No signs of any birds (other than a coal tit) in the nest today and no sightings of ospreys on the Lake either – although the cloud and rain came down heavily and obscured vision in the afternoon. Yesterday’s osprey seems to have disappeared and so must have been a passing migrant. Looking at the dates of arrival for previous years of our Bassenthwaite birds there is certainly nothing to worry about. So many variables come into play to either help or hinder the migration – wind direction, availability of food, health and fitness, start point of journey, etc. that it is impossible to predict arrival time for any individual. Experienced birds will keep their weather eye open and rest up if the conditions appear to be deteriorating. Logie, the Highland Foundation for Wildlife’s radio tagged female, has sensibly been resting on the North coast of Spain for the past few days fishing and roosting until there is a fair prospect of crossing the Bay of Biscay. "Better late than never" gains fundamental significance when applied to the perils of migration.

Bassenthwaite Ospreys’ Annual Dates of Arrival

	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007
Male	April 15th	April 3rd	April 7th	April 10th	April 7th	April 4th	April 17th
Female	April 17th	April 18th	April 17th	April 14th	April 4th	April 3rd	April 18th