Our young osprey Blue YD is having a continental holiday it seems on his first spring migration. He is still in Europe and after crisscrossing the French/ Belgium border he has spent the last two days in northern French region of Picardy near Guise. This area is rich, flat agricultural land dotted with many small picturesque villages.

He has found an area of woodland, about 8miles long, and a mixture of deciduous and plantation trees, which has some small lakes and a wee river. He has roosted for two nights in a row on the shores a wee lake right in the middle of these woods, and has been fishing in the nearby stream too.

So will he stay in this area now he has made it back to the approximately the right natal latitude, or will he continue on to Germany or elsewhere? If Rothiemurcus’ adventures are anything to go by, we can expect him to wander quite a lot  and we may yet see him in the UK and even in Scotland this summer. We certainly hope so!

So does anyone know of friends or contacts in this Picardy region who might be able to go spotting our bird? Has anyone visited the area who can tell us more about the landscape?

If so let us know on ospreys@swt.org.uk

Ranger Emma