Last updated at 15:07, Thursday, 15 April 2010

Cumbria’s most popular birds are back at Bassenthwaite Lake following a 3,000-mile migration flight from Africa.

The ospreys return to Bassenthwaite

After a winter spent apart, the male and female ospreys have been reunited back at their Cumbrian summer home.

The female arrived first on 26 March – the earliest date an osprey has ever returned to the Lake - but had to wait around until 1 April before the male turned up. Since then they have been observed by staff from the Lake District Osprey Project busily gathering sticks and moss for nest building. 

The behaviour of the birds has left the osprey team in no doubt that they are the same birds that nested last year. The male, known as No Ring, has nested at Bassenthwaite every year since 2001; the female is the one he paired up with for the first time in 2007.

The return of the ospreys raises hopes for a 10th successful nesting season for Lakeland’s famous fish-eating birds of prey. Ospreys first nested near Bassenthwaite Lake in the Lake District in 2001, the first ospreys to do so for at least 150 years.

Pete Barron of the Lake District Osprey Project said: “We are delighted that the ospreys have returned for a 10th season. They have been busy mating so we are hopeful the female will be laying eggs very soon. We now have a dedicated team doing 24-hour nest protection to ensure the ospreys are left undisturbed.”

The Osprey Viewpoint at Dodd Wood, near Keswick, is open, offering a great view of the nest and of Bassenthwaite Lake. Staff and volunteers are on hand with telescopes from 10am-5pm daily.

Over at the Forestry Commission’s Whinlatter Visitor Centre, near Braithwaite, there is an exhibition area dedicated to the ospreys with live pictures from a nest camera beamed on to a giant videowall. The Centre is open daily from 10am to 5pm.

Osprey fans can also follow the latest twists and turns in the story in the daily osprey diary at www.ospreywatch.co.uk.

The Lake District Osprey Project is a partnership between The Forestry Commission, the RSPB and the Lake District National Park.
 

First published at 11:34, Tuesday, 13 April 2010
Published by http://www.whitehavennews.co.uk