The Majestic Osprey

This male, flew directly overhead with the remains of breakfast.

Just over a year ago, I was fortunate to visit a Scottish Estate for a week and record some of the wildlife that resided there. A week ago, I was privileged to return to this fantastic (but secret) location and concentrate my efforts on a pair of Osprey that were nesting on the land. 

Having spent a couple of days watching them from long distance, I had just one day to get slightly closer (still a couple of hundred meters away) and capture some images from a better, but concealed location, with views of the actual nest. Ospreys are protected birds and it is imperative not to disturb them, especially near to nest sites. I was fortunate, in that whilst this particular nest was located in open land, it was surrounded by woodland, which would give me cover to approach unseen and also allow me to set up my camouflaged position, beneath an overhanging tree line. 

Set up at a safe distance and under the tree line of the neighbouring woods.

Having arrived in position at 05.00 hrs, it was now a case of waiting and hoping that I would be rewarded with some sightings of the birds on the nest and also flying in and out from the nest.

Osprey nests are big; very big and very deep. As they always nest in the highest part of the tree, I was initially unable to tell if any birds were actually on the nest, as when sitting, they are low in the nest and hidden from view. However, within an hour, I spotted some movement and just a brief glimpse of a head......Phew, at least someone was at home!

Photographing wildlife, is all about patience, lots of patience. By 07.00, I had not seen any further movement. I was fairly certain that the male had already left before my arrival and was hopefully successfully hunting for fish not too far away. In these circumstances, he can be away from the nest for hours and when he does finally catch his prey, it is common for him to fill his belly, prior to bringing home any food for his partner. On this occasion, that seemed to be the case, as he finally turned up at 10.00 with the remains of a trout, which he had clearly, already had a good meal from!

The male finally arrived after 5 hrs with some food.

 

Having circled the nest for some time, it was finally time to 'bring home the.....fish'

Much to my surprise, the female immediately left the nest and having circled the area for a while, disappeared to a distant tree, where she stayed for another hour! - Sadly, I have not previously been able to study the behaviour of these stunning birds in detail, but I have noted similar behaviour from other Ospreys that I have photographed. I can only guess that it is some kind of hierarchical behaviour between the male and female.

This is the female, who has left the nest, without any food!

I was hoping to capture some images of both birds interacting, but the following image is very distant and the only shot that I got of both birds together.

Shortly after this shot, the female left him and after a short period returned to  the nest with some more nesting material. 

She finally returned to the nest, complete with some more nesting material.

Having watched the birds for a few days, it had become clear that nest improvement, or repairing it from last year, was clearly ongoing. I had witnessed both birds bring in material of various sizes and come to the conclusion that they were still not laying on eggs. If they were going to produce some young this year, they would need to get on with things, as it is now quite late in the season and most other local nests already have youngsters.

The opportunity to watch these birds is a gift that I cherish and that I hope to be able to continue over the coming years. I am learning more about them with every chance I get and I am always surprised by their behaviour. Especially their optimism in believing that they can land on small branches, that must be strained to the very limit to bear their weight. The following sequence of images, is picture heavy, but when I tell you that this bird 'wobbled' around for at least two minutes before safely alighting, you will undertand my reluctance to take my finger off the shutter release on my camera......the total sequence was around 250 images, but here, I just include eight!

Safely down.....at last!

I had now been sitting in the same position for 6 hours, but was unable to leave until this bird moved away from its position, as I did not want to disturb it. Just as I thought it might happen, he decided to just hop from his perch on to the rim of the nest.......

Calling for its mate, who had flown back to a distant tree.

It was to be another hour, before he left the nest and much to my amazement, he flew straight over the top of me, before disappearing into the distance.

 

So that was it; after 7 hours, I could finally stretch my legs and collect my gear together and wander back through the woods......What a day!

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