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

4th July 2024

Now that the single chick had fledged the day before, time for our annual pilgrimage to Rutland Water to see the Ospreys. The nest at Manton Bay has been in existence since 2007 but has been occupied by a female called Maya since 2010. Maya is unringed and assumed to be one of the Scottish birds and is the only Osprey at Rutland to be given a name.

She had mixed success with other males but then teamed up with male 33(11) in 2015 and bred successfuly with 3 chicks. 33(11) means that its ring number is 33 and it was born and ringed in 2011. Since 2015 she has produced a further 17 chicks but it is not clear whether this includes this year's chick.

There were three eggs this year but only one chick, and even that had a lucky escape when a large fish brought into the nest flipped over and bounced the chick to the edge of the nest. It was necessary for the warden to go out to the nest in a boat and move the chick back to the middle of the nest.

It's always great to get into the hide and look out over to the nest and take some shots of the family. The first two photos show the two adults and the juvenile, with un-ringed Maya on the camera post.

The juvenile is in the nest on the right as can be seen from the pale fringes to many of the wing coverts giving the back a speckly appearance, even more evident in the third photo.

And here is the juvenile joining one of the adults high up in a Poplar tree.

The adults were fairly sedentary all day and because there was only one chick there were also less flights. However the chick was obviously enjoying his new-found wings and went on several laps of the immediate surrounding area but without straying too far.

Here Maya noticed a twig floating in the water and went down to pick it up for the nest, after all twigs were in short supply!!

The following are a random selection of shots taken during the day.

But the main excitement of the day came when an Osprey from another territory drifted over Manton Bay. Maya was scrambled to intercept the intruder and escort it out of their air space. Maya's performance was very impressive, very controlled but also very effective.

They came within feet of each other on occasions, but never any contact, and Maya's persistence and close shadowing was enough to eventually drive the intruder back over the main reservoir.