Osprey 0C5

One my highlights of each year is the return of the ospreys to Obidos lagoon, in the Silver Coast region of Portugal. I am captivated by these birds - I am not sure what it is about them but I love to see them and to photograph them. I have been lucky enough to visit the hide at River Gwash in Rutland to get close up shots of ospreys fishing, but the shots I really want are those of the osprey in Obidos lagoon. So each October I wait to see which birds will arrive - will they stay, or are they just pausing on their migration down to West Africa? Each year a small number stay - sometimes one, sometimes up to three.

There is a ‘regualr’ osprey. This individaul has no ID ring so I sadly don’t know where they come in from, or how old they are. This bird is a magnificently efficient fisher - rarely do they need more than one dive to get a good sized fish from the lagoon. That of course means very little warning to try and get the photograph. Their confidence also means they can fish far out in the lagoon so most of my sightings of the moment they hit the water are quite distant.

Three years ago at the lagoon, I managed to get a clear photograph of the leg ring of an osprey CH6. I got in touch with Tim Mackrill at the Roy Dennis Foundation. Tim kindly filled me in with the history of this bird - a male osprey who was originally ringed at a nest at Loch Lomond, Dumbartonshire, Scotland in 2013. He had been the only chick in the nest. I was thrilled to begin to know more about this magnificent bird and the journey he had been on to be in front of me in Portugal. It added even more to my respect for these birds.

Then two years ago I was then able to photograph another osprey KT4, this time slightly further south in Portugal on the Sado estuary, while on a trip with Mirisado. Once again Tim was able to tell me this is an opsprey from Dornoch Firth in northern Scotland, and to provide me with its age and history. Once again I was delighted to learn more about the individual bird I was photographing.

Then this year 0C5 arrived at the Obidos lagoon. A quick web search revealed he was one of two birds ringed by Cumbria Wildlife Trust this summer from their Foulshaw Moss Nature Reserve. I was able to read about the ringing of this bird on the Trust’s website, and so I got in contact with them and sent some photos. 0C5 and his brother had been local celebrities for the Trust earlier in the year, so they were keen to use the photographs to let their supporters know how 0C5 is getting on. Seeing the many comments on the Trust’s Facebook page showed just how much the supporters care and follow the fortunes of the ospreys - I hope in some little way the photos help the Trust further develop support for their work.

Ringing of birds is obviously hugely important to the naturalists who work so hard to help osprey’s thrive - but it is also a window into the history of the birds for people like me who are simply ‘fans’ of the species. It adds so much to my experience of seeing the individual birds.

0C5 became a very important part of my visits to the lagoon. I liked to keep an eye on his progress, and watching him become more proficient at fishing. He was not always successful - one day he seemed to struggle to secure a fish. After repeated swoops where he either barely clipped the water, or where he pulled out of his dive a little above the water, he finally splashed down. He struggled to get airborne again and I feared he might drown. Eventually his efforts paid off and he lifted slowly out the water with a large fish held in one talon. He made for land and flew directly over a large heronry on the shoreline. Then disaster struck. One last wriggle from the fish sent the prey tumbling from 0C5’s grasp. The fish’s luck was short lived as it dropped in front of a grateful grey heron, and 0C5 flew off to rest. Doubtless to try again later.

When I last saw 0C5, before I left the area to come back to the UK, he was following the unringed osprey pout into the lagoon. He was keeping a distance but it seemed he was watching the more experienced osprey fish - what better teacher than an osprey who had clearly mastered fishing with minimal effort.

I will be back at the lagoon in a few weeks, and already I am eager to know if 0C5 will be there still. How will his fishing skills have progressed? Will he finally give me the photograph of a full frame picture of one of these magnificent birds emerging from the waters of Obidos lagoon with a fish? I do hope so!