Returning Osprey

We've previously blogged about a Scottish-ringed Osprey seen at Devoran on its first autumn migration and then again three years later, so read the background here. Remarkably, Blue JF1 has returned again, seen at Restronguet Creek yesterday. We're not sure if it was seen back in Scotland since rigning, but it's great to know that it finds Devoran to its liking and on past performance it will remain on the river for a while yet.

Thanks to John St Ledger for the report and the classic Osprey photo.

Colour-ringed Ospreys galore

It's been a good autumn so far for Ospreys in Cornwall, with sightings being reported from numerous sites across the county. Interestingly, several of these birds have been photographed with colour rings and they tell some interesting stories.

Earlier in the monnth, one of two birds at Devoran was seen to be ringed and with a bit of persistence was read by photographer Andy Wilson as KC7, aka 'Tywi'. This male was ringed as a chick in Wales earlier this year at the Dyfi Osprey Project and was last seen there on 25th August.

Blue KC7 at Devoran (Andy Wilson)

Remarkably, a few days later another Osprey was photographed at Devoran but with a different ring! Blue JF1 was ringed as a chick in Scotland in 2017 and even more remarkably had been seen at Devoran that autumn, as detailed on the blog here. With KC7 also still present, it's amazing tho think that two known individuals from different countries were feeding together on the same stretch of river.

Blue JF1 at Devoran in 2020 (John St Ledger)

One other bird we've yet to receive details of is Blue 260, which was on the Gannel estuary, Newquay at the start of September. We presume it's a Scottish bird but will wait and see.

Blue 092 (or 260) on the Gannel estuary (Rhys Ellis-Davies)

This again just goes to show how useful colour-ringing is in tracking birds and the increase in value it gives to bird recording.

Scottish Osprey drops into Devoran

Late summer and early autumn sees small numbers of Osprey staging in Cornwall on their southbound journey to west Africa. The wooded creeks and rivers that feed into Carrick Roads seem to be particularly favourable. Devoran Creek has had two individuals for the last few weeks and one of these juvenile birds was sporting a coded blue ring on the left leg. This instantly identified it as a Scottish bird as birds originating in England and Wales receive a colour ring on the right leg. Despite being quite showy the bird typically remained just out of range to read the ring, but with persistent observation and some digiscoping the ring was finally read as JF1.

This bird was ringed as a chick on 13th July this year near Monymusk, Aberdeenshire, by Grampian Ringing Group; one of a brood of three. On size, it was deemed likely to be a male and this is the first confirmed sighting of JF1 since leaving the nest.

JF1 in the nest just after ringing

With various Ospreys being seen elsewhere in the county it is very much worth looking out for these impressive birds and, if you’ve got your eye in, reading a colour ring! Thanks to Greg Wills for the words and pictures and Ewan Weston for the photo of JF1 in the nest.

Swedish-ringed Osprey

The RSPB office in Penzance recently passed across sad news of the demise of an injured Osprey. What is more unusual is that this bird was ringed, and a Swedish ring at that!

Thanks to Lee Stevenson for reporting (and photographing) the bird

92A07295 was found at Relubbus on 30th August and despite being cared for at Mousehole Bird Hospital it died soon after. We've sent the detailson to BTO who will send them on to the Swedish ringing scheme, and we'll post the details here when we receive them.

There is just one previous report of a ringed Osprey in the county, which was a bird ringed near Inverness in 1994 and seen in St Columb Major in April 1997, before being killed hitting wires in Scotland three weeks later. Even looking further afield, there are only 23 reports of Swedish-ringed Ospreys in the UK, so this is a very unusual record. The map below shows all Osprey movements to/from the UK, from the BTO's online ringing report.