Manton Bay (Rutland) nest updates

Thanks Sandy for the excellent pics taken at RW, they are excellent.

Update from Rutland ospreys:

http://www.ospreys.org.uk/News.html

Unknown said:

Update from Rutland ospreys:

http://www.ospreys.org.uk/News.html

 

 

Thanks for the above Alan and quite an interesting state of affairs until both male and female realised it was not one of their brood.

Not looked in for a while.  Don't post pics as whenever I look at the webcam pics are quite distorted and not too clear.

Great pics Sandy, well done for capturing a landing.

Thanks Alan for the information update, will take a look at it. Glad to see all are progressing well.

Unknown said:

Update from Rutland ospreys:

http://www.ospreys.org.uk/News.html

Just looked at the updates and photos - they are super. thanks for the link, Alan

Sandy,

After seeing the photos you took at Manton Bay on Sunday morning, I'm too embarrassed to post mine! The photos I took during the osprey cruise on Saturday evening were rubbish too, but here's some info about it, in case anyone else is thinking of going - though there are only a couple of dates left this year. 

For the early evening cruises, the arrangement is to meet at the Egleton Centre for an introductory talk about ospreys and the Rutland project. We then drove to Whitwell to embark on the Rutland Belle. We were accompanied by a team of about 6 from the Reserve and the osprey project, including Tim Appleton the Reserve Manager.

 

 For about an hour we toured the south arm of the reservoir, spotting other birdlife (cormorants, egrets, terns, geese) but no ospreys. As we were heading around to the north arm, an osprey - identified as 08 - was spotted heading towards us, and we followed him over to the marina and watched him scanning the water for fish. It was quite choppy, and he eventually gave up and headed off south. The team then received a phone call to say that 5R had left Manton Bay and was heading towards us, we also watched him searching for a while before heading back to Whitwell. Apparently he caught a fish soon after we left!

The cruise lasts about 1.75 hours and I thought it was good - basically if there's a chance of seeing an osprey they'll follow it! Everyone was very friendly and I enjoyed my first visit to Rutland - there seem to be lots of things to see and if you don't live in the area, it's well worth organising a weekend trip during the osprey season.       

So glad you enjoyed your first visit to RW, Sue, and you got to see "08". Lucky you!

I've spent most of the day at Manton Bay and I can say I had the best day's osprey watching since the aforementioned "08" and "5N" raised the two chicks in 2007 - utterly fantastic. All three juveniles are now properly "on the wing" and are delighting themselves and onlookers alike by polishing their acrobatic skills.

Both adults were there most of the day and all five were constantly moving between the nest, the two T perches and the low branch that the youngsters like to use.

I'm pleased to report that we seem to have an extremely clean family as all the juveniles regularly dangled their talons in the water after eating and, much to my surprise, had a number of baths by completely submerging themselves (see pics).

I would strongly urge anyone who has the opportunity to visit Manton Bay in the coming weeks to make the effort as I promise that you won't be disappointed. As Sue says, if you want to see the wider reserve and take in Egleton and all the bird hides there then a weekend would be ideal.

 

Samdy what a great day you must have had.  The photos are just wonderful.

Sandy, that must have been a fantastic day and to see all the birds in flight. Brilliant photographs. Thank you.

Brilliant pics Sandy.  Rutland Water must have the only water ski ing ospreys in the country. LOL