More exciting news of our young Osprey Blue YD who has begun his first northwards migration from his wintering grounds in Senegal. The latest satellite date shows he has safely reached Morocco and was only 90 miles south of Gibraltar and Europe!

Since we last had data on Friday, he headed north east directly and flew more than 250miles in the day. That evening ( the 1st May) he roosted at 9pm on a tiny river in the Anti Atlas mountains at over 2000 metres in altitude. On the 2nd of May he continued and flew northwards across the Haut Atlas Mountain range and by lunchtime  he was on the outskirts of Marrakesh – only five miles from the downtown area.

There are some gaps in the data for the next 24hrs which we hope will be filled at the next data download.  At 3pm on the 3rd of May he had reached the coast , where he rested for just a hour before heading east inland about 25miles. He stopped for the night on the 3rd at 10pm in a wooded area amongst rich agricultural land.

If he continues at this rate, he should be crossing into Spain about now- the big question is, will he stop there for a rest or continue onwards?

Lastly here is a comparison of his journey southwards in 2012 and his northwards route this week- you will see there is a huge difference!

Ranger Emma