Summary
Reader Chrys Aitken saw an osprey on the Taw & Torridge estuary on March 1, an early bird moving north to Scotland for the breeding season, no doubt. Though there are now one or two pairs breeding in England, the vast majority move to Scotland. While here a few come up the Taw, harassed as ever by gulls, fish for a while then fly up the Bradiford Valley, perhaps calling in at Blakewell, or on to a reservoir and so on until the skirl of the pipes sees them at Loch of the Lowes, Speyside and such wonderful places.
Also known as the fish hawk, the osprey is Pandion haliaetus, a magnificent bird of prey once badly persecuted because it competed with anglers for trout. It can carry fish of up to 4.5 lbs (2kg) to its nest. Today the osprey is seen as a huge asset as part of the tourism industry, thousands of visitors seeking out the birds' haunts while on holiday.See the full content of this document
Extract
; Nature Watch
Following an absence of about five decades,...
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