Previous Editions
July 2010
30(10) Makes His First Flight- Our regular contributor Lynda was in Waderscrape Hide when the first of the Manton Bay chicks took to the air
July 2010
Guided Walks and Water Rails - Trainee warden Michelle Househam spends a week with the Osprey Project
July 2010
A Boat, Rutland Water, a Warm Summer Evening and Two Fishing Ospreys- Lynda Berry on a spectacular first Osprey Cruise of the year
May 2010
Mr Nosey Drops In- An Afternoon In Waderscrape- Val & Alan Brown write about an enthralling afternoon in Manton Bay
May 2010
05(08) Returns Home- The earlist ever return for a Rutland two year old, photographed by Brian and Liz Nicholls
April 2010
First Shift Of The Year- Ken Davies sees the return of the 5R show in Manton Bay
February 2010
A Mid-Winter Gathering- Walks, works and welsh ospreys at the Osprey Mid-Winter gathering
October 2009
Time To Say Goodbye - Lynda's Summer Diary- Goodbye to Site N, and to another Osprey season
VOLUNTEER DIARIES- LYNDA'S DIARY - 15th July 2009
Lynda Berry, another of our regular Osprey Volunteers, tells us about a busy morning at Site N-
I love being a volunteer for the Project and consider myself very lucky to be allowed to watch over these magnificent birds that never cease to fascinate. Another added bonus is that the other volunteers are a great bunch of people from all different walks of life and all ages, one of whom is Christine. I met Christine earlier this year at the first Family Osprey Fun Day at Lyndon and we got on well. At the second Fun Day she asked if she could join me on one of my shifts at Site N as she hadn't visited it yet. Sure enough she telephoned this week and I arranged to pick her up.
After the heatwave last week, I was disappointed to see that it was raining and the forecast for the day was not good. Thinking that as volunteers we would never say 'I don't want to come today, it's raining', I called her to suggest that she might like to come another day when the weather was better; the walk to the hide is very muddy and you can get drenched from the long grass and overreaching crop, but she assured me that it would be ok.
As we approached the hide, 08 flew over as if to greet us. We discovered wear and tear was taking its toll on some of the equipment in the hide; one stool had broken and the picnic chair, kindly donated by Peter and Di, was missing. However, we moved the scopes outside as the rain had cleared away and the sun was shining.
Soon after 9 am both adults took to the air. We scanned the horizon and soon picked up the source of their alarm; two intruding Ospreys. The intruders became more and more persistent, at times flying very close to the monitoring hide. The two chicks were well hunkered down as their parents called to them. I put in a quick call to Tim and he said he would be coming over a little later. This scene carried on for some time and we made a few observations of the intruders; one had both no. 8 primaries missing, one had a very white breast and one had the broader wings of a female - were our eyes playing tricks?? Where's John when you really need him? Christine was later to remark to Tim and Diana, that they had sometimes been so close, that you felt you could reach out and touch them.
Tim and Diana arrived as things were starting to settle down. They had brought new stools, replacement scope and monitoring sheets and stayed with us for over an hour. Tim's trained eye told us that we had 09 and 32 around. We all marvelled at how extraordinary it was for us to be watching this spectacle in England. A farmer repairing a fence nearby must have thought the same!
Peter and Di arrived as our replacements (with a new picnic chair) after Tim and Diana had left and we discovered that we now had five birds in the air. Christine's and my observations that one of our intruders was female was soon confirmed when she landed on a pylon with a male in hot pursuit and mating was attempted.
We left Peter and Di to carry on watching over these precious birds and their offspring. Sometimes I love the solitude of doing a shift alone, absorbing everything going on around me, however, this morning I was so pleased to share the experience with Christine, it just would not have been the same on my own. Somehow these birds eat into your very soul; I'm just off now to find out if 03 has returned to Site B as we heard over the radio that he had been missing for four or five hours this morning. I'm then going to take a leaf out of Ken's diary and have a large G&T.
Lynda Berry
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