Seymour Birdies Diary: A Day with the Ospreys at Rutland Water

8th July 2019

Early July so time for our annual pilgrimage to see and hopefully photograph the Rutland Ospreys. Maya and 033 have nested once again and this year have four young. When we arrived at the reserve, three of the young had already fledged and were sitting in the trees around the nest, but the fourth youngster 057 was still quite a bit smaller so hadn't quite plucked up courage to take that leap into the outside world.

While we were waiting for the action to get underway there was plenty going on around the hide. There were a few Black-headed Gulls looking very smart and a Pied Wagtail collecting food for its family. A Little Egret also put in an appearance.

There were also a dozen or so Common Terns around which spent their time just sitting around on posts, interspersed with some fishing.

A Little Grebe was spending a lot of its time diving for food in the algae-covered shallow water, whilst nearby its larger cousin the Great Crested Grebe was sitting on its nest.

Time for a changeover and a quick turn of the eggs.

But I digress. So what about the Ospreys? Well there were a few quiet moments but on the whole they put on a good show with plenty of opportunities for some shots. The first shot is of 057, the youngster that is still to fledge. Here it is trying out its wings, or what they call "helicoptering"

These two are both youngsters as can be seen by their streaky backs. The youngsters were never far away from the nest, but went on several practice flights between the nest and the neighbouring trees.

Here is one of the adults bringing in another twig for the nest, where all the youngsters really wanted was a fish. The youngsters don't fish at all while the adults are still around, but when the adults leave for their return journey to Africa, the youngsters are left to fend for themselves and will probably catch their first fish on the first leg of their own journey.

Flight shots are a lot more tricky as the light conditions are forever changing depending on whether the birds are flying in front of dark trees or against a bright sky. Luckily we had several hours to practise and here are some of the results.