It is now coming to the end of October, the Manton Bay Ospreys are long gone and by now, they will have reached their wintering grounds, whether it is somewhere along the west coast of Africa or even in the south of Spain. We don’t know where Maya, 33(11) or the Manton Bay juveniles spend these months, however we recently received some incredibly exciting news. Two weeks after leaving Rutland on 9 August, the youngest of the four Manton Bay juveniles, male 083, was observed in northern Spain at the Villaviciosa Estuary! We don’t know where he is now, but it’s fantastic to hear he at least made it that far.
Farewell For Now
Peter Cairns/2020VISION
It's now October and all the Rutland Ospreys have left and will now be in their wintering grounds. Read this blog for an update on satellite tracked male, 4K(13)'s autumn migration.
2020 Manton Bay juvenile 083
As other Ospreys began to head off, we were waiting for one bird in particular to start his migration – seven year old satellite tracked male 4K(13). After leaving Guinea on 25 March, 19 days later on 13 April, 4K safely returned to Rutland for the fifth year, and spent the season ‘hanging out’ in his territory. It wasn’t until 14 September, 4K began his autumn migration south. It was fascinating to follow him along the way as he crossed the English Channel into northern France, reaching speeds of 30 km per hour!
After landing in northern France, 4K spent ten days there before continuing south – perhaps he found a very decent fishing spot! Unlike the need to return to breeding grounds during the spring migration, the autumn migration for Ospreys can be much slower as there isn’t so much of a rush to reach their wintering grounds.
On 27 September, 4K left northern France and was nearing Guinea, travelling through Spain, across the Mediterranean Sea, through Morocco and the Western Sahara, until a couple of weeks later, on 13 October, he made it to the coast of Guinea, where he will stay until next spring.
To summarise, 4K spent 30 days on his autumn migration, travelling a gruelling 6,700km to his wintering grounds in Guinea. Another successful migration for 4K and we look forward to following his next migration in the spring.
To learn more about the migration and satellite tracking of Ospreys, and to download 4K(13)’s full autumn migration, follow the link below.