Volunteer Hub - Osprey Volunteers

Contact number: 01572 737378

Lyndon Visitor Centre
Lyndon Road
Manton
Oakham
Rutland
LE15 8RN

Landline: 01572 737378

Email: lbrady@lrwt.org.uk

Landline: 01572 737378

Mobile: 07951 702059

Email: mscase@lrwt.org.uk

Just before 4pm today, Maya landed on the Manton Bay nest making this the 15th year that we have seen her in Rutland, and hopefully the 14th year that she has bred at Manton Bay.

Just before 4pm (less than 24 hours after Maya returned), 33(11) touched down at Manton Bay. This is the earliest we have ever had both birds together in Rutland - it isn't unfeasible that we may even have eggs before the end of March!

This morning we had our thirds arrival. 25(10), another of our established breeding ospreys, intruded at Manton Bay. With Maya and 33(11) already there, she didn't stay for long and has likely returned to her regular nest site.

We have now had another two ospreys sighted in the area, bringing our total to 5. On Friday last week, 11(10) was seen at Horn Mill Trout Farm. He is the breeding partner of 25(10) who you'll remember intruded at the Manton Bay nest earlier that week - this means that we now have two pairs back together locally; Manton Bay and Site C. The Site B female, HJ8, has also returned, having been seen at her nest on Saturday.

We've had another sighting! 30(10), the male from Site B, was seen fishing at Horn Mill Trout Farm yesterday. This marks the 6th returning osprey this year, and very tidily completes our third nesting pair: Maya and 33(11) at Manton Bay, 30(10) and HJ8 at Site B, and 25(10) and 11(10) at Site C.

Here is the complete list for the returning birds thus far:

Maya - 12th March
33(11) - 13th March
25(10) - 14th March
11(10) - 15th March
HJ8 - 16th March
30(10) - 20th March
T3 - 21st March
00(09) - 24th March
06(09) - 25th March
30(05) - 25th March
055 - 26th March
Site R Unringed female - 26th March
T7 - 27th March

Just before 2pm today Maya laid the first egg for the season.

On Tuesday, just after 13.30, Maya laid her second egg this year. Just under 3 days since the first egg was on the nest.

This morning Maya laid her third egg of the year

With all that has been happening the last few weeks, I have only just received our up to date numbers for our returning birds this year. The current list is as follows (21 individuals):

Maya - 12th March
33(11) - 13th March
25(10) - 14th March
11(10) - 15th March
HJ8 - 15th March
00(09) - 19th March
30(10) - 20th March
T3(16) - 21st March
06(09) - 25th March
30(05) - 25th March
055(19) - 26th March
Site N Unringed female (Old Site O Female)- 26th March
6K(13) - 26th March
T7(16) - 27th March
Site R Unringed Female - 27th March
Unringed Site O Female - 30th March
T4 (16) - 1st April
3AH - 1st April
093(20) - 1st April
059(19) - 8th April
3AY(19) - 10th April

It won't be long now before we see the first egg hatch for this year, we're expecting the first chick on either the 8th or 9th this month.

Yesterday 357(21) was photographed from a visitor from Tufted Duck Hide before intruding briefly at Manton Bay bringing the current total of returned birds to 29. The current list is as follows:

Maya - 12th March
33(11) - 13th March
25(10) - 14th March
11(10) - 15th March
HJ8 - 15th March
00(09) - 19th March
30(10) - 20th March
T3(16) - 21st March
06(09) - 25th March
30(05) - 25th March
055(19) - 26th March
Site N Unringed female (Old Site O Female)- 26th March
6K(13) - 26th March
T7(16) - 27th March
Site R Unringed Female - 27th March
Unringed Site O Female - 30th March
T4 (16) - 1st April
3AH - 1st April
093(20) - 1st April
055(19) - 1st April
1K(13) - 2nd April
Unringed Site X Female - 7th April
059(19) - 8th April
3AY(19) - 10th April
2AF(16) - 12th April
Site W Metal- Ringed Female - 12th April
358(21) - 22nd April
355(21) - 24th April
357(21) - 2nd May (Pictured)

Out of these, we have 11 pairs and 10 sites have confirmed incubation, as listed below:

Manton Bay
Site C
Site B
Site K
Site S
Site N
Site R
Site O
Site X
Site J

Unfortunately we have some sad news from this morning. We are aware that at 10:52am Maya checked the eggs, collected one of them and flew off with it to the fallen branch that they often use.

We are just checking with Tim Mackrill but have to assume that she knew the egg was unviable sadly. Maya and 33(11) are continuing to incubate the remaining 2 eggs. We will update as soon as we know more.

We are delighted to see that last night the first egg has hatched on the nest. We now have one little chick on the nest as well as a remaining egg that we hope will hatch in the coming days.

On Wednesday this week, the Manton Bay chick was nearly knocked off the nest when it was hit by a massive roach that 33 had bought back to the nest. From the centre we saw that the chick was trapped at the far side and was unable to find its way back. We watched for about 20 mins before deciding that we would intervene - based off a similar rescue by Tim Mackrill in 2012.

Tim Sexton, Beth Fox and George Smith went out to the nest in the boat and Tim repositioned the chick in the nest. Thankfully, shortly after we returned to the centre, we saw the chick was being fed by Maya and there was no noticeable harm caused to it from the impact.

With regards to the second egg, we think it is very unlikely that it will hatch. Having spoken to Tim Mackrill (and through him, the vets) we have come to the conclusion that Maya's condition is linked to this, and that we are very very lucky to have even a single chick on the Manton Bay nest this year.

Yesterday we had two fantastic sightings reported - 2H4(22) has been seen down in the Netherlands on a nature reserve called Trintelzand.

The second of the new returners from yesterday is especially exciting! As you may recall, 2022 was the only year 4K(13) bred at the Belvoir Estate nest, having two chicks - a female (2H7(22)) and a male (2H8(22)). I am absolutely chuffed to tell you that 2H8(22) was seen yesterday intruding on that very same nest he was born at on Belvoir Estate which remains unoccupied - wouldn't it be fantastic if we saw him settling there and breeding in the coming years?

In total we now have 34 Osprey returned to the area.

Early on Wednesday morning we ringed the Osprey chick on the Manton Bay Nest. Weighing in at 1.58kg it was sexted as a male, and was given the blue ring number 1R0.

For a short video of the morning please click the following link: https://youtube.com/shorts/EBaXhaFOXvY?feature=shared

Later that day Tim Mackrill and George Smith visited another nest site, where 25(10) & 11(10) have been breeding successfully since 2013. 3 chicks were ringed, which were all male, and they have the ring numbers 1R1, 1R2, & 1R3.

Over the next few weeks the rest of the Osprey chicks in the wider Rutland area will also be ringed, and we will then know more details about all the chicks, and total number of Osprey, in the area.

This morning, at around 8:07 am, we witnessed an exciting moment as 1R0 took his maiden flight away from the Manton Bay nest. For the first time this season, the nest is empty. We expected him to just hop up to the camera perch, but instead, he flew around for 10 minutes before settling on our T perch in the Bay.

Hello everyone,

I hope you are all well - I wanted to give you all an update on Manton Bay. I appreciate it's been a long time coming and I'm grateful for you all being so patient.

1R0(24) was last seen on 29/08/2024, his final recorded flight being quite a modest one, where there was no visible climbing on the thermals, and he simply headed low over Shallow Water - I assume it likely that he has made that climb elsewhere. As always, I will let you know should there be any further sightings of him on migration.

Maya departed shortly after on 30/08/2024, one day earlier than last year and 33(11) was assumed to leave in the early hours yesterday (03/09/2024), the same day that he left last year.

With their departure, we expect that you would rather not continue your shifts down in Waderscrape, and this is absolutely fine. However, this year I am very interested in recording the aftermath of the Manton Bay season, and continue to gain information on intruding osprey on the nest site - there are questions here that can be raised that we have not looked at in depth before. Additionally, one of the truly unique aspects of visiting Lyndon is the presence of that volunteer in the hide, and even in the absence of osprey, there are still fantastic things to be watching; over the last week we have had many sightings not limited to otters, water voles, water rail and kingfishers using Roger's Rest. Do have a think about continuing your shifts, we'd love to still have you in Waderscrape.

We are currently arranging for the scopes and screen to be removed from the hide, and at the point of removal, we will keep it open 24/7.

We have settled a date for the Osprey End of Season Fish and Chips Party will be held on the 12th October this year - a further email will be sent out regarding this with an RSVP as we formalise the details.

Thank you all so much for all your help this year - it's been especially memorable and I'm looking forward to celebrating all your hard work next month.

Cheers,
George Smith