Tuesday 26 August 2008

Satellite-tracked OSPREY





Osprey 'Beatrice', trapped and satellite-tagged in Morayshire (Roy Dennis)
Beatrice's Details: Is a neighbour of Logie (another satellite-tracked Osprey); she is the breeding female at nest B16 near Forres in Moray and is colour ringed green 5B. This year, she was first seen at Logie's nest on 1st April 2008, with a young male osprey 'red 7J', but quickly moved back to her own nest, when her mate returned from Africa.

Green 5B was ringed as a chick in Strathdon, Aberdeenshire on 8th July 2000 by Ian Francis and Stuart Rae. She was one of three chicks. She arrived at nest B16 in 2003 but by the time a new mate settled in, it was too late to breed. She reared one chick in 2004, and two chicks each year 2005-2007, and has another two young this year. Her mate has been the same bird - which I ringed 'ochre TK' on Forestry Commission land near Elgin in 1998.

We caught the female osprey in the evening 9th July using a decoy and a dho gaza net. She was in very good condition weighing 1862 grams: her wing length was 546mm and tail 235mm. Her ring number was BTO 127049. We fitted a GPS satellite transmitter and then released her; she flew straight to her favourite perch, a tall larch tree next to her nest.
On 18 August 2008, whilst on return migration to Africa, 'Beatrice' flew SE at 48 km/hr over the Chiltern escarpment between Dagnall and Ivinghoe Beacon at 1100 hours.
See http://roydennis.org/Beatrice.htm for the entire return migration of this adult female Osprey

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