Many of the visitors to the Lake District Osprey Project ask us ‘Why do the Ospreys come here?’ The answers tend to follow these lines. Ospreys come here to breed and to have young, to do this they need to be able to catch extra fish to feed to their young and to feed themselves. In an ideal world the Osprey would like to spend twenty four hours a day fishing. In Gambia today dawn was at 06.41 and dusk 19.37; in Cumbria today dawn was at 04.36 and dusk 21.53. So by being at Bassenthwaite the Ospreys gain approximately four hours of daylight an important factor when you have to catch fish and then feed them to the young. You may think that the weather may be better in Africa, and indeed today Gambia was in bright sunshine whilst on Bassenthwaite we had a wet morning and a brighter afternoon. The forecast for the next few days in Gambia is however, heavy showers so no advantage there then. Strangely enough talking of weather forecasting the Ospreys seem to be pretty good at this as well as the Met Office. If you followed Roy Dennis’ Logie back from Africa you will know Logie spent some time in northern Spain waiting for the weather ahead to change. On Bassenthwaite the male Osprey has a knack of being able to catch several fish before a storm breaks. How do they do this? That’s the wonder of Ospreys.

Meanwhile all’s well with our birds just a bit damp around the feathers just like all of us.