Osprey sightings 2014

LOL Keith!  I suspect it is late to leave.  Most odd though.  What must it be thinking of all the snow, which I feel must be around, or further inland perhaps!

Another thought, could it have been a Scandinavian bird, late to leave and having a rest before it heads on further south.  We will never know.  I hope that Strathbeg continues to report on its presence though.

Hope someone gets a decent photo. The reports sound increasingly credible - Strathbeg staff evidently think it is genuine - but I'm still not entirely convinced it isn't a case of mistaken identity. It is just so much further north than any previous January sighting.

If this is an osprey, I hope the poor bird gets itself straightened out and heads south before it really is too late. Even in France - Normandy or Brittany, say - it would stand a rather better chance of survival.

I believe that Loch Garten was covered in ice yesterday, but whether it was just a thin covering I don't know.  It really does need to get a move on before the temperatures do begin to drop - as surely they must?  It's been up to 11 near Cambridge but feeling like 6 degrees.

This was the Loch of Strathbeg on Friday afternoon:

Thanks deveronside!  Did you take the photo, and did you see the osprey?

There has been a couple of sightings in Holland this month. One on 3rd January which they are pretty sure about and another on 14th which turned out to be a hawk.

SheilaFE - yes I did take the photo and a number of others. When the Strathbeg team member told me about the sighting, I went to the ruined church of Rattray which overlooks the loch. You get a good view there towards St Combs but, despite keeping my eyes peeled, sadly I did not see the osprey. There were Whooper Swans to the right, Cormorants and Shags in the middle, the Mute Swan family on the left and lots of ducks, divers etc pootling about. Let's hope someone else is luckier and they also have a camera!

I wonder whether it will be sighted further south..

France,Gard:

mercredi 15 janvier 2014

Station de pompage / Saint-Gilles (30)

1 Balbuzard pêcheur (Pandion haliaetus)

[Bastien Guibert ]