Another Osprey

Lade - 0700hrs - cold, sunny, nw 2 - With over 200 pairs of Ospreys now breeding in Britain, and a healthy Scandinavian population, I guess we shouldn't be too surprised that this magnificent raptor is being seen more regularly on its southerly migration down here. That's not to say that I`m taking them for granted, as back in the day when I started birding they were something of a rarity, and I can still remember my first one: September 1968 at Cley with Mutley Clarke and Kevin Downer, happy days indeed...

Osprey, having just finished a breakfast of finest Lade carp

  However, I digress. This morning on the local patch my fourth Osprey of the autumn performed like a good `un, flying over south lake and dropping down in classic fish hawk style to pluck what looked like a carp from just beneath the surface. The Osprey then flew to the 200` wall mirror, settled on the corner and devoured its breakfast despite the attention of a couple of crows and a Magpie. Judging from the pale tipped back and wing feathers our bird appeared to be a juvenile. When I left site at 1000hrs it was still sat on the mirror digesting its prey and having a preen.
  A few grounded passerines included Wheatears, Reed Buntings and Mipits, plus a trickle of Goldfinches and Skylarks overhead. Marsh Harriers, Buzzard, Kestrel and Sparrowhawk were also noted around the site, and to round off a fine morning of raptors a Short-eared Owl came from behind the mirrors and quartered the Desert towards Tower Pits.

                               200` wall mirror, Lade - Osprey on left hand corner!

1700hrs - Another check of the pits this afternoon revealed the Osprey still present, this time flying over north lake and sending the local Herring Gulls into a frenzy.