same Magpie decided to sit on the near perch, next to the adult female. She didn’t take a lot of notice, occasionally giving the Magpie a rather supercilious glance. But the Magpie made a tactical error! It decided to go to the Osprey nest. It first landed on the French perch attached to the nest, with 2 nervous but curious chicks watching it, and then decided to land on the nest. The female had had enough with this intruder and soon chased it off. I wonder if the saga continued later?
I left the hide just after 9am. I had, as always, had a special time. How fortunate are we to have the opportunity to watch the Ospreys so clearly at Rutland Water. This morning reminded me that Autumn is certainly on the way and the Ospreys will shortly be facing the new challenge of their journey to Africa. I’ll miss them – but there’s still a few weeks to enjoy their company and antics!
