Delight at first recorded visit of osprey to Milton Country Park since 2013

A juvenile osprey has been delighting visitors to Milton Country Park after stopping off to fish before heading on its arduous migration to Africa.

It is the first recorded visit of this spectacular bird of prey to the park since 2013. Prior to that, one was last recorded there in 2008.

The bird was first spotted on 5 September, and has been seen daily since, favouring Dickerson’s Pit. It has been seen fishing and county bird recorder Jon Heath captured photographs of it catching perch.

Jon told the Cambridge Independent: “Although it has favoured the park since it was first spotted on 5 September, it has also been tracked along the river south towards Hobson’s Park and north towards Clayhithe.

“Incredibly on 6 September, there were two! This one was sat on its favourite perch and another briefly circled high over the lake before heading south over Cambridge.”

The bird is an unringed juvenile and it is thought it was probably born earlier this year in Scotland.

“Juvenile birds tend to hang around a favoured fishing area on their first arduous migration to Africa,” said Jon. “This bird will likely be carrying on with its migration in the next week or so. The adults do not tend to stop over and just carry on straight through much quicker.”

Ospreys are a familiar sight further north in Rutland, as they breed at Rutland Water, and can they also sometimes be seen on passage. They arrive back in the UK from Africa around March or April and staying until September or October.

Juveniles take on this epic and treacherous 5,000km (3,100 mile) journey at the age of around 12 weeks, with little experience, and without their parents, who typically leave before them. They must hone their fishing skills before they leave, and build up their strength, but the odds are against them and about half do not survive into their second year.

They follow various routes, typically to West African countries like Senegal and Gambia, often going to similar locations to their parents, suggesting some kind of hereditary programming enables them to find their way. They will usually return to the UK at the age of about three, when they are ready to breed, and mate for life, although they do not spend the winters with their mate, even if they are in the same area. They will, however, often return to the same nest sites for years.

For many visitors to Milton Country Park, the juvenile bird’s visit has been a rare opportunity to see one close to home.

With a wingspan of around 145cm to 170cm, ospreys are large birds of prey, with brown and white feathers and wings that are angled in the middle, creating a distinctive shape in flight.

The RSPB puts the number of UK breeding pairs at about 200 to 250.