Osprey

Let’s just put this out there…we LOVE Ospreys.

What do we love about them?

1 – They’re stunning, beautiful birds.

2 – They generally mate for life

3 – That migration! I don’t know about anyone else but I can’t be bothered to run for a bus, never mind fly thousands of miles between Scotland and Africa twice a year (but then Clare doesn’t like flying) It’s astonishing and I always find migrating birds so intriguing – how do they know to just take off and head south, even the birds born that year! How do they know what do to?

4 – They’re amazing photography subjects and always a popular bird when they come back to our shores in the springtime.

Similar to Red Kites, Ospreys were persecuted to near extinction by people seeking taxidermy subjects, and egg collections.

What is different about them is they weren’t reintroduced by any conservation project.

They found their way back themselves (see the above comment about migration) though they are closely monitored these days.

They’ve not recovered quite as well as the Red Kite. They’re an Amber rated species due to the low numbers recorded.

Even now there are strict wildlife regulations of what can happen within a certain distance of a nest and you may remember the issue when T In The Park moved to Strathallan, which had a pair of nesting Ospreys nearby.

Each year, where a pair are nesting it’s quite common to find that there are volunteers who spend day and night watching the nest to ensure it’s not disturbed.

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