This March we had 83 members attend and 3 visitors at the Village Hall to meet up with friends old and new for a
cuppa and chat and to listen to our speaker Simon Curtin tell us about The Re-Introduction of the Osprey.

Whether you are a birdwatcher or just mildly interested, this talk was so informative, amusing and told with such passion that the audience was carried along with this fight to get these amazing birds back in numbers to the UK.

Osprey became extinct in the UK due to persecution by humans who resented their fish being taken by such successful fishers. Only 5% of Osprey will survive the 3000 mile migration to Africa from UK, so there are several re-introduction projects being undertaken nationwide but still only 100 young are hatched each year in the UK. Simon is particularly focusing on Belvoir Castle as a site to coax breeding pairs to nest successfully. These birds weighing 1.5 to 2 kilos have an impressive wing span of 6 foot and can live up to 20 years. We saw several photographs both stills and videos.

Osprey nesting sites are being built by project teams by strategically ‘planting’ 30 foot telegraph poles with platforms on top with entwined branches and soil to encourage nesting. Tiny cameras record the Osprey activity at the nest, typically the male bird returns to the UK in March/April, finds a mate, hopefully, then she lays eggs April/May which hatch July/August. The female migrates August/September leaving the male to continue feeding the fledglings until he migrates late September. Leaving the young to find their way to Africa. Some Ospreys are tracked electronically, they are ringed before fledgling. In 2022, the first time in 200 years, a family unit was established at Belvoir Castle, it migrated but none returned the following year then in 2024, ‘2H824’ found his way back to Belvoir. We were all carried along on this migration and felt quite emotional when it succeeded.