We saw amazing sights of a buzzard and a sparrowhawk yesterday, but not a single osprey!
EJ did indeed start her migration on Saturday, 21st August, having first brought each of her two remaining juveniles a very large rainbow trout. This kept them happy all day, but on Sunday they were both hungry again! There was no breakfast! There was no sign of Odin! Had he seen EJ go and decided to follow her, as Orange VS did in 2008? Surely not! We had last seen Odin on Friday evening. Earlier in the day, he had sat in view of the juveniles, eating a fish, trying to tempt them to have a go at fishing themselves.
On Sunday morning, the juveniles sat mantling and screaming at a male intruder osprey, which landed on the nest. The juvenile on the nest lunged at him and forced him off the nest, but he went and sat on the camera tree. Then, we heard a shrill alarm call and Odin came into view! He lunged at the intruder, forcing him off the tree and gave chase! We were so happy to see him! Our juveniles begged for food, but Odin’s job was to try to get them to have a go at fishing themselves. Perhaps he succeeded, for on Wednesday, at 07.46, one of the juveniles was seen looking very wet, even for the soggy weather. At 09.07, one of the juveniles brought in a large stick to the nest, just as Odin would have. At 10.00, one juvenile sat on the nest, the other in the camera tree. Both were calling for food. We weren’t able to see Odin, but they obviously could. At 10.20, the middle juvenile left the nest and started to soar, circling ever higher, until it was a tiny dot. Surely it must be on it’s way! The youngest juvenile sat in the camera tree, quietly for a while, before flying away at 11.00. Later in the day, at 15.34, an osprey appeared from behind the nest and flew around, before heading away again. Was it Odin checking that the juveniles had gone, before stating his own migration?
There has been no sign of the family since, although today an osprey was spotted flying above the nest. Last year we saw the indruder, White TF, take up residence for the last week. The nest is very popular with spotted flycatchers!
We wish all ospreys a safe journey and an abundance of tasty fish!