Wildlife volunteers and birdwatchers are all of a flutter after spotting Bassenthwaite’s ospreys on the nesting platform on Tuesday evening — sharing a fish.
The breeding pair of ospreys have returned to the north Lakes from their winter homes thousands of miles away in West Africa.
Volunteers had spotted one osprey fishing over the south end of Bassenthwaite on Monday and 24 hours later both were seen on the nesting platform at Whinlatter Forest.
Barbara Thomson is from the Lake District Osprey Project at Whinlatter.
She said: “Our ospreys are back and right on time. The earliest they have been spotted in previous years had been March 26 but they had been as late as April 9.
“The nest is now being checked regularly and our volunteers, who usually man the Dodd Wood viewing area and Whinlatter Visitor Centre, are
doing an excellent job keeping a look out.”
Barbara said there were many factors deciding the date of arrival, notably the weather and how far the birds have to travel.
If they come from Senegal, it’s 3,000 miles— or 4,000 from Bioko off the coast of West Africa.
The male and female of a pair may come from different African countries.
The warm weather forecast over Europe for the next few days should encourage a second wave of osprey, including some younger ones on their first migration.
The Bassenthwaite pair’s arrival came just five days after a first osprey of 2021 had been spotted back arrived in Cumbria.
That sole bird – called YC – turned up at its nest near Ulverston last Thursday.
YC has already been snapped on a nest camera through misty Cumbrian weather at 5am on 25 March, officially marking the start of the ospreys’ breeding season in the Lakes.
His timing at the nest near Ulverston beats his arrival last year by 12 hours when he was also the first osprey to arrive.
The arrival was captured on film as part of the British Association of Shooting and Conservation (BASC) osprey project that monitors the local population, maintains ospreys’ nesting sites and provides advice and assistance to local landowners.
Mike Thornley, BASC northern regional officer and osprey co-ordinator, said: “It is great to see YC again. Amazingly this is his seventh year at this same nesting platform.
“As is usual, YC has wasted no time in providing the finishing touches to his nest in preparation for his partner’s return in due course.
“We are delighted to work in partnership with Natural England at this site.
“With four new nesting platforms to add to the six nests already being monitored last year in the Lake District, we are hoping for an extremely successful season for the growing population.”
LDOP was set up in 2001 and is a partnership between the Forestry Commission, Lake District National Park and Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB). It is supported by many local volunteers.
The return of ospreys to Bassenthwaite Lake in 2001 was the culmination of several years’ hard work behind the scenes to encourage them to breed. It was with this aim in mind that the LDOP partners built a nest platform in Wythop Woods overlooking Bassenthwaite Lake.
In 2001, for the first time in 150 years, a pair of ospreys took to the platform and nested, successfully rearing one chick.
The ospreys have returned every year since, testing the volunteers by swapping to different nest sites in Dodd Wood and then to one on the valley floor.
In 2019, they moved closer to the lake.
They have successfully raised at least one chick and often two chicks each year.
It is thought the pair of ospreys in Bassenthwaite are the same two as last year and hatched two chicks successfully.
The adults and juveniles left the lake last September and started their migration to Africa in the autumn.
However, the juveniles reared last year will stay in Africa for between one and three years until they mature before making the journey back to the breeding ground.
