Everyone here is obviously an osprey enthusiast. How did you first discover the magic of ospreys and what have they done for you?
For me my love affair with ospreys began in the early eighties. I went into a bargain basement bookshop in central London and bought a discounted osprey book called "The Scottish Ospreys from extinction to survival" by Philip Brown. It was a book I very much enjoyed reading but there it remained. After that I did not hear much more about ospreys until the mid to late nineties. There was some footage of the Loch Garten ospreys shown in the late nineties but although I may have it on video somewhere I cannot locate it.
In July 1999 I found that Rutland Water had launched a new website to cover their translocation project which had begun in 1996. I became an immediate fan.
1999 also marked the start of osprey tracking. I found that facinating as I still do.
The first osprey cam I remember was most likely at Blackwater, Maryland. It was one new picture about every 15 minutes. It did not really change life that much.
The great saga of Henry and EJ and OVS began in 2003 and that ran for five years.
Then on around 1st June 2004 I discovered what was the original streaming osprey webcam. It was DPOF and it was so exciting. From there on life was forever different.
From there it has just grown and grown. It means that five or six months of the year just flash past. It has meant meeting a wonderful group of people. Also being at a loose end is a thing of the past.
Thanks to the wonder of the osprey.
Tiger Signature
TerryM I would not bother with The Return of the Osprey. It is not nearly as good as Scottish Ospreys. I have got a copy of it but was disappointed by it.
Ospreys by Roy Dennis from 1991 is a fairly good book.
I see that there are seven copies of "Ospreys" by Roy Dennis on AbeBooks. Some of them dirt cheap too. Copies of "Life of Ospreys" too.
I wonder if Roy is publishing any more books soon?
HI Tiger. What have Ospreys done for me?
Well, I found them by accident really. I'd got interested in the Peregrines at Chichester close to where I live and had been watching them regularly on the webcam but of course the Peregrnes fledge in June so in July the webcam closed down and there on the RSPB site was the Ospreys live webcam. I started to watch--it was the year of Deshar and Nethy and they were just off on their first migration. I was completely hooked. I watched on Google earth through the winter and then was completly thrilled when EJ arrived back the follwing spring on the same day she had arrived the year before. I managed to get to LG last year to see them live which was wonderful and very emotional and of course I joined the RSPB.
Watching the OSpreys just makes me feel so happy--I can't get over the fact that they fly back to the same nesting sight from Africa every year to the same mate. They are a joy to watch and have really transformed my life. Everyone is so helpful and friendly on this site--I just love it. A big thank you to you all.
Milly Very interesting. Talking of peregrines have you see the saga of Ma, Pa and S2 at De Mortel in 2007
Well here it is in just over nine minutes:
Hi Milly, nice to see you here amongst fellow ospreyholics :) Similar story here. I started off watching Peregrines too, six years ago now. Same year was introduced to ospreys and fell in love with them. Never looked back :)
ChloeB & Tiger's Osprey Data
Tiger
Thank you for that amazing film--really lovely shots of the birds,never seen it before. I've never heard of a female peregrine taking over a ready made family before--I know they fight to take over a nest--just shows, there's so much to learn. I always think the peregrine nest looks such a mess at the end of the season compared to the Ospreys Thanks again Tiger and Hello to CholeB.
They have given me a very exciting season culminating with the fledging of Bynack. Great times on the daily update thread and got to know new wonderful people!
"What Have Ospreys Done for Me?" - made me cry, that's what! - just saw the latest fledging, and Oh what a thrill.
Ditto Tiger! An absolutely fantastic season indeed :)
Watching Bynack fledge was brilliant for me as I missed Tore's fledge. Nothing like seeing it live is there? :)
I did post on this thread a while ago but to add to that ospreys changed my life forever, even more so since I saw them in the flest on my volunteering week. Very emotional time for me but words can never describe how wonderful ospreys are.
Margobird