This is a wonderful book describing how the ospreys were first extirpated in Scotland around 1916 and then were found to return in 1954.
A number of people on the forum now have a copy so we can have a discussion about it.
Here is what the book looks like. Its ISBN number is: 9780434089109
Tiger Signature
Thank you will try 'Amazon' for a start.
Hazel b said: Daisy Ray and Mary I look forward to hearing what you think of the book. Perhaps we need to start a campaign for RD to get an Knighhood!
Daisy Ray and Mary I look forward to hearing what you think of the book. Perhaps we need to start a campaign for RD to get an Knighhood!
Tiger - My thoughts exactly. I am deadly serious too, I wonder if there is some official way that a person's name could be put forward???
I was moved and touched many times reading his book, he is truly selfless and dedicated, for instance the time that he was building nests for Rutland Water March 1995, eg:
quote: "Then round by road to the last site - the guys took the ladder across by boat - got really rough and windy and it was a real struggle to get the ladder up and in the end only managed to put up a few lots of sticks and bag of grass. Then abondoned it as rain, hail and thunder. Exhausted and wet - back to cottage. Left at 3 pm and drove to the Highlands. Very heavy snow showers on way north - black ice and snow drifts in Drumochter - home 11.30 p.m." unquote
Now to drive home all that way after a day of hard work building nests is incredulous, back in 1995 the roads were not as good as they are today.
I know I shouldnt have re-typed those words from his book as it is copyrighted, but I am sure in this instance it isnt doing any harm. I really do think if anyone deserves a Knighthood it is him, when you think of all the Knighthoods that are handed out for some that have done nothing for society. What do you think? Is it possible to organise something???
EJ's Memorial Balgavies Loch Ospreys 2023
I'm on tenterhooks waiting for it now! I was hoping to find it waiting for me when I came home this afternoon. Bother - it wasn't there!
YAAAYY, Tiger! My lovely book arrived this morning, and packed so beautifully.
Unknown said: Daisy Ray and Mary I look forward to hearing what you think of the book. Perhaps we need to start a campaign for RD to get an Knighhood!
I really do think if anyone deserves a Knighthood it is him, when you think of all the Knighthoods that are handed out for some that have done nothing for society. What do you think? Is it possible to organise something???
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Well then Tiger - could we do anything to make this happen????
Yes, just keep us posted.
Finished it!!! Absolutely brilliant, I couldn't put it down! Sooo well written, you just lived it all with them!
I got a copy of the Ospreys in Speyside on Amazon. Now to read that next!
Val C said: Finished it!!! Absolutely brilliant, I couldn't put it down! Sooo well written, you just lived it all with them! I got a copy of the Ospreys in Speyside on Amazon. Now to read that next!
A good recommendation then? :)
So what was so good about it?
Tiger, I think their drive and determination to succeed in protecting the ospreys in dire circumstances was so admirable. They weren't even sure the ospreys would be there at all never mind exactly where they would turn up. Absolute dedication to the ospreys. It must have been so cold and uncomfortable. I am sure there were times when they thought of giving up. The detail in the book is excellent. It gives such a great background to where they are today. The situation we have now might never have happened but for Philip and George.
What was amazing to me was how little they knew about ospreys. For example they did not realise that the construction foundin the Sluggan Pass in 1955 was not a real eyrie. Chle and I had a go at trying to find the Sluggan Pass back in July. We got quite close but realise that a proper investigation would require a hike.
Of course the most amazing thing which happened to us was accidently meeting George Waterstone's brother.
I love page 169 where they are trying to work out when the chicks are due to hatch. If you told most people on this forum that the first egg was laid on 1st May they would not come up with a hatching date of June 4th. Mind you if the hen was EJ they might. Still I do not think that there were any chicks in that nest on June 4th 1959.
It has been the most enormous thrill that so many people have bought this book and enjoyed it so much. If I had not decided to buy a copy all those years ago how things might have been different. I never saw another copy until about 2006 when for some inexplicable reason I decided to aquire one and give it as a gift to an osprey fan.