Odin

Lindybird said:

15.46 on Thursday, 27th Aug.  Looks like its farewell, Odin.  Safe journey.

Of course we have no way of knowing where Odin is right now. I hope he's relaxing somewhere in the sun with a plentiful supply of fish, building up his strength for a triumphal return in 2010.

I'd just like to add my appreciation of Odin and his part in a magical osprey season at LG by way of a few select highlights.

First of all he wooed EJ, this from Richard's blog on 4th April:

"He arrived yesterday afternoon, 3rd April at about 1.30pm. It is not Henry or VS, but an all new suitor for EJ, an unringed bird, origins unknown.  He's looking good so far. How's this for his first 24 hours - seven sky-dance display flights above the nest to impress EJ, seven matings so far, all deemed to be successful, he's brought her one fish so far at 8am this morning, and he has been bringing in nesting material, sticks and moss etc and he's done some nest scraping too. He's thrilled visitors with some very close approaches to the Osprey Centre building, when making sorties to collect sticks. It looks like this boy means business.  Thankfully, EJ would appear to like the cut of his jib, and has been quite accepting of him at and near the nest. Phew, that's a relief!"

And it wasn't just EJ he impressed, David wrote this on 13th May:

"Now is it just me or is Odin an absolutly beautiful osprey? I spent a lot of this morning watching him as he was taking his turn incubating the eggs and he really is quite stunning. I realise that ospreys in general are rather striking birds but I have to say that Odin seems, to me, to be a rather fine example. I have already been hugely impressed with his fishing exploits but his good looks have just added to the general aura that surrounds him."

Then he overcame adversity, this from Richard on 29th May:

"Chronologically it goes like this, roughly.  Odin as you know was trailing this long length of fishing line.  He returned with a fish at c.8pm last evening and it seemed like he had lost the majority of the line, but not all.  When he flew from the nest after having delivered the fish, the line must have snagged on a nest stick, because he was seen flying away, line still trailing and now a stick attached. Very worrying.

As far as we could see, it did look like the line had indeed gone. But one of his wing feathers was sticking verticaly up in the air, still attached but looking like it had been wrenched out of place.  Could he possibly have been strung up over night somewhere, struggling to free himself, hence his very late arrival at the nest and with this feather damage?  We'll never know for sure.  But it could be that Odin had a very close call."

And became the great provider once more, David getting excited on 28th June:

"Super Odin, Odin the Magnificent, Odin the Great, Odin the Fish Dude, Fishy Odin....... ok so maybe not the last one but whatever way you look at it we could not have asked for a better male! He seems intent on breaking every and any record we have, just last night he brought two fish to the nest within 15 minutes of each other, 15MINUTES!! Here we were all thinking how amazing it was that he had brought in two fish within an hour of each other a couple of times and then he goes and does this!

So including that burst from last night the overall total for the past week is 51 fish, an average of over 7 a day! Quite an achievment when you imagine all he has been through over the past few weeks, no fishing line can stop this osprey. I think the Superman 'S' would quite suit Odin at the moment."

Of course the most important thing that Odin has achieved this year is to father three beautiful, healthy chicks. My personal favourite memory of him is when he brought in a fish shortly after Rothes hatched. EJ got up to take the fish off him revealing the newly hatched Rothes and Odin stared at her with what seemed like a mixture of astonishment and pride!

Now we know that that tiny "bundle of joy" (David's words) is currently in West Africa after completing a near flawless migration and Mallachie is also doing well in Portugal. We won't know Garten's fate for at least two years, but who would bet against her turning up somewhere in 2011 or 2012?

Odin appeared at LG on the afternoon of 3rd April this year. Let's hope that he doesn't keep EJ waiting too long next year!