I took a trip to Rutland Water on July 17th, arriving at 9am after a long drive. It was to be a long day as I didn't leave until about 8.00 that evening. It was worth staying there for such a length of time as I spent most of the day watching the three juveniles from the Manton Bay nest practising their flying skills in front of me - they were diving into the water, catching sticks and weed and sometimes completely immersing themselves! I ended up taking nearly 1000 photos and it has taken me a long time to sort out which ones to post. I hope that by posting these I can show you all what it looks like to watch young ospreys developing their fishing skills - not everyone can get to somewhere like this and just watch them.
Keep your eyes open as there are a lot more photos to come. I hope you all enjoy these.
"Birds are, quite simply, little miracles - and as such they require care and consideration."
Magnus Ullman
My Flickr account is here
Set fourteen.
Brilliant, Limpy.
Set Fifteen.
This is the last Set of 1J 2J & 3J.
So what were they doing?
Were they learning to fish, learning to retrieve from the water, just washing their feet or just plain having fun. I will leave it to you to make your own minds up. As for me I'm not sure - I think only they know what they were doing. Maybe someone with more knowledge may be able to tell me what they think.
I do know one thing - I was pleased to be there and able to take the photos for you all to see. I do count myself lucky although I do find it difficult to get to some of the places I go to see the wildlife and I do suffer for days afterwards. I am pleased to be able to do this for those who can't get around or aren't so lucky as I am so for all those that have looked in on this thread I do hope you have enjoyed the photos.
Limpy have immensely enjoyed your photos and thanks for sharing them with everyone. they are great and you should be proud!!
Limpy, I have thoroughly enjoyed seeing all of your photographs and a big Thank You for not only having the patience to sit and take them for all that time but also for posting them on here.
Sorry had yet more problems loading photos.
Your photos are just brilliant Limpy, thank you so much for sharing your time at RW. You might be interested in this Youtube vid I came across, which shows a bird skimming the water, just like your pic. The person holding the camera seemed to think it was washing its feet. That bit starts at about 5min42.
Birdie's DU Summaries 2018 https://www.imagicat.com/
I'm afraid I don't post much in the "off" season, but just wanted to say a big THANK YOU to Limpy for these fantastic photos of RW ospreys. Very much appreciated. It's inspired me to plan a trip to RW myself. Very many thanks for giving us so much of your time to posting.