A historic milestone achievement for Rutland Water’s Osprey reintroduction program.

Rutland Water Nature Reserve, home of the iconic Rutland Ospreys, marked a milestone this year, celebrating the historic success of the 250th successfully fledged osprey chick. This is truly one of the most inspiring conservation success stories in England.

Ospreys were once a common sight in Britain, but in 1847, a gamekeeper in Somerset shot one of the last breeding pairs in England, practically making ospreys regionally extinct.

After 150 years of ospreys missing from our skies, Leicestershire and Rutland Wildlife Trust partnered with Anglian Water and launched the Rutland Osprey Project, an ambitious reintroduction program to bring ospreys back to England.

Between 1996 and 2001, 64 juveniles were collected from nests in Highland and Moray in Scotland to be released at Rutland Water. In 1999, we saw the return of the first of these translocated chicks. One of these, fondly known as ‘Mr Rutland’ has left a legacy within the 32 chicks that he raised, not to mention the 15 offspring from those chicks, including the long-term breeding male at the Manton Bay nest, 33 (11). His recent breeding partner Maya, has had 37 chicks since arriving at Rutland, surpassing the number raised by ‘Mr Rutland’, resulting in an exceptional legacy from the Rutland Osprey Project.

In 2001 the first osprey to have been born in England for 150 years was welcomed, and 22 years on, we are now celebrating the historic milestone of the 250th osprey chick successfully fledging, an astonishing achievement for the reintroduction program. This proves that with commitment, hard work and help with funding through partnership programs and the local community, conservation projects like this can be successful and can help repair the natural balance within wildlife populations, giving hope to the UK’S state of nature.

Up close and personal nest cam footage from the Manton Bay nest allows us a rare glimpse into the usually private life of an osprey chick. It shows the fascinating first stages of their life, from the first egg laid, to a batch of eggs, then the hatching of the first osprey chick, followed by its siblings. We can watch as the parents feed the chicks and see that the birds grow quickly and fledge soon after; at just 7-8 weeks old they leave the nest to overwinter in Africa.

At around six weeks old the birds are ringed for identification and monitoring. This is the only time that the birds get handled. The coloured rings, known as Darvic rings, enable us to monitor the birds over their lifetime and identify them as individuals. From this, we can learn about their migration patterns, longevity and whether they return to Rutland to breed.

Ospreys are migratory birds and look to nest and breed in the UK from March until around September, hopefully returning to the same area each year in early spring to raise the next generation and continue the great success of the work we do.

The work of the project has not only led to the triumphant return of ospreys to Rutland Water. The ospreys from Rutland are engaging with birds from other osprey re introduction programs and have been recorded in Wales, Northumberland and the Netherlands, leading to a self-sustaining breeding population not only on a local and national level but also internationally with similar osprey translocation projects in Spain and Italy.

Every year, thousands of people travel to Rutland Water to see the Manton Bay nest at our Lyndon Visitor Centre on the south shore of the reservoir, and millions watch for updates and view the live nest cams online. This is truly one of the UK’s greatest conservation success stories: the triumphant return of the osprey to central England.

This is a story that you can be part of. We are asking for your help to enable us to continue our work to protect ospreys for the future. Our osprey Future Fund is vital to ensure their ongoing success, with a goal of raising £25,000 to secure their protection.

There are other ways you can help too. You can get involved at our Rutland Osprey Visitor Centre from spring, join one of our events, or take an osprey cruise. You can even get some hands-on experience by volunteering with us at Rutland Water. So please help us help nature and give wildlife the support it needs to thrive.

Leicestershire and Rutland Wildlife Trust would like to thank both Ray Kilham and Samuel Mercer for kindly allowing us the use of their photos and video footage in this article.