Osprey
- Once known as the fish hawk, the osprey lives on fish that it catches by snatching them in a shallow dive from the surface of the water.
- Though fish are by far the most important part of the diet, ospreys have been recorded catching a wide variety of other prey, including birds, reptiles and even crustaceans.
- Though almost all British ospreys nest close to freshwater lakes or lochs, they will readily fish in the sea.
- Some osprey populations, such as those on the Mediterranean islands of Menorca and Corsica, feed almost exclusively on sea fish.
- Ospreys are one of the world's most widely distributed birds, breeding throughout much of North America, Northern Europe and Asia and around the coast of Australia.
- All British-bred ospreys move south to Africa after the breeding season, with most wintering in Senegal and the Gambia.
- Young ospreys remain in West Africa until they are three years old, when they fly north for the first time.
- These young birds seldom breed until the following year.
- Though ospreys can be found commonly in suitable habitat throughout much of sub-Saharan Africa, they do not breed there.
- In Britain collectors exterminated ospreys in the early years of the 20th century, and the birds didn’t return to breed until 1954.
- The returning birds were not re-introduced, but were Scandinavian birds that colonised naturally.
- The returning ospreys had to be carefully guarded for many years to protect them from egg collectors.
- Today there are more than 200 breeding pairs in Scotland, and almost all suitable territories are occupied.
- Breeding took place in England, in the Lake District, in 2001, the first English nest for over 150 years.
- In 2001 ospreys also bred at Rutland Water, the result of an imaginative translocation programme, with young birds from Scottish nests moved and released at the reservoir.
- Ospreys will readily adopt artificial nest platforms, especially where there is a shortage of suitable trees in which to nest.
- It is not only Britain where ospreys have recolonised. They returned to breed in France in 1984, and the population has grown rapidly since then.
- Ospreys are early migrants, and returning birds are regularly seen in Scotland in late March, with the males arriving a week or two before the females.
- Pairs do not remain together outside the breeding season, but the same pair will often breed together at the same eyrie in subsequent years.
- Unlike most birds of prey, ospreys like to breed in loose colonies, and the presence of one successful pair will often attract others in following years.
- Ospreys are long-lived, and many birds are still breeding aged 10 or more.
