Continued from Manton Bay – April 2024.
The history of the Manton Bay nest and stats can be found here .
2024 Season Summary: Maya, equalling her own record, was the first osprey to return back arriving on 12 March @ 15:58 and her partner, Blue 33(11) joined her on the 13 March @ 15:25. The pair quickly re-established their bond and Maya laid three eggs, the first on 30 March @ 13:58, the second on 02 April @ 13:15 and a third on 05 April @ 11:06. At 10:50 on 5 May Maya remove one egg from the nest and the pair continued to incubate the two eggs of which only one was viable (most likely the third egg) and hatched at 23:23 on 10 May. On 15 May at 14:21 a live fish was delivered to the nest displacing the chick into the sticks at the side of the nest. Unable to get free, Rutland Officials organised a rescue operation. They accessed the nest and placed the chick back in the middle of the nest and thankfully none the worse for its ordeal.
A few weeks later the unviable egg eventually broke and was removed by Maya. The chick thrived under the care and protection of its parents and on 19 June 2024 was ringed with the Blue Darvic IR0. The ringing was recorded and can be seen here and his vitals were noted as follows:
Blue IR0(24) spent the next couple of weeks strengthening his wings and on 3 July 2024 at 08:07, IRO fledged
Blue 33(11) will continue to provide for his family and IRO will explore his surroundings, building his strength and confidence for the long journey ahead when he will take off on his first migration.
Checking back and not a lot of activity today
Just now - 16:33 IRO has arrived
He'll be wanting a fish tea
16:41 IR0 backs, calling as 33 approaches
16:41 FISH - 33 has a small, live fish for him
the fish gets loose and flaps across the nest, IR0 pounces on it
16:42 33 leaves and IR0 follows with his fish
17:23 IR0 is back on the nest, fish calling
I wonder if one of the adults is on the cam post and he is calling up to them lol
IR0 is on and off the nest continuing to fish call
18:35 IR0 flies off -
18:36 33 lands with a fish piece - he appears to have come down from the cam post. IR0 is hot on his talons and grabs the fish
33 flies off
18:38 IR0 takes off with the fish
19:36 IR0 is back on the nest - fishless
19:37 33 arrives with a large, live fish for him
lucky IR0 - 33 is taking good care of him
19:38 33 flies off leaving IR0 standing on the wriggling fish
19:40 IR0 flies off with the fish
After much thought, I’ve opted to do the same as previous years and will soon close this thread and start off a new one for August until the end of February 2025 covering their migrations and any overwinter activity.