8J2

A juvenile Osprey was entertaining the crowds at the Lower Otter Restoration Project earlier this autumn. It’s a chick which was reared this year in the Tweed Valley and ringed by the Tweed Valley Osprey Project.

The Tweed Valley Osprey Project was set up in 1998 to help to establish a breeding population of ospreys in the Scottish Borders. When the project started there were no known nests in the area. Now, 25 years later, we have around 18 active nests and over 350 chicks have been raised across the Tweed Valley.  

That’s a fabulous record of success.

Its ring, 8J2, was clearly visible as it caught at least one fish every morning and one every evening on the River Otter. It seemed to like an incoming tide bringing the fish up the estuary.

I love the white fringes of its feathers.

And it’s fascinating to see two toes forward and two toes back as it landed on a perch.

I watched it catch a fish and bring it back, still shaking itself dry.

It took an age to eat it.

I was ravenous by the time I’d finished watching it. Luckily I could brew up some fresh coffee and had a cake in the van.

A lovely day. I wish the Tweed Valley Osprey Project well. Their success is everyone’s success.