2025 Ospreys
Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons
I haven’t looked at all the UK sites, but this year seems to be a better year for Ospreys than 2024. The Loch Arkaig pair, Louis and Dorcha, hatched three eggs, but one chick perished, cause unknown. The remaining two osplets look healthy and vigorous.
In Manton Bay, in Rutland, the nest site has been occupied each year by the same female, Maya, since 2010. An experienced parent, she has raised four chicks this year, with the mate she has had since 2015.
The Poole Harbour ospreys have also successfully raised four chicks, but at Loch of the Lowes, both eggs were lost, predated by crows. The breeding pair here was inexperienced.
When the birds depart in August or September for their winter grounds, they do not retain their pair bond. The siblings do not maintain family connections, either. When or if the adults return in March or April, they will go back to their familiar sites and resume their relationship.
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Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons
About 70% of osplets will not survive to the age of three, when ospreys start breeding. However, there are now about three hundred breeding pairs in UK, a huge recovery from the extinction they suffered in the 1880s. The first ospreys to return to Scotland arrived from Scandinavia in the 1950s and numbers have gradually increased.
Ospreys
are still rarer than Golden Eagles.
Hi. I am back here my friend
ReplyDeleteHow is it going
Its 07.30 am in the morning here in Indonesia when I am writing this comment for you
It's great to hear that 2025 has been a better year for ospreys! So heartwarming to see Maya still going strong since 2010. Sad about the Loch of the Lowes nest, though.
Cheersssssssssssss
It is sad when breeding fails, but that is Nature.
DeleteOspreys are a very striking bird as they hunt and then dive and pull out a fish.
ReplyDeleteIt is truly amazing to see how quickly the chicks develop from wobble-headed babies to birds capable of flying thousands of miles, and all on a diet exclusively of fish!
DeleteThey are beautiful to see in flight.
ReplyDeleteBirds of prey are magnificent - power, strength and beauty.
DeleteThe only osprey I've seen flew overhead from a nearby RAF base with a great clatter and rumble of engine noise!
ReplyDeleteLOL!!
DeleteIt's sad to hear that many UK osprey nests are thriving this year. Each site tells a unique story of resilience, experience, and the ever-fascinating rhythms of migration and return
ReplyDeleteIt seems that the more southerly sites are more successful than the northerly ones, though the weather has generally been much more favourable this year.
DeleteSuch a majestic bird. I hope they are able to maintain a healthy population.
ReplyDeleteI hope so, too. Somehow it gives hope for the future and we need that!
DeleteThe Osprey here doing well. They had two chicks this spring. Mostly it was trying to keep them warm and dry because of the weather we've had now they're over just as the heat gets really really hot. But they should be safe.
ReplyDeleteThey have to withstand extreme weather, but that means it's the strongest who survive, and that's good for the species as a whole.
DeleteHopefully their numbers keep growing
ReplyDeleteFingers crossed!
DeleteIt's good to hear that numbers of osprey are on the increase. I remember when red kites were almost extinct, we now see them every day around where we live.
ReplyDeleteYes, the red kites have really thrived.I love to see and hear them.
DeleteHoping the osprey population continues to recover. We have so many native birds now in the United States that are in decline.
ReplyDeleteIt's very sad. Wildlife is a measure of the health of the planet.
DeleteMy husband volunteers at the Dyfi Osprey Project, just south of Machynlleth in mid-Wales: https://www.dyfiospreyproject.com/ The nest can be watched live over the internet 24/7 from March until September. Three chicks were ringed there this morning. From a single chick hatched from a mid-Wales nest in 2004, there are now at least 12 nests in Wales - some of which are on private land. I think the Welsh osprey population will continue to grow as in the rest of the UK.
ReplyDeleteWe were watching the Dyfi site just yesterday. What a wonderful thing for your husband to be involved in.
DeleteIt is his second home! We're on holiday at the moment but he's been following the family and waiting for the ringing. There'll be more about that on the site tomorrow - thanks for watching!
DeleteWe have osprey here. On the Seneca reservation, they build platforms along the water to encourage nesting. One little bit of information made me laugh. Even the best families need time apart, I guess!
ReplyDeleteIt's wonderful that they seem to be thriving now.
Deletelove the five weeks old chicks. adorable. we love our ospreys, so much fun to watch them feed the babies. have not seen them since 2020 though.
ReplyDeleteI wonder what's happened to your ospreys?
DeleteA success story. We do see them locally sometimes, so I guess we never had a near extinction.
ReplyDeleteThey were hunted to extinction here, like so many other things.
DeleteDid not know they were threatened. Beautiful photo. -Christine cmlk79.blogspot.com
ReplyDeleteThey are building up their numbers now, which is good.
ReplyDeleteThis post reminds me of when I was a kid flipping randomly in the encyclopedia and reading the article. Fun times.
ReplyDelete😊
DeleteOsplets? I never knew that word! We have them in Florida, my home state, though I'm not sure they're exactly the same kind.
ReplyDeleteWhen they're first hatched they're called 'bobs' b ecause their heads are too heavy for their necks and bobble about, rather like newborn babies!
DeleteMe with the husband that volunteers - apparently all ospreys are one species, found on every continent except Antarctica. I think the ospreys in Florida are not worried by humans, unlike European ospreys who were hunted to extinction.
DeleteI didn't know they were called osplets either. Very interesting.
ReplyDeleteSuch good news that Osprey numbers are on the increase.
ReplyDeleteThe images you've used on your post are lovely.
All the best Jan
All thanks to Wikimedia Commons 😉
DeleteAlso kn own as 'bobs' when first hatched because their heads bob about.
ReplyDeleteGreat info. They are very majestic looking birds.
ReplyDeleteThey are.
ReplyDeleteI love Ospreys! There has been one visiting where I walk. I've had the opportunity to watch it dive and catch fish. It's truly magnificent.
ReplyDeleteOn our way back from camping we stopped at a park where a pair are nesting. One was sitting on the nest and I could see three little heads bobbing about! I would have sat and watched for a while but husband was in a hurry to get back (rolling my eyes).
How lovely to see ospreys in the wild with your own eyes.
ReplyDeleteHusbands never seem to be as keen on stopping and staring as wives, do they?
Glad to hear that the Osprey population is doing better and recovering numbers.
ReplyDeleteIt's quite a remarkable recovery.
ReplyDelete