Osprey on the River Camel Aug/Sept 2024

  

About a month ago a juvenile Osprey arrived near Wadebridge and started to hangout near Target pool, visible from the Camel Trail  1 mile marker just beyond Pendavey bridge on the Wadebridge - Bodmin section of the disused railway line that is now a major tourist attraction.
The bird looked to be roosting in the tall oaks above the river but having watched it intently recently I think it's roosting elsewhere and only flying in at first light to perch up and preen.
Because a similar Osprey used the same trees last autumn it was automatically assumed it was the same bird but looking at the plumage it's almost certainly 2 different juvenile birds.
Last years bird would normally have stayed in its winter quarters in West Africa for at least the first year and sometimes 2 years.

So these trees and the undisturbed bit of the river must prove attractive to Ospreys on their Southerly migration. There's no doubt that there is plenty of food as its been seen taking mullet regularly and there have been many hundred fish in that short section of River during late summer although numbers have dropped off rapidly in the past week despite huge Equinox spring tides.

I've spent many hours in a small canvas hide in various places including the  middle of  blackthorn copse with my cameras but still failed to get any shots of it with fish, although others have been luckier in that respect.
In order to prevent any disturbance I approached my hide in darkness, often starting at 5am, and never left until the bird had flown off. It's not in my interest to disturb it as obviously I won't get any views or photographs!
By sitting and watching this bird for long periods of time I was privileged to record lots of intimate behaviour, especially so when it was preening or falling asleep on the perch with its eyes gradually closing and the third eyelids passing across the eyes.

One of the funniest moments was after it had had a failed dive & it flew to it's favourite dead elm but instead of landing on the central trunk it tried to land on a dead branch at speed.
The branch snapped off at the node with the trunk and both Osprey and branch went tumbling through the air with a loud crack!
That was enough for the bird, it flew off looking most indignant or maybe embarrassed and I never saw it again that morning.
Here is a selection of photographs I've taken , sometimes many in one session but also sometimes none at all after 4 cold and dark hours on the riverbank.
We do have to suffer for our art...... but the rewards are fantastic,  just watching these iconic birds at close quarters is amazing.

As an aside there are plans to build an Osprey nesting platform in the near vicinity very soon using the cut off electricity poles by the river... watch this space!

Bit of a sh*t shot ha!