UK MIGRATION 2010 - 2011

Jazzel26 · **Joined:** Mon Jul 27, 2009 12:09 pm **Posts:** 2586

PLEASE START YOUR 2011 POSTS HERE

Jazzel26 · **Joined:** Mon Jul 27, 2009 12:09 pm **Posts:** 2586

PLOUGHBOY, a member of our forum posted this video in 2010. Not to be forgotten in 2011.

"Born to Travel"

JAZZEL

kittenface · **Posted:** Mon Sep 26, 2011 2:10 pm

Loch Garten osprey diary
richard thaxton 26 Sept 2011 12:41 PM

:loveshow:

Tore's in Africa.....!!!! :loveshow:

Great update on Rothes also this is the good year I think/I hope

===============================================================================

Rutland osprey hits the headlines :hapdance:

Published on Sunday 25 September 2011 10:00

A RUTLAND osprey has made national news by recording one of the fastest osprey migrations ever.

The bird, known as AW, left Rutland on August 27 and flew 3,277 miles to the coast of Guinea in just fourteen days.

Rutland Ospreys project officer Tim Mackrill said: “It was really exciting to watch AW fly south. He flew past London, Paris and Madrid before crossing the Mediterranean into Morocco. After skirting around the Atlas Mountains he went for four days without food as he crossed the Sahara.

“He then carried on through Senegal and Guinea-Bissau before settling on the Guinea coast where he’s been fishing in the sea and then resting up in mangroves next to the beach.”

The last two Rutland ospreys left the county on September 9 marking the end of a successful breeding season with the number of chicks raised at Rutland Water since the project began in 1997 totalling 53.

Ospreys are now one of the main tourist attractions in Rutland and this year about 30,000 people visited the Lyndon Visitor Centre to see them.

In addition almost 1,000 people set sail on special Osprey Cruises onboard the Rutland Belle.

Due to the disappearance of three birds in the area in 15 months, two of the remaining birds, including AW, have been equipped with tracking devices

Catbird · **Posted:** Mon Sep 26, 2011 4:55 pm

Great good news about the ospreys! Thanks for posting, kitten.

Beth · **Posted:** Mon Sep 26, 2011 5:06 pm

Thanks Kitten!

tracking devices sure are handy for migration info!!

kittenface · **Posted:** Tue Sep 27, 2011 12:33 pm

OH Beth
Your geek is to cute reminds me of my son :teehee:

kittenface · **Posted:** Tue Oct 11, 2011 10:52 am

Loch Garten osprey diary Tore & Bynack, both fine & dandy
richard thaxton 10 Oct 2011 2:10 PM

Thankfully, Bynack's chosen course has steered him away from the barren, arid areas of inland West Africa, so that's another potential hazard & hurdle behind him/side-stepped. He has pitched-up on the coast of Mauritania, phew! .He flew out into the Atlantic a wee bit, flying west of Banc d' Arguin, over Tidra Island, then s-w passed Nouamghar. Bynack's most recent fix at 2pm yesterday, 9th October was just north of Tikattane.There ought to be plenty fish available to him in that area.

The Banc d'Arguin National Park area is a wildlife wilderness, a mix of shallow sea, vast mudflats, sea-grass beds, intertidal zone, islands and desert. Osprey passage apart, it is home to at least 2 million waders - the largest concentration of shorebirds in the world. Bynack will not want for food in this area, because as well as all those over-wintering shorebirds, Banc d'Arguin supports about 40,000 pairs of assorted fish-eating birds, present all year round, making it one of the largest waterbird colonies in West Africa. There must be a whole lotta fish there to supoport that lot, so Bynack will be filling his boots too, no doubt.

Bynack's big sis, Tore, is doing fine & dandy too. She has edged just a wee bit north from Guinea Bissau, now in Senegal, appearing to follow & explore a river system. She is close to Marassoum, on the Soungrougrou River, her last fix 3pm yesterday, 9th October, was in an area of riverbank-side woodland called Foret de Diognere.

No data for Rothes, sorry, but let's hope that all's well with her also.

skygirlblue · **Joined:** Sun Jul 26, 2009 3:18 pm **Posts:** 63313

Thanks KF!!!!

kittenface · **Posted:** Thu Oct 13, 2011 12:14 pm

Loch Garten osprey diary National Park hopping by Bynack...... :leaftwirl:

richard thaxton 12 Oct 2011 11:46 AM

Last time we reported that Bynack was at Banc d'Arguin National Park in Mauritania. Well, he has since pressed on south and is now on the Senegal River which forms the border betwen Mauritania and Senegal, at Djoudj National Park.

This a fantastic place for Bynack to bide some time. Like Banc d'Arguin, it is a massive wetland that absolutely heaves with water birds - and so presumably heaves with fish too - and is much frequented by migrant ospreys. I know, because ironically , as I am about to deaprt on sabbatical, Djoudj was where I spent a previous sabbatical over 20 years ago. In haste, I think I have blogged about this before, when Nethy I think it was, (haven't got time to look back - but some of you'll keep me right!), also called-in at Djoudj.

When there, I saw several ospreys, but that was in the days before tagging, so from whence they came we could not know. Bynack sure knows the spots to pick. Both Banc d'Arguin and Djoudj National Parks are listed in the Top 100 Birding Sites of The World by Dominic Couzens - a great book. I remember vast clouds of white-faced whislting ducks, a flock of ruff thought to number 500,000, and pelicans and cormorants all over the place. Djoudj is a magical place, Bynack will do well there.

Meantime not much change for Tore, she remains along the Soungrougrou River. So both birds in Senegal, which is great. Alas, no news from Rothes, but let's hope she's there too, somewhere.

Got to go, Julie Q will up-date you on Friday.

skygirlblue · **Joined:** Sun Jul 26, 2009 3:18 pm **Posts:** 63313

kittenface · **Posted:** Mon Oct 17, 2011 3:29 pm

This is the best update yet in my opinion :pumpbounce:

Loch Garten osprey diary
With grateful thanks to Nigel & Andrew at the Lodge.......
Posted on behalf of Julie, who will have her own Blog log- in soon.

WE HAVE NEWS OF ROTHES – she is back in her old haunt of Ilha de Unhocomozinho. Nigel and Andrew at the Lodge have been sterling in their efforts to find news of her and have come up trumps and we now have data of her travels since the 12th October – thanks guys. They wanted a mention on the blog, so a HUGE thanks from us all!

It has turned much colder here at Abernethy, a real change from yesterday; I had a walk round Loch Morlich in beautiful autumn sunshine. We saw a flock of geese heading south and some redwings, but otherwise it was fairly quiet. This morning it turned very stormy with gusting winds and a dusting of snow on the Cairn Gorms, a small taster of what’s to come I guess........

And now news of Tore and Bynack. Not much change with them, they seem to be exploring the areas they are in – will these be there wintering grounds for the foreseeable future or will they move on to join Rothes nearer the coast? Tores last point at 9am yesterday was east of Tintinkome on the Casamance River, and Bynack’s last point at 6am this morning was west of a place called Dara, northwest of the Senegal River.

Sitting here trying to keep warm I wish I could follow them south – I think a brisk walk is called for!

Julie Q

skygirlblue · **Joined:** Sun Jul 26, 2009 3:18 pm **Posts:** 63313

kittenface · **Posted:** Mon Oct 24, 2011 11:22 pm

Loch Garten osprey diary

Alice Macmillan 24 Oct 2011 6:39 PM
Slightly late getting the map updated today - we've been out repairing a fence - thought we'd return to do the satellite tracking after we'd lost the light for working outside!

Anyway this winter's Long Term Vol and myself have joined forces to get the data entered as quickly as possible - hopefully with no mistakes - I'll not admit who did which bird so that you can't point the finger to anyone in particular if there are any errors (I'm hoping there aren't!).

Bynack is still dodging about Mauritania close to the border with Senegal. He actually returned to the same tree at 6am on 22nd as he was in on 21st at 6am (so that's not a mistake in the data entry). His last point was 6am this morning (24th). The point for 7am on 20th when he headed into Chad briefly was a missing "-"sign which has been corrected.

Tore appears to be mucking about along the river Casamance, in Senegal. There appear to be some wetlands that she’s hanging around North of the river. Not sure of the terrain South of the river. Last point was 9am today (24th).

Rothes - we got a bit of data. She's hasn't shifted off Ilha de Unhocomozinho. Points recieved (and entered) for 18.00, 21st October and 22.00, 23rd October.

More on Wednesday, when Julie will be back in.

kittenface · **Posted:** Sat Oct 29, 2011 10:26 am

Rutland Water ospreys tracked to African sites :leafrock:

kittenface · **Posted:** Sat Oct 29, 2011 10:47 am

Loch Garten osprey diary, Hoping for some island hopping
Hi All
News of the Ospreys.

Rothes has been island hopping from Ilha de Unhocomozinho about 16km to another island and back.

Bynack has been mostly in Mauritania, just over the border from Senegal and is flying around the coastal delta waters.

Tore is still hanging around the river Casamanance in Senegal.

That is all the news for the moment, quite fancy a spot of island hopping myself, oh well I will just have to dream!

If you do happen to be in the vicinity of Nethy Bridge in Inverness-shire, we are having a RSPB Feed the Birds day, a free event at Explore Abernethy

kittenface · **Posted:** Tue Nov 01, 2011 12:20 am

Loch Garten osprey diary
Can it really be the end of October........

October 31st 2011
I can’t believe it’s the last day of October and that the Osprey Centre has been closed for nearly two months now – where does the time go? What a change in the weather too – from snow a couple of weeks ago to balmy southerly winds, maybe not so much balmy as gusty, but pleasant all the same.

On Friday I met up with Julie Smith, who works in the shop with me, and Paul Turner, one of the osprey assistants from 2010 - some of you may have followed his adventures at Forsinard last winter and in Iceland during the summer. We had an enjoyable walk down to Loch Mallachie, and it was good to catch up on Paul’s news. We did manage to see a male goldeneye on the loch and a few tits flitting about the trees in the car park. Paul was hoping to catch sight of a crested tit, we could hear them but couldn’t catch sight of any.

Bill and I went to one of my favourite areas yesterday in the hills behind Grantown, it was late afternoon and to our delight, we saw our first big migration of geese overhead. There were hundreds, if not thousands coming in to land in the fields round about, an amazing sight and sound. The sun was beginning to set whilst we were there and the cloud formations over the Cairngorms and light created were beautiful – tenticular clouds I think Chloe B? Sadly I didn’t have my camera, an excuse for another visit I think!

News of the birds – Rothes appears to be still in the same area, Tore is still in Senegal on the Casamance river, she certainly seems settled there.

Bynack has ventured a little further south – at 12 pm yesterday he set off south along the Senegal delta towards Mbeye. At 4pm he passed to the north of St Louis and spent a couple of hours exploring some small islands, he then headed north again and roosted near the N2 road, a short distance south of Lampsar. Will he head back north or travel further south? I’ll update you on Wednesday.
Happy Halloween to you all and don’t eat too many treats

Julie Quirie

Jazzel26 · **Joined:** Mon Jul 27, 2009 12:09 pm **Posts:** 2586

Kitten, thanks for the update :leavethumbup:

kittenface · **Posted:** Wed Nov 09, 2011 2:27 pm

Loch Garten osprey diary
Bynack on the move again...
Posted 9 hours ago by Alice Macmillan

Bynack has obviously decided that the area he, Leri and Joe were in does not have much to offer as he has travelled north again and returned to the wetlands of Mauritania, west of Dara and north of the Oiseaux de Djoudj National Park. We are only receiving two points a day now, but it is interesting to see that he seems to be flying between two distinct areas each morning and evening.

Tore remains in the same area still on the Casamance River.
Only one point from Rothes on the 6th November and she is still in the same area.

In case some of you miss it I have replied to Sue C comments on the end of the last blog:

Sue C - I've looked at Bynack's data for the 30th at 17.00 and his co-ordinates were 16.03883 -16.39600 which is to east of St Louis airport, its a distinct possibility that it was Bynack that Frederic saw. What fantastic news if it was him!

And now I will hand you over to Phil who is a long term volunteer here at Abernethy and has been helping with the satellite tracking:

On the 29th September I started a long term volunteer placement at RSPB Abernethy. Having spent a week here in February 2010, in the snow, I really appreciate the opportunity to spend an extended period here learning about the reserve.

During the first few weeks here I've been involved in a variety of projects from cutting samples from granny pines to date fire scars, to building dams to block misplaced drainage ditches. I'm also relishing spending time with the staff who are enthusiastic, helpful and extremely knowledgeable with regards to the environment we're working in.

I've been hoping to return to the reserve since my visit last year, because I'm a big fan of the Caledonian forest. Since I've been back I've had some great sightings including golden eagle, female hen harrier, black grouse lekking, Cyclosa conica and the gorgeous leaf beetle Chrysomela aenea. I've also had my first sighting of capercaillie as well as regular views of the local finches, tits (including crested), woodpeckers and squirrels.

However, my caper sightings have all been female, so that's something to work on. I'm also hoping to see ptarmigan and snow bunting while I'm here. I believe there is a good chance of seeing these up Cairngorm and the surrounding mountains. I'll also be happy when the snow and colder weather gets here. It's easier to work out what I'm going to wear for the day when I'm not having to juggle rain, warm weather and work.

Cheers for now, Phil.

Jazzel26 · **Joined:** Mon Jul 27, 2009 12:09 pm **Posts:** 2586

Kitten, thanks for keeping the UK migration updated. When I saw Leri…so behind posting.

A good site to follow, for anyone that believes…still a lot to learn/understand. Roy Dennis, believes.
I hope everyone will take the time to start at the Dyfi home page….

Dyfi Osprey Project

History

Then back to Highland:
Joe

Oswald

kittenface · **Posted:** Wed Nov 09, 2011 11:31 pm

Thanks Jazzel I read about Leri and about the searching they did and jsut kept hoping the transmitter just fell off it is such a shame with this I will finish reaading tomorrow when my eyes will stay open better

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UK MIGRATION 2010 - 2011

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