Ospreys over Bassenthwaite

Even if you have not been fortunate enough to witness these spectacular birds of prey in the wild, it is hard not to have caught sight – on television – of an osprey hurtling towards the water, talons outstretched… then rising with its catch, shaking itself in mid-air to rid itself of the water on its feathers, and rearranging the fish so that the head points forwards.

Cosmopolitan

The osprey is one of the most widely distributed birds in the world. It breeds throughout North America, across northern Europe and Russia to Siberia, and in Australasia – the more northerly birds winter in South America and Africa.

The total population is thought to be in the region of 460,000 individuals, including non-breeding birds. The European breeding population may be around 10,000 pairs, of which perhaps around 200 pairs now nest in the UK.

Persecution

Sadly, in the UK the osprey’s history was one of decline, hastened by prolonged persecution in the days when anything with a hooked beak was shot. The last birds bred in England in the mid 1800s and the last known pair in Scotland in 1916. (The ‘osprey’ feathers used in millinery, incidentally, do not come from this species, but are the head plumes of egrets, which also suffered the most appalling persecution.) Small numbers of Scandinavian ospreys, however, continued to migrate through this country and in the mid 1950s a pair took up residence on Speyside. After a series of egg thefts in 1959, round the clock protection finally enabled them to breed successfully.

Faithful

Ospreys are very site faithful and the same nest will often be used for many years, slowly becoming ever larger as the birds add to it each year. Favoured sites are the tops of large trees and on cliff ledges, but they will also take advantage of man-made structures such as pylons, and indeed will readily use the platforms that are specially provided for them.

Like several other large birds of prey, the young also tend to return to breed fairly close to their natal area, though fortunately a small number will form more distant outlying pairs (as indeed the re-colonisers of Speyside did from the successful Scandinavian population).

Slowly but surely the Scottish population built up, reaching 14 pairs by the early to mid 1970s and just over 70 pairs by the early 1990s. The habit of the young of returning to their natal area has in some ways slowed their expansion, however, as breeding productivity tends to decline with increasing density of birds.

In 2001 an outlying pair brought the species back to the Lake District, when a pair bred at Bassenthwaite.

The same year also saw the first successful breeding at Rutland Water, to which young birds from Scottish nests had been translocated before fledging. Between 1996 and 2001 64 birds were released. Fortunately, translocation does not affect their natural behaviour but ensures that – before their first migration – the young birds become ‘imprinted’ on the area as though it were their natal site.

Young ospreys do not normally return to this country until they are at least two, and often not breed until they are rather older. The first Rutland birds returned in 1999 and one or two pairs have bred or attempted to breed every year since.

Some of the translocated birds have even been involved in the establishment of further outlying pairs, including the return of the species to Wales.

Future

It’s been around 50 years since their return to Speyside, and the future for ospreys in the UK appears to be secure. Although further range expansion is likely to be steady rather than explosive, a doubling of the number of nesting pairs could well be feasible.

Migration

Breeding ospreys and their nests are specially protected from disturbance by the Wildlife and Countryside Act but several pairs can be watched from public viewing places, including Loch Garten and the Loch of Lowes in Scotland, Glaslyn Valley in Wales and of course Bassenthwaite and Rutland Water in England.

The ospreys usually return to Bassenthwaite in April and can be viewed throughout the summer from an open air platform in the Forestry Commission’s Dodd Wood. An exhibition and live video screen are also located in the Whinlatter Forest Visitor Centre overlooking Keswick.