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 - 24th July 2009
Lynda Berry, another of our regular Osprey Volunteers, tells us about a busy morning at Site N-
After the excitement of two weeks ago, I was back at Site N once again but this time on my own. I approached the hide to find Tim watching over them. He'd been there for an hour and was marginally concerned that he couldn't see Blue 03 who had fledged almost a week ago. 08 had also disappeared from sight in pursuit of an intruder.
We both scoured the trees trying to pick out 03, but to no avail and after half an hour, Tim decided to head back to Lyndon and I promised to let him know when 03 returned. With one eye watching the scene and the other starting on the monitoring notes, I really hoped that today I would see a juvenile fledge, that being Blue 04. I also realised that if he did decide to 'go' it would probably be more by luck than judgement, as although it was dry and warm, there was a very gusty wind. I had missed 03 fledging by a day and Blue 00 and 01 by two days – fingers crossed.
Half an hour later 5N was up in the air and alarm calling, yes an intruder was about, circling around the trees where I had been told that 03 often perches. In the confusion of the next twenty minutes there were three birds flying around, with one appearing to shadow another in what seemed to be a friendly manner. One that I thought could possibly be 03 with feet dangling, as only juveniles do, seemed about to land on the nest but the other two ospreys were very close and with only one pair of eyes this week it became a bit of a blur. What I had witnessed was 32 intruding and possibly hassling 03 who was then almost escorted back 'home' by his Mum.
For over two hours the site was 'attacked' by intruders, four of them, and 5N and 08 were trying desperately to see them off. The juveniles were out of sight, low in the nest. At one time one of the parents and an intruder were flying so low, one in pursuit of the other, that they almost crashed into the nest. I have never witnessed such heated aggression; they were high in the sky, dive bombing, shadowing, splitting into groups of three, drifting almost out of sight and then either 08 or 5N would start heading back to the nest, only to find that they were being followed. I don't know about them, but I was exhausted!
Calm was eventually restored and I settled back to check the nest; only one head visible but that was okay, Blue 01 had fooled me at the weekend by keeping so low in the nest that just as I was thinking about ringing Tim to report him missing, an enormous wing flapped over the edge of the nest. It was Saturday, of course, he was having a lie-in. However, back at Site N, as the minutes ticked by, I half knew that he wasn't in the nest and started scanning the trees and found him perched in an ash tree, preening himself. Quite when he flew from the nest, in all the excitement, I didn't know but I was miffed as I hadn't seen him go.
Peter and Di arrived and I explained all that had been happening and hoped that they would be luckier than me and see Blue 04 finally fledge. As we were chatting, 5N flew up and to my amazement, I saw her once again shadowing 03 back to the nest; maybe this time it was because it was so windy. Two minutes later, 08 smoothly glided into vision with a large fish, which he delivered to the nest, complete with head. One of the juveniles proceeded to drag it across the nest by its mouth. As I was about to leave, having wished Peter and Di a 'Happy Wedding Anniversary', the other juvenile was taking his share. Happy family resumed.
Lynda Berry
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