Strath osprey chicks make good progress on the wing
Young ospreys from the Boat of Garten centre are making good progress as they make their epic first migration to their winter quarters in West Africa.
Female Tore and male Bynack are both being tracked using satellite tags as part of an RSPB project.
The pair have both doen well thus far, according to RSPB Scotland site manager at Loch Garten Richard Thaxton.
He explained: "Tore headed south in mid-August making steady progress down to North Wales, then crossed the English Midlands to the Suffolk coast. Then rather oddly, instead of heading out across The Channel to France, she cut right back to the south-west, to near Plymouth.
"This bizarre zigzag route was presumably her getting her bearings, or simply exploring, but it had us bit worried for a while. However, after she spent a few weeks in Devon, presumably fishing and re-fuelling ready for the next leg of her journey, she eventually made The Channel crossing into France.
"She then pressed on down through Spain and crossed the Mediterranean, reaching Morocco a month after leaving Loch Garten. Her most recent position was on the three-way border of Mauritania, Mali and Senegal, so she’s almost made it to where Scottish ospreys have always been believed to go, Senegal or Gambia."
Meanwhile her brother Bynack, on leaving Loch Garten, headed down the east coast of England and crossed into Belgium near Brugge After a couple of weeks, he too has now moved on and is currently just north of Seville in Spain, in line to make an expected crossing at Tarifa from where Morocco can be seen across The Strait of Gibraltar.
Mr Thaxton concluded: "It’s brilliant to know that both this year’s birds have done so well, so far. Natural mortality in their first year is high, so we are cautiously thrilled that Tore has at least reached Africa, with the potentially perilous sea-crossings behind them, and successfully crossed the High Atlas Mountains in Morocco and part of the Sahara. We’ll be checking data in the coming days to see if Bynack can make similar progress."
Readers wishing to follow up-dates on the birds’ whereabouts can do so at: http://www.rspb.org.uk/wildlife/tracking/lochgartenospreys/index.aspx