1/10/2024 0 Comments Longest wingspan nba“Ospreys are magnificent birds,” said Dunstan. One of the chicks has already migrated and the second is expected to migrate soon. 4K is fitted with a satellite tag, allowing the wildlife charity Conservation Without Borders to monitor his 3,000-mile migration to Guinea in west Africa each autumn and his return trip in the spring. The new chicks – one male, one female – are the offspring of 4K, a ringed male bird born at Rutland Water in 2013, and an unringed female osprey, thought to be from Scotland. “They normally build them on tall trees, with open space to look out on.” As ospreys eat fish, they need water sources and the estate has lots of lakes and ponds. After noticing ospreys were visiting the area, Belvoir built platforms in the hope that the birds would nest there. The two chicks at Belvoir, reared naturally, were the result of an eight-year “massive collaborative effort” involving community members, tenant farmers, the Leicestershire & Rutland Wildlife Trust, and the Roy Dennis Wildlife Foundation. Nora and Monty on their nest on the Dyfi estuary, Wales. There’s also a need to protect the best wetland habitats along migratory flyways and on wintering grounds for ospreys and other migratory species,” Mackrill said. “There’s a need for simple, local action to limit human-made threats, such as electrocutions, but also international collaboration to address overfishing and the illegal persecution of migratory birds. It’s estimated the number of ospreys killed in the Mediterranean region each year ranges from 47 to 349. “Illegal killing is an issue in some areas. ![]() “The birds also face human-made threats as they head south,” he said. Mackrill runs the Osprey Leadership Foundation, which works on conservation issues with young people in the UK, Senegal and the Gambia. Satellite tracking has shown mortality is most likely during long sea or desert crossings.” The Sahara is also a challenge – the birds go four to six days without food. “Easterly winds in autumn can be problematic for young birds from the UK because they may be blown out into the Bay of Biscay and lost at sea. “The first migration for juvenile ospreys is particularly hazardous because they migrate alone and must also learn to catch fish en route,” said Tim Mackrill, former manager of the Rutland Osprey Project, who helped with the ospreys at Belvoir. The birds face other dangers, too, on their migratory route through Europe to Africa. Though the number in the UK is steadily growing, there are still cases of people taking osprey eggs or felling nests. In the US, numbers have steadily increased since the 1970s, largely due to the widespread ban of DDT and other pesticides. ![]() The global population of ospreys is estimated to be fewer than 100,000 birds, though it is the world’s second most widely distributed raptor species, after the peregrine falcon, with the birds found as far apart as China and Venezuela. Tim Appleton, site manager at Rutland Water, rings an osprey chick. Two chicks hatched one of them was later killed by a goshawk). Earlier this year, an osprey pair in Poole harbour, Dorset, produced eggs, the first in southern England for 200 years. ![]() On Bolton Castle estate, near Leyburn, North Yorkshire, a young adult osprey pair recently produced two chicks – the first known ospreys to breed in the county since records began in 1800. Essex Wildlife Trust has also put up nesting platforms around Abberton reservoir to attract the birds. Ospreys are now found breeding in Cumbria, Northumberland, and north and west Wales, while the Suffolk Wildlife Trust is working to bring breeding ospreys back to East Anglia for the first time in more than a century. They bring people so much happiness and they’re important in the food chain, including for healthy fish stocks.” We’re bringing the birds back and undoing the harm we did. From a human perspective, we’re making good on what we destroyed. “Birds from Rutland have spread out across England and Wales, or they’ve been translocated. “It’s been a tremendous success,” said Joe Davis, Rutland Water reserves manager.
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