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Thursday 21 July 2016

ON DUTY WITH THE OSPREYS AGAIN.


These Osprey duties come round so quick, but this week we had to have a change round as no body was available to do the 09.00 hrs to 13.00 hrs shift so Richard opted to carry this out, I arrived at about 13.20 hrs to take over from him and after a chat he got on his way for another visit to Ketton and I settled in for another duty. I had a very busy afternoon with visitors arriving on a regular basis from a babe in arms through to some very elderly ladies who had a wonderful afternoon and were asking questions virtually continuously. With the young Ospreys all flying about, which after a lazy morning with Richard, they made up for it in the afternoon. We had great problems in keeping check on them and when new people arrived in the hide. it was very difficult to point them out all the while. The problem being you are talking to the visitors and answering questions, but during this period you take your eye of the Ospreys, when you look next they have gone, they never move when you are looking. 

At the moment it appears that one of the juveniles is poorly T6 and is being watched to see if any one needs to help, young have been taken to the vets previously. It appears she has damaged her right leg but is getting better and feeding and flying. Todays comment on the Web site  says she is improving and hopefully with some rest as she is doing all will be well. 

At the end of my shift I had a quick visit to Eyebrook in case the Shortie was still about but all I saw was an Osprey on the far side of the reservoir and left after my tea to look through the Little Owl sites. On my return I saw Owls at Sites 6 and what I am calling 8A, Site 8 is about 200 metres farther down the road and we only have seen the bird occasionally in this pollard ed tree and we have for a while {probably about three years} been trying to find the actual nest site which it appears is somewhere within the field.T


RUTLAND OSPREYS.
14 th July.





Female on the Camera Post, two Juveniles at the nest. Waderscrape Hide.

Unsure as to the numbers on these two, such a long distance shot impossible to read the rings even through the scopes in the hide.  



You can see the white edges to the feathers on the juveniles. 



Female Juvenile T7 having a fly about in the bay.














Mum joins in and leads the way. 



All three Juveniles sitting on a fallen branch, a very long distance shot.




Black Tailed Dragonfly.

Not the best of images, saw several but every time I tried to approach, they flew away, this taken on the side of the track going to Waderscrape Hide. 



Small Tortoieshell Butterfly, Waderscrape Hide.

Saw several to the front of the hide sitting on the top of thistles.  
 






Moorhen with Young. Waderscrape Hide.

She had four young all together but the other three were in the reeds all the while so only got an image of her with the one. 



Little Owl Site No. 6.

First time seeing a bird at the site for a long time.





KESTRELS OUR GARDEN.

13th July.



Adult arrives with some food and chaos erupts, smallest in the doorway and two on the front. 




Least advanced of the three. 



Next in line and coming on well. 


Most advanced but still with the odd bit of fluffy feather. 




Most advanced and is flying by the time this post is up.




The three enjoying the last of the sun.




Thank you for your visit, I hope you have enjoyed the images as much as I did in the getting of them.

6 comments:

  1. Brilliant images, love far away Ospreys and even Kestrels. I love your blog.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Bob, we appear to enjoy each others blogs greatly, thanks for the visit.
      Regards John

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  2. Lovely images of the Ospreys showing the beautiful detail of their feathers. The Kestrels changing so much each blog. It must be nice to watch them grow day by day, even though owls should be in residence! I really love the 'half 'shot of the butterfly in close up. M.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Margaret, the Ospreys are coming on wonderfully and flying about more and more, just need them to come a bit closer, T6 seems to be getting better day by day so fingers crossed she will be OK to migrate and feed herself. As for the Kestrels, I have really enjoyed having them in the box but hope the Barnies return when they depart. Thanks for your visit and comment.
      John

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  3. Great to see T7 performed so well for you, John.

    Super to see your Kestrels doing so well.

    Best wishes - - - Richard

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hi Richard, I seemed to have a bit more luck on my duty than you did on the early shift, the young were reasonably active, the Kestrels are really coming on and all three are flying and up to all sorts of antics.
    See you soon hopefully John

    ReplyDelete

About Me;


Titus White:
Hi I am Richard Peglers friend Titus White, and those who follow Richards posts will understand the name and reason for it. I have been birding with Richard for 3 years and a volunteer at Rutland Water on the Osprey Project for 2 years. My early images were taken on a Nikon D80 with a 70 - 200mm lens. I updated the lens to a 70 - 300mm VR lens but still was not happy with the results. Eventually when Nikon announced the D7100 I decided to change so upgraded the camera and also invested in a Sigma 50 - 500mm lens.
I first met Richard through Arthur Costello as I was having the occasional visit from Little Owls on our land. We eventually found the Little Owls through another contact about 100 metres away. Photo's will follow on future posts.
I have recently upgraded my camera to full frame, this is a challenge I am at the moment enjoying trying to get the best out of the beast.
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