FINALLY QUIET

At long last, it looks as if the whole family has finally decided to migrate, at least 2 weeks later than the normal. C1 was last seen on Sat 13 Sep and C2 was last seen (and heard!) on Mon 15 Sep. I’d imagine that Samson probably migrated hot on the tail feathers of C2 just to ensure he didn’t change his mind and come back. There was a time when Samson thought he’d never leave, I’m sure. If anyone has seen them since these dates, please let me know because, as you can appreciate, getting the departure dates accurate is not an exact science.

In the last weeks, as well as exploring the area, they have been spending a lot of time over and in the river, flying, watching, learning and practising. We all appreciate that they spend a lot of time refinishing their fishing techniques but what is sometimes overlooked is that, even when not fishing or attempting to fish, they will also be learning (and strengthening their wing muscles) to do the other critical thing and that is working out how to get airborne from the water. It is a totally different technique from being able to “push off” from something solid, as watching a video of any osprey doing so would show. It’s vital that they learn how to master this skill, even before they catch their first fish, because failure to get airborne from water could be fatal. We have seen plenty of evidence of our juveniles returning to the nest soggy and scraggy. We haven’t seen them come back with anything but empty talons, but we can assume that the lesson of emerging from water straight into flight has been well learned.

So that’s about it for this year unless something untoward happens. Sadly, we won’t receive any more news about the chicks as we weren’t able to get them ringed this year and by the time they come back in 2 years’ time, assuming they survive, they will look completely different. The good thing is that any unringed bird we see over the nest from 2027 could be C2, as males tend to return to their natal areas, or any new unringed female at any of the monitored nests in the country could be C1. We will never know but we can certainly be optimistic. They have a long and difficult migration before them but have been well prepared for it and are stuffed full of the River Teviot’s best fish. They will also have to battle for a good fishing spot when they reach their winter grounds. However, if they manage to cope with that, come Spring next year, life will get considerably easier for them as all the adult birds will fly north and they will only have to compete with other year old and some 2 year old birds. Hopefully, they will thrive and Spring 2027 will see them winging their way north to find their own breeding territories. Fingers crossed that they make it.

In the meantime, I have a long list of jobs that I should have been doing over the Summer and Spring will be here again before we know it. The skies at present are full of incoming pink footed geese but, come March and April, I will be looking forward to and listening for a familiar silhouette and the piercing cry of a returning osprey. Thank you for your company, either in person or digitally; I will see you all next year. Just as a reminder, here are some photos of the family of 2025.