Over the past two weeks there have been great highs and then a huge low concerning the life and death of osprey Green 5Y, a son of Bassenthwaite Lake.
It is always fascinating to have news of a bird bred on the lake as the hazards of the migration mean many don’t make it to adulthood and the modern day world is also very dangerous.
Green 5Y’s story started in 2006, when three chicks hatched in the nest above Wythop. Dad (No-ring) and mum (Green SX) were the original colonising birds at that point. Their chicks were ringed at 5-6 weeks old and were found to be a girl (Green XU) and two boys (Green 5Z and Green 5Y). The female was the biggest and was soon flying and fishing around the valley, much to her less skilful brothers’ disgust!
Then came a gap in sightings as the young birds started their migration to Africa that Autumn. No one knows what happened to XU and 5Z but, in 2009, 5Y was found again in South Lakes in the company of his Bassenthwaite half-sister White YU. Rarely observed, they were thought to be quietly producing chicks annually in a secluded nest on private ground, probably until 2018/9.
Then came a gap in sightings as the young birds started their migration to Africa that Autumn. No one knows what happened to XU and 5Z but, in 2009, 5Y was found again in South Lakes in the company of his Bassenthwaite half-sister White YU. Rarely observed, they were thought to be quietly producing chicks annually in a secluded nest on private ground, probably until 2018/9.
This April though 5Y, perhaps flying late back to his home or ousted from his nest by a younger bird, became a star of TV and media as he was spotted fishing near Brockholes Nature Reserve in Lancashire, diving spectacularly from the rail of the M6 bridge into the River Ribble. In retrospect this wasn’t the best choice for him.
Because on 23rd April, disaster struck. Spooked by a passing cyclist – travelling on the hard shoulder of the motorway! – 5Y catapulted into the path of a passing truck.
Of course, having found 5Y and lost him again so quickly has been a great sadness to all involved, particularly for those watching him in Lancashire and for followers of the Bassenthwaite Lake ospreys. The set of incidents were random, but quite probably not that unusual, except in the witnessing.
As is seen daily from the many corpses knocked down on all roads, traffic and wild creatures are not compatible. It’s one of the pluses for lockdown that the quieter roads are generally safer for wildlife.
However, for 5Y to have lived for 14 years of migration, breeding and overcoming all the other hazards of existence, was a victory in its own right. He occupied a place at the top of the survival pyramid – his genes live on in the re-colonisation of the north.
And there is that once in a 20-year history of a magnificent birth to death record. It’s hoped he finds himself by a safe river where the Salmon leap willingly into a hunting osprey’s talons.
