RUTLAND OSPREY PROJECT 2022

1st November. Quick update on Flight of the Osprey (#FOTO): the team have arrived in Senegal, they're camped at ZebraBar inside the Langue de Barbarie National Park. Starting to see many Ospreys now.

Blue4K is roosting happily on his favourite tree in the Pongo River Estuary in Guinea, and the last remaining Tweed Ospreys juvenile Glen, Blue708, has finally made a move south on the 30th, leaving the Anllons area in Spain where he's been for weeks, and is now (1st Nov at 9am UTC+2) nearly at the Portuguese border. Fingers crossed he doesn't go through the area where his brother Tweed Blue706 was recently predated by a Goshawk..

Good morning - here's the youtube link to Episode 3 of Radio 4's Flight of the Ospreys series for those outside the UK who can't access the BBC. Of the Ospreys being tracked by the expedition, Rutland's 4K is safely on his favourite tree in the Pongo River estuary in Guinea, while the sole surviving Tweed Valley juvenile Glen 708 is still in Spain - but after being within sight of the Portuguese border, has headed north and is back more or less where he first made landfall.

The keen-eyed will spot this is not an Osprey. But still.. near-neighbours and possible competitors, so worth a mention. Plus of course, ever so cute!

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leicestershire-63972345.amp

8pm tonight: Facebook live Q&A with Sacha Dench, Tim Mackrill and Simon Curtin of Belvoir Osprey project, home of satellite-tagged Rutland’s adult male Blue 4K. The presentation will cover Flight of the Osprey’s expedition to 4K’s winter home in Guinea, and answer the question of whether or not the team was able to find him.

8pm GMT (UTC) tonight 19th December:

https://m.facebook.com/conservation.without.borders

Many thanks, Geemeff. I watched the recording on Facebook after the live event. I am sure you and others may know (but some may not) that 4K is a nephew of the second Queen of the Dyfi, Rutland area bird, Glesni, ringed Blue 12(10). Glesni's brother, Blue 11(10), is 4K's father and 25(10) is 4K's mother.

Unknown said:

Many thanks, Geemeff. I watched the recording on Facebook after the live event. I am sure you and others may know (but some may not) that 4K is a nephew of the second Queen of the Dyfi, Rutland area bird, Glesni, ringed Blue 12(10). Glesni's brother, Blue 11(10), is 4K's father and 25(10) is 4K's mother.

Thanks Ann, 

great to have some more background on this remarkable bird. I know his parents and grandparents, but I didn't know he was Glesni's nephew. A proper UK database updated by all the various projects would be very helpful. But until then, luckily there are people like you to fill in the gaps - many thanks!

Morning! Here's the link for last night's Conservation Without Borders Facebook Live with Sacha Dench, Tim Mackrill, and Belvoir Ospreys Simon Curtin about the hunt for Blue 4K, now available on YouTube (which is better for people like me who're not on FB).

It's quite an adventure! Simon provides the background, and Tim briefly discusses the merits of tracking before Sacha gets into the details of the actual search for one bird in a huge mangrove delta against the background of incredulous locals, world cup football, and a nasty little beetle.

Episode 9 of Flight of the Osprey airs on BBC Radio 4 today, I'll send the link as soon as it's ready.

Glen's still in the same place in Morocco, happily fishing and roosting. I'm still tracking him several times daily, and will let you know if anything changes.

Today's Episode 9 of Flight of the Ospreys, both Blue 4K and Glen Blue 708 are discussed:

As I am unfortunately not part of the Rutland 'in-crowd', once they stopped releasing information about most of their birds and nests apart from Manton Bay, I was interested to learn from this latest Flight of the Ospreys on Radio 4 that 4K is the first of the 4th generation Ospreys from Rutland to breed, as Tim said. But does that mean 4K is the first 4th generation Rutland Osprey to breed in the Rutland area, the first male known to breed there or anywhere, or the first of any 4th generation Osprey (male or female) known to breed there or anywhere? Or something else?
As for Osprey relationships and other information I often go to the ukospreys,uk site. It is usually correct as far as I know, although sometimes the gender of a bird is discovered to be different from what was thought at the time of ringing and that information does not always appear quickly, a minor issue (although not for the bird, I expect!). I also like Tiger's and Chloe's site, imagicat.com, which is very informative as well.