Osprey Chat Thread January 2015

So a new year is upon us and what will it bring?  Every year we think it cannot be as interesting  or exciting or the year just gone but it usually is.

The first priority will be to see EJ and Odin back. I will be opening the guessing game two months from today as usual. You should know the format by now.

I have watched the Loch Garten nest for about 12 years now. I have yet to see a Loch Garten chick definitely return to Speyside. Will 2015 change that? All our hopes rest with Breagha. In a mere 16 weeks or so he should be heading north. The day when the tracker tells us that "he is off" will be an exciting one indeed.

Another burning question is whether Lady will return? Well that is a question which divides osprey fans. I guess it is best to wait and see, either way it will be highly emotional.

Last year Dyfi treated us to the most amazing spectacle to two female ospreys fighting over the same nest. Will it be repeated this year? A lot of fans are hoping it won't but there is a really good chance that it will if the  Henry/Orange VS saga of yesteryear is any guide.

In early September last year Monty had dispatched the two bairns and normally one would expect him to migrate almost immediately but he stayed around for a few days, just loafing mainly, but certainly thrilling the watching fans before he began his climb into the sky and heading south.

Of course a new book "Ospreys in Wales the first ten years" by Emyr Evans has just been published. A truly wonderful book it is.

The Glaslyn birds are usually back very early and get down to reproduction faster than any other osprey pair. One hopes they have another season just like the last ten. Mind you 11 (98) will be 16 years old and with  3 (97)  one of only two of the remaining ospreys translocated to Rutland in the period 1996 to 2001.

In recent years 3 (97) has always been the first British osprey to be reported as having returned to a nest following the winter break. Since he usually arrives around mid March the fans will be scanning the skies for him. Last year his son 5R failed to return and that was definitely one of the saddest events of 2014.

Of course there will be great interest in seeing 33 (11) return to establish a new dynasty in Manton Bay.

Two years ago we had one of the most amazing weeks in osprey history. White YA  caused great interest when misidentified  in the spring edition of RSPB magazine (it was actually the Loch Garten Nethy from 2008) and then turned up for real at Blagdon Lake where he proceeded to get himself caught in nets three times. Still he did wonders to publicise both Welsh and Kielder ospreys. Amazingly  another Welsh osprey, yellow 37, came back from the "dead" at the same time.

Kielder had an amazing year in 2014 and they tracked three of their juvenile ospreys.  The blogs on the tracking written by Joanna Dailey with input from Paul Wildlifewriter have  brought analysis of tracking to a new level.

The Hellgate Canyon nest in Montana had another successful year with a very large fan base.  There are lots of really good US osprey cams now available to those osprey addicts that need late night fixes. So much has changed since Betty and Dennis as the only streaming osprey cam back in 2003.

There have been many very fascinating migrations by Finnish ospreys. The most remarkable was surely Tero who kept us guessing as to where he was going to winter. Well the answer seems to be Keyna which is yet another new destination.

Well that is a brief summary of 2014 as I saw it. No doubt 2015 will bring a lot of pleasure as well as many tears. It is certainly great to wake up on the first day on a new year and feel excitement surge through ones veins. Let us hope it is always true.