rudolph_hart
Well-Known Member
We anchored on Saturday night in the Pyfleet, just beyond the moorings. At 10.15 on Sunday morning we saw gulls & crows mobbing what at first appeared to be a heron ("usual stuff"). The closer it got, it became clear it was a bird of prey. Our first thought was Marsh Harrier, but it was too big ("Buzzard - round here?").
Next thing, it fell from the sky into the water ("Poor thing will drown"), then it simply took off again! It came still closer (75 yds away) and dived again, all the while being mobbed. It became clear that we were watching an Osprey in fishing mode!
On the 3rd dive it dissapeared completely, then surfaced with a flatfish in its talons and flew along the marsh edge, passing only about 35 yds from us.
Suddenly a SECOND Osprey rose up from behind the marsh and briefly joined the first. It appreared that the first Osprey was trying to pass the fish over - or the second was trying to grab it. The racket from the gulls intensified. The Ospreys then separated, the first (still with fish) heading toward the Pyfleet mouth.
I've just 'phoned Essex Wildlife trust, and they tell me that these were probably 2-year old individual migrants, and unlikely to be a nesting pair. Apparently, if they're not sitting on eggs by the end of Aril, there's not enough time to raise the chicks.
I know birds are not of interest to everyone (I'm not a 'twitcher' myself), and Scottish forumites will probably yawn, but we were so overcome by the sight of such an impressive and rare species, I was just busting to share this !
Next thing, it fell from the sky into the water ("Poor thing will drown"), then it simply took off again! It came still closer (75 yds away) and dived again, all the while being mobbed. It became clear that we were watching an Osprey in fishing mode!
On the 3rd dive it dissapeared completely, then surfaced with a flatfish in its talons and flew along the marsh edge, passing only about 35 yds from us.
Suddenly a SECOND Osprey rose up from behind the marsh and briefly joined the first. It appreared that the first Osprey was trying to pass the fish over - or the second was trying to grab it. The racket from the gulls intensified. The Ospreys then separated, the first (still with fish) heading toward the Pyfleet mouth.
I've just 'phoned Essex Wildlife trust, and they tell me that these were probably 2-year old individual migrants, and unlikely to be a nesting pair. Apparently, if they're not sitting on eggs by the end of Aril, there's not enough time to raise the chicks.
I know birds are not of interest to everyone (I'm not a 'twitcher' myself), and Scottish forumites will probably yawn, but we were so overcome by the sight of such an impressive and rare species, I was just busting to share this !
