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
Good morning Clare. You are right that is one not to be missed. Thank you for finding/posting.
Birdies LG DU update.
Eyes turn toward Loch Garten today to find out where Breagha will be? Any thoughts?
He'll have cleared Morocco and be seriously closing in on Oighrig.
Our herring gulls are red listed birds. Think about that the next time you hear some flaming idiot calling for a cull of them.
Clare Bailey said: He'll have cleared Morocco and be seriously closing in on Oighrig.
Although I have not studied it detail I think he will be easily clear of Morocco and maybe western Sahara too.
I will say Mauritania, Banc d'Arguin National Park. 1670Km.
ChloeB & Tiger's Osprey Data Site
Sat track schedule Spring 2014
LG 7 days; RW & SWT nil; LDOP varies
Well Captain Liz is causing some consternation. See here
This is what RB said Cap'n Liz, on the other hand, didn't have it so easy. She started south from Cape Cod. This being her first trip south, she did what her genes told her to do. Head for any bit of land you can see due south. That got her to Nantucket. Then, when she got to the south shore of Nantucket, she asked her genes, "Now what?" And her genes told her, "Just go south--and good luck!"So our gal is off on a wild ride. This is not unprecedented-lots of our juvenile Ospreys have made the trip from the Vineyard to the Bahamas. Most have gone a bit further west than Cap'n Liz, which makes for a slightly shorter trip. Belle, who is now south of the Equator for the third time!, pushed the envelope even harder than Liz is now. For the first 11 hours of her flight, Liz had a tail wind and was up between 70 and 500 m above sea level. After she had flown through the night, when her GPS unit started recording again she was down flying right at the tops of the waves, so she probably was fighting a bit of a headwind, but it wasn't a bad one. She was flying right about 20 mph. A bit slow, but not terribly so. She pushed on through another night, and when she sent us her next signals, she had flown 860 miles in 45 hours. She still has about 530 miles to go, which should take her about 26 hours. That will make her whole trip 61 hours of non-stop flight. Pretty impressive, but nothing like the 6 or 7-day flights that Bar-tailed Godwits make out over the Pacific.She should make it. She's been fattening up for a couple of weeks on the Cape so the tank should be full, and the weather in front of her looks good.But we do have to wait 3 days before we find out if she made it. Keep your talons crossed and check the website on the 13th
Not looking brilliant but only one more day until further news.
ChloeB & Tiger's Osprey Data
I would reccomend viewing the film mentioned in this link, It features LoL and is a fascinating film
An engrossing & extremely well made film which I have saved for repeat viewings - great to see Emma in particular, she comes across so well, a natural!
Many thanks Mike for posting this link
2013 photos & vids here
eff37 on Flickr
You are welcome Wendy.Glad you liked it. Great to put a face to a name as well.