UPDATE – 23 October 2024: The juvenile Osprey that appeared in Milton Country Park on the 5th September was last reported on its feeding perch on 21st October. It seems that it had finally headed south for the winter.
I asked expert Tim Mackrill, an ornithologist at the Roy Dennis Wildlife Foundation about the bird. “It is fairly common for juveniles to stop-over in this way during September and October, and some birds even stay into November, particularly on the South Coast [of England],” he told me. “Most juveniles depart their nest site before they have caught a fish for themselves, so if they encounter a location where they are catching fish relatively easily, they can often linger for a number of days or even weeks, as your bird did.” He adds that most Ospreys in England and Wales are ringed, but there are many Scottish sites where chicks are not ringed. “It is most likely that this was a Scottish youngster” he told me. “That said, some Scandinavian birds also pass through England on autumn migration, so that can’t be discounted either.”
If it reaches Africa, it will stay there for several seasons before flying back to somewhere near the place it hatched earlier in 2024 to seek a mate. Meanwhile, another migrating Osprey was seen at RSPB Fen Drayton on 22nd October.
Famously, there are nesting Ospreys at Rutland Water, which is probably the nearest spot we’d expect to see these breeding summer visitors. However, migrating birds on passage can turn up anywhere there’s water and fish if they sense a safe place to refuel on their journey to or from sub-Saharan Africa. I suspect the passage migrants mentioned in this post have flown in from much further north, Cumbria or Scotland, perhaps. No signs of leg rings and the Rutland birds are all ringed.
We have lots of gravel pits in this part of Cambridgeshire that have been repurposed as nature reserves and parks. One of them, Milton Country Park has seen lots of interesting birdlife over the last few years. You’re almost always going to see Kingfisher, Cormorants and various ducks and waders there as well as woodland birds and even occasionally exotic warblers. Geese numbers seem to be way down recently.
Back in late April 2014, a Eurasian Osprey turned up and hung around for a while. This was presumably a migrant heading north. The previous year one was present in September, presumably heading south. Prior to that 2008.
There’s an Osprey at Milton CP right now, first appearance, 5th September 2024 or thereabouts. It’s a juvenile. Not long after, an adult was seen on the nearby stretch of the River Cam at Bait’s Bite Lock. There have been some other local sightings in Chesterton and at Dernford Reservoir.
Mrs Sciencebase and I took a stroll around the Milton CP site on the morning of 14th September, and while we saw Kingfisher, there was no sign of any Ospreys. We had another try on the afternoon of the 15th and spotted one flying over one of the lakes. It was airborne for a few minutes before heading to a roosting point high in an oak tree, a spot others had seen it several times in previous days. We had great views of it in the air and then at its roost. It would occasionally bow, perhaps a precocious mating bow, so I suspect it’s a female. I saw no sign of it on the morning of the 16th September.
As we were leaving the park, we took one more look from a viewing jetty and saw another (adult) Osprey that had flown in from the direction of the River Cam. It had apparently fished briefly just before we saw it in the air and then it quickly disappeared back towards the river. This was definitely a second bird, as the roosting juvenile has a nick from one of its wings whereas this apparent adult did not.
County Bird Recorder, Jon Heath, interviewed in Cambridge Independent.