Both our young ospreys continue to do really well on their first autumn migrations though taking very different approaches to the journey.

Blue 44 is still in southern France in the same area around the lakes of Etang Blanc and Etang Noir which are nature reserves. The conditions here are obviously ideal and the weather at the moment is in the low 20 degrees C. If he is inclined to move on from here and fly south over the Pyrenees Mountains, it will probably not be until more favourable north easterly winds which are forecast at the end of this week. Alternately, he might decide to stay longer in this area which obviously suits him and it looks like he has been fishing on both lakes over the last couple of days.

Blue YD by contrast after resting at Moulay Hassan Dam has again headed south flying along river systems west of the southern Moroccan town of Mira. By 9pm on the 24th he had reached a point near the village of Assaka and was roosting on a small river nearby. This area is in the Anti Atlas Mountains and is a challenging arid area, although with temperatures in the low 20 degrees C at the moment and light winds,  conditions are favourable for our bird right now. Worryingly however, this is very close to the area where the Rutland Osprey Project lost one of their satellite tracked birds “09” last week. This bird’s body was recovered by a local  bird enthusiast which shows the bird had been predated but the cause of death is unknown. Lets hope our young bird crosses this dangerous arid area more safely.