Continued from Osprey Chat Thread September 2013
At the beginning of September I said that the osprey season should have been all over but it wasn't. Well it is now. Yes the two very late osprey chicks at Dyfi viz. Clarach and Cerist finally migrated on 18th and 20th September respectively. They were incredibly well fed chicks and are now presumably well on their way to Africa. Hopefully they will return to Britain in 2015 but since they are not tracked it will be a very long and anxious wait.
Meanwhile the latest European trans location project to Basque country began to report in earnest. Five of the birds are tracked and four of them are slogging their way through the Sahara as I write. For details see here
The 2013 osprey has been the most exciting for me ever and I have now seen 15 osprey seasons. Maybe it is because more and more people are taking an interest and doing their own little pieces. Surely this can only bee good for ospreys and their well being. So all that remains is for us to follow the tracked birds to their destinations and then begin the long wait until it all begins again in March 2014.
Let us hope we all be ready for an exciting 2014
Tiger Signature
I agree with your selfish reason also Tiger. Ospreys have been seen so far west is it a possibility there are some here already that no one is aware of? I agree Lough Erne would be a relatively safe place for them but also perhaps the Midlands along the Shannon where one was seen last year near Athlone.
I have just printed out the relevant pages of the Rutland translocation and added them to my copy of " Rutland Water Ospreys', which I must confess, I still haven't read, although I have used it for reference. I would not have had to ask my question if I had read it but still glad I did, as I was able to read much more detail in the Diaries.
Oh MIKE - the Blog is so so encouraging and so well written by Tim. Thanks for the link.
I hardly dare join in a discussion KEITH as I feel not remotely qualified to do so but I am eager to read the opinion of others as it seems to me so intriguing and it would be great to understand.
Excellent idea, Brenda - I might just do likewise. Could be a lot of paper, but there is so much information on the old Rutland site, it would be a real shame if we lost access to it. I'm terrified that will happen sooner or later - it is really amazing that they are still there.
Rachel R said: Excellent idea, Brenda - I might just do likewise. Could be a lot of paper, but there is so much information on the old Rutland site, it would be a real shame if we lost access to it. I'm terrified that will happen sooner or later - it is really amazing that they are still there.
I have e-mailed Tim with your concerns and will get back to you once I have an answer. Clearly it would be a disaster to lose this from the internet.
Birdies LG DU update.
Thanks, Mike. I assume someone must be paying to keep the site active, but it could, theoretically, be an oversight on someones part. Good to make sure they know it is still appreciated, anyway!
There has already been much information lost at rutland from the old web pages. If you look there is a gap of a few years from the old web pages 2006 to the new web pages. My understanding was that they believed it was overwritten by error but lost.
Tiger and I have discussed this in the past and he may know more about this than my self.
Regarding your wish, Tiger, to have Ospreys in Ireland, I sympathise; it would be great to have them all over Britain and Ireland. But I also would worry about the birds migrating from there, especially considering that Roy Dennis says British birds have a Scandinavian heritage, and as a result, they head instinctively in a south-westerly direction on migration. If they started out as far west as Ireland, would most of them then meet their end in mid-Atlantic if they headed south west? That would be tragic--they have enough working against them now!
Kind regards, Ann
GARDENBIRDER - This brings up the case of GLEN (WHITE PK)a bird tracked by HFW in 2008.
He found himself due to bad weather in Roscommon in Ireland having fledged from a nest near Forres - the weather was still bad and this was the last signal we heard and it was assumed being on a very SW routing may have flown into the Atlantic Ocean.
I have always wondered why a translocation to Ireland may not have already taken place but can only think that SNH or Roy Dennis himself have a case against this because of similar reasons given by yourself.
I do not think SNH (Scottish Government) will issue another licence to translocate until the present to Spain expires as this affects 12 birds annually over five years and do not see any translocations taking place from England/Wales. This would also rule out any translocations to other regions of UK for the next five years.
Based on the spread of the more adventurous Rutland birds and their descendants, the next location for a UK project surely has to be the south coast.