The photo above was taken shortly before PP5 (bird to the left) departed on migration on September 11. We built two nests in front of the aviaries so that the young Ospreys could get used to seeing them. We were delighted when they started to perch on the nests.
In the wild Osprey nests are of course much larger and with many more branches than these. However, we built these nests during the peak of the July 2015 heatwave, which limited how much work we could do. We will do better for 2016!
Thanks go to Michel Beaud and Pascal Rapin for their help in building these nests with Wendy Strahm and Denis Landenbergue, as well as to the Etablissements de Bellechasse who built and installed the platforms.
On August 8 and 11 we released our six Ospreys that had been cared for around the clock inside the specially built aviaries. Some, like PP6, took an hour to realise they were free before making their first flight, while others were content to sit inside the aviary for almost the entire day before taking the big step, or should we say jump. For example, we had begun to think that PP4 would never leave until at 18:30 he suddenly made a perfect take-off, spiralling high in the sky before making a fine landing on top of the aviary. It was as if he had been considering his first flight for the entire day and was determined to make a good job of it. The birds are now being fed twice a day, with fish being put out for them once before dawn, and then once in the afternoon. They are very susceptible to disturbance so the project team is watching them non-stop. It is very important that they are not frightened by anything and that they remain in the release area. Three dead trees were “planted” in front of the aviary and above is a unique photo when we had five young altogether, perched on two of the dead trees.
