It is the 1st September and the osprey season is all but over. It has gone very quickly.It was a very sad year for Loch Garten. Everything was going very well until Odin disappeared on 18th May. This led to the loss of the chicks. Then on July 14 EJ disappeared too. Her fate is unknown. So there is great uncertainty for next year as it is not known quite what is expected.
Dyfi has been very successful this year with three very healthy juveniles already on the way south.
Glaslyn has got three male juveniles all ready to migrate. Also birds hatched in 2014 (Blue 9C) and 2015 (Blue W0) were spotted back in Britain.
Bassenthwaite has three fledged chicks this year.
Manton Bay had one of its chicks disappear early and it is not clear if it migrated or not.
Kielder has done well with 9 chicks flying south. Two of these are carrying GSM transmitters.
Loch of the Lowes has two juveniles this year.
The high point of the year for me was the translocation of eight young ospreys to Poole harbour.
Tiger Signature
It is indeed sad news, Tiger. I know it had been a very successful venture, and had read many comments on here and FB about how delicious and tempting their cakes were. Indeed I think that last year they decided to allocate tables by bookings only, to control numbers, but perhaps that was part of the slow withdrawal. A sad reason for retirement when one should be looking forward. I wish them well.
Birdie's DU Summaries 2018 https://www.imagicat.com/
Apparently you can still order whole cakes from them and the wildlife hide can still be booked.
Kind regards, Ann
Do we know who is the current oldest breeding female?
Lady held that accolade for quite a while, and is currently claimed to be that on the RW site, although she dnr in 2015. They clearly updated the page because they referred to 2017 on it, but perhaps the piece on Lady needs another look!"Loch of the Lowes female ‘Lady’ is currently thought to be the oldest breeding Osprey in the UK and has returned to the Scottish site for 22 years now. "
Green J was 1991, is she still around? She bred in 2016 with Blue CL6(13) m, but don't have notes about her for last year.
EJ is 1997, will she return?
Green 5B/Beatrice was 2002, but died over-winter in Spain in 2016
Mrs G started breeding at Glaslyn in 2004, could could be anything from a 2000 to 2002 osprey.
I've been delving a bit - actually trying to remember who the male osprey was who kept getting caught under what I think was Blashford Lakes fisheries, white something, someone well known LOL - and came across this little snippet, from April 2012. Is she a contender for the oldest breeding female, if she is still around!!
Posted by Nikon4Pete on 8 April 2012
Posts are disappearing. I wrote more on that post about White SY( but it just went. I then typed a separate post, and that too has gone. Grrr
I typed out the blog of April 2012 which said
Taken from Roy Dennis Blog 7 April 2012: This evening, I've just had an email from Garry Prescott who got some beautiful photos of a colour ringed osprey at Blashford Lakes, Hampshire today - very exciting for him. It's an adult female which I ringed 15 years ago as a chick near Aviemore in the Scottish Highlands. The colour ring was white/black SY on right leg. I don't know where she is breeding, but not in my study area where I check every breeding osprey for colour rings. Thanks Garry for the great photos
I wonder whether she is still breeding, will she be the oldest breeding osprey, if EJ fails to return. To many imponderables!
Sheila the bird you are thinking of is White YA who was rescued from the nets at BLAGDON Lake, in Somerset on 29/3/13. He got caught again two days later and was rescued again! IIRC this was a bird which Emyr had rung. Will search for more info.
Birdies LG DU update.
More:- (From Glaslyn site)
White YA (2007)
2013 – March 25th: White YA photographed at Blagdon Lakes, Somerset, subsequently caught in stewpond nets and released on three occasions.
2013 – March: White YA confirmed as being the breeding male at Kielder Water nest 1, replacing the previous male in 2012.
2012 – July: White YA raised one chick Blue H0 (Probable female),
1
2013 – April 7th White YA back at Nest 1. Raised one chick with unringed female, Blue 6H (sex unknown).
2014 – April 2nd: White YA returned to nest with same female. Raised three chicks, Blue UV (satellite tagged – male), Blue VV (satellite tagged – female) and Blue VT (female).
3
Here he is being rescued. Was rung at Glaslyn so that is where Emyr comes into it.
Hero! How could I have got it so wrong. I remember the incidents so well, but not correctly! Well, the place did begin with a B (no wonder I couldn't find it!) At least it was a White ring! Thank you so much for checking it out. I really ought to have remembered because of the connection with Kielder. Oh well, that's age for you!
Never mind, Sheila--these things happen to us all! White YA only stands out for me because of his amazing luck in being rescued 3 times at Blagdon Lakes! His story just shows the huge factor that luck can play in Osprey survival. If no one had been around to notice that he was caught in the netting, that would have been the end of his story.
But now he and his Glaslyn brother 37 have both been nesting successfully at Kielder for a few years and he has young who have returned several times.