Our two young satellite tagged ospreys continue to do well on their first migrations southwards towards Africa. We all know the odds are stacked against them on this first treacherous journey, so to have both of them still alive and doing well is great news. Our condolences to our colleagues at The Lake District Osprey Project whose young bird “13” seems to have run into trouble in Spain,  and  the Rutland Water Osprey team whose bird “09” also seems to have succumbed on route in south Morocco.  

The insights the satellite tracking devices on our birds  are giving us are so exciting- being able to follow the birds actual detailed route and use maps to see the exact lake/ field/ tree they are roosting on, and the scenery they are flying through is simply incredible.

You may have noticed that the two birds transmitters are programmed to ‘talk’ to the satellite on a two day cycle, but they are updating on opposite days, so hence there is new information almost every day. The updates do not always happen at fixed times so sometimes there is a small delay- but don’t worry it doesn’t mean there is something wrong.

The latest news:

Blue YD has made it to the very southern tip of Spain, near the town of Barbate, as of 5pm on the 18^th, and looks likely to cross near Gibraltar.

Blue 44 has been lingering in the same area of Southern France, and his latest point, at 8pm on the 17^th shows him perched between two lakes: Etang Noir and Etang Blanco.

Here are some tips for enjoying the satellite tracking page:    http://scottishwildlifetrust.org.uk/things-to-do/osprey/

• Use the + and – buttons on the left to zoom in and out. If the bird looks like it isn’t moving, zoom in: you may well find the dots are just very close together, and overlaying with each other. You can zoom in right down to very close range to see the topography.
• Click once on each point to bring up a balloon which will give you information such as exact time, speed and height the bird is travelling ( or roosting at) and a brief description
• Why not try the Google Earth version ( by following the instructions at the bottom of the page) which will give you a  fully interactive map, which you can zoom in down to  tiny details, follow  a birds eye ‘fly through’, and easily access pictures of the area by clicking on the wee photo icon in the map.