The Manton Bay Ospreys: A Look Back at the 2024 Season

As I’m writing this, I’m sat in the Lyndon Centre. It’s quiet; the osprey season has passed and with it, much of the footfall. It’s been a fantastic season, with all the twist and turns that make for compelling viewing. With everything that happened, I felt that I wanted to put together my summary for the season for the Manton Bay nest and my thoughts on the key events.

New Beginnings – The Return of the Rutland Ospreys

There is always an immense feeling of excitement when we reopen the Lyndon Centre in March, waiting for our resident pair to return. Watching that first osprey land on the nest each year brings a joy that is hard to put into words, and this year was no different. On 12th March, a rather drizzly Tuesday, I was preparing to head home to the day when my colleague, Matt, cheered those wonderful opening words: “Osprey on the nest, osprey on the nest!”, followed by words that only made that feeling better, “I think it’s Maya…”. Sure enough, our amazing resident female had returned home for her 15th breeding season, and we were absolutely beside ourselves to see her home. As was only fitting, Matt and I sprinted down to Waderscrape Hide to welcome her home – Matt, in very sensible walking boots, me, in my new and absurdly large and heavy wellies (my legs were very sore after). When we arrived, she was sat on the T-perch next to the nest sitting proudly, watching over her territory. Seeing her return again was akin to reuniting with an old friend, and I’m unashamed to say that it made me quite emotional. 

The next day, within 24 hours of Maya returning to the nest, she was reunited with 33(11) to begin their 10th season breeding together. What made this so astonishing is that, when in their wintering grounds, ospreys are independent of their breeding partners – there is no planning between them as to when they will make their way back, just the individual’s instinct. While it can be argued therefore that Maya and 33’s similar timing is purely coincidence, I think it perfectly symbolises that amazing bond the two have, and the statistics certainly back this up with Maya and 33 being Rutland’s most successful breeding pair.

On the 14th, we saw another familiar face when 25(10) (another long-term breeding female from an off-site nest) made her annual intrusion to Manton Bay, albeit a much shorter and less dramatic one than last year (if you know, you know…) with Maya very swiftly chasing her away from the nest site. With this, the season was in motion, and while there was of course some classic nest drama, everything looked as if it was going to run like clockwork. A very naïve thought to have had at the time in retrospect…

Early Concerns – Egg Laying and Maya’s Illness

In the weeks that followed, we were met by a huge amount of online media attention, and it was a real privilege to talk about the ospreys with various channels (ITV News, various BBC radio shows, and Rutland and Stamford Sound to name but a few). We were delighted that so many new people were tuning in and joining the fantastic passionate community that we have.

While we were busy with the media, Maya and 33 remained hard at work building up the Manton Bay nest and copulating. I am always astounded by how quickly they build that nest each year, bringing so much material from the surrounding area and building this incredible structure to prepare it for laying. On 30th March we saw the result of these efforts with the first of the three eggs being laid (the other two on the 2nd and 5th April), the next highlight of the osprey season. At this time, conversations were being had to have Countryfile come over to Rutland to feature our project – an amazing opportunity for us to reach out to a wider audience.

Around this time, we were growing concerned over Maya’s wellbeing. Her breathing had become very laboured while laying, and while I had thought it just to be additional stress from the laying, it became quite apparent that it was more severe than we initially thought. We contacted Tim Mackrill who in turn got in touch with some highly experienced avian vets, with whom Tim had worked with on the White-tailed Eagle reintroduction). They looked at the footage we provided and concluded that there was unmistakeably something quite wrong. At this point we were concerned as to whether Maya would survive the season, and all was rather uncertain.

Still, we looked to remain positive, and completed filming with the Countryfile team – we were floored by how brilliant they were to work with; unerringly positive, passionate people who made the whole experience really enjoyable. When the episode aired, we were all delighted with how it came across, and it was brilliant to see the focus not only on the birds, but also how young conservationists are getting inspired by the Project (Ronnie, you were brilliant!).

A Close Call – A Lone Chick and a Timely Intervention

We were still very concerned for Maya’s health, but we tried to remain positive, focussing on the next big event throughout the osprey season – the hatching of the eggs. We did not know yet the impact Maya’s condition would have on the clutch. On 5th May, we saw on the webcam that Maya removed one of the eggs from the nest, and it was clear that the egg was unviable. Immediately, we had concerns that none of the eggs may hatch, and that we were to have a season without any fledglings at all.

Fortunately, six days after that first egg was removed, we saw the first signs of hatching very early in the morning. I find it hard to put into words the excitement and relief we felt when we saw that tiny chick for the first time. As with when Maya returned, the atmosphere in the Visitor Centre was outstanding and it was brilliant to see visitors getting (nearly) as animated as us to see new life on the nest. I seem to recall the egg hatched at the same time the aurora was visible over Rutland (I had my priorities set firmly focussed on our new osprey chick, so my memory is lacking!).

All was well over the next few days, we saw the chick slowly gaining its strength as Maya delicately fed it the fish that 33 was catching. It was lovely to see the osprey nest operating as expected at that time of the season, and surely nothing could go wrong…

Me and my big mouth…

On 15th May, disaster struck. 33 had been outstanding throughout the start of the season, bringing back a plentiful supply of fish to the nest. On this occasion, however, he had failed to kill a rather enormous trout before bringing it to Maya and the chick. At first, all was well, but after a sudden motion from a still (just) living trout, the chick was thrown to the side of the nest, trapped behind a small stick on the side. Maya and 33 were unable to bring the chick back to the centre of the nest and the chick was unable to climb back over.

At this point, the centre phone wouldn’t stop ringing – everyone was terrified for the safety of the chick, us included. As such we were set to make a very difficult decision, whether or not we should intervene. As the event that caused the incident was purely chance and not due to the fault of the chick, it was not a situation where we considered natural selection really applied and given the increasing likelihood that this would be the sole chick we would see this year (as turned out to be the case, as the third egg remained unhatched), we decided to intervene. The decision was one made in short time given the circumstances and one, with retrospect, we would not have made differently.

Tim Sexton, Beth Fox and I set out in a boat to get below the nest, and Maya and 33 took to the skies, alarm calling, and keeping a close watch on us. At this point, it had started raining, so we knew time was of the essence as the chick was solely reliant on Maya to protect it in these conditions and it wouldn’t survive for long on its own. We put the ladder up to the nest and Tim repositioned the chick as quickly and carefully as he could and then left as quickly as we could.

An Enormous Privilege – Ringing 1R0(24)

After all the drama that ensued on the nest, we were pleased to be returning to a relatively normal schedule. Maya’s breathing had massively improved and there were hopes that she was going to make a full recovery. We had started our Osprey Cruises, which are a real highlight of my season. It’s always an enormous treat to show all the wildlife around Rutland Water and we had some unbelievably brilliant sightings of all sorts of birdlife. Highlights included multiple Barn Owl sightings, enormous numbers of Egrets, Common Terns fishing alongside the boat and, of course, amazing views of our local Ospreys fishing right before our eyes.

In this time, the chick was continuing to grow at an astonishing rate. It will always take me by surprise how quickly you see them develop, you only have to take a week away to be greeted by an entirely different face upon your return. Our next thoughts went to the ringing, and we got in touch with Tim Mackrill to organise the dates. At this point, I had been training to ring for several months and, in a moment of sheer cheekiness, I messaged Tim asking whether there may be a chance for me to ring one of two of the juveniles this year. Tim, as always, was incredibly supportive and was happy to let me ring some of the juveniles under his supervision. As you can imagine, I was over the moon.

On 19th June we set out in the boat back to the Manton Bay nest, this time (gladly) with far less stress! Tim Mackrill climbed up to bring the chick down to the boat and we took all the measurements required to sex it and make sure it was healthy. We deemed it to be a rather heavy male (as was to be expected with the lack of sibling competition for food) and Tim showed me how to fit the rings – one metal BTO ring and one blue Darvic ring by which we would identify the chick. He was then returned to the nest by Tim, and we once again left them in peace. The juvenile now been seen admiring his new ‘bling’ for the first time, showing off his new name to all the world, “1R0”.

Wings and Wheels – 1R0 Fledging and the Support that Keeps Us Rolling

Over the next few weeks, we watched as 1R0 started to use his wings for the first time. Initially, he would start to flap, and steadily that flapping turned into helicoptering. It’s always an enormous treat to watch the juveniles gain confidence before their first flight. We get such an intimate view of their progress and it’s such an amazing feeling to cheer them on, as they get closer and closer to finally taking that first leap to the camera perch (as is a somewhat traditional Manton Bay fledging).

1R0 decided he didn’t fancy anything traditional. On 3rd July, we say 1R0 take his maiden flight from the nest. Where we expected him to just hop up onto the camera perch, he instead made his maiden flight a whopper, flying around the Bay for about 10 minutes before settling on the T Perch where he sat with Maya to rest. Bloody brilliant!

What was additionally astonishing throughout this season was the generosity we saw from everyone. We had a huge amount of support from so many people, and we are incredibly grateful for all that people gave – whether that was in the form of hours volunteered, donations or kind words. There were two moments of sheer kindness that I feel must receive their own individual plaudits though:

Firstly, to Roger, who has been a volunteer for the Rutland Osprey Project for 27 years, who completed the Rutland Water Dambuster Triathlon to raise money for the Project. He surpassed his goal to reach a total of £860 towards the continued success of the work, an amazing achievement. As thanks, I agreed to install “Roger’s Rest”, a kingfisher perch positioned in the channels in front of Waderscrape Hide which remains for all to enjoy especially one female kingfisher who has used it very frequently since. In fact, just minutes after installation, she flew up from the reeds to sit in it – it certainly cheered me up after my makeshift waders had broken leaving me rather soggy!

Secondly, to Luuk and Helma, who very generously donated their mobility scooter for us to use at Lyndon after ours had broken before the season had begun. Without their generosity, we were unable to make Lyndon as accessible as was desired, and as such we are immensely grateful to them.

Farewell and the Future: Migration and Hopes for Next Year

After fledging, the webcam becomes far less lively as there is less and less reliance on the nest. The real treat at that time of year is seeing the birds from the hides and watching them in the Bay. I especially enjoyed watching 1R0 as he continued to gain confidence; unlike previous years’ juveniles who would be far more tentative and cautious in flight, 1R0 took very quickly to the sky and flew very similarly to his very experienced parents.

Writing this, all three of the Manton Bay Osprey have now left on migration, and with this comes mixed emotions. The relief of a successful season, the wistful sadness of seeing the individuals leave, and the tense anticipation from wondering whether we will see these special birds again.

I, for one, think we will be seeing 1R0 again. He was so well fed by the time he left on migration (almost a little tubby!) and he seemed so confident on the wing. He reminded me very much of 1H1(22), who stayed for a similar amount of time before leaving, and I have been delighted to see that she has returned this year, first stopping in Germany before making her way to Poole Harbour. It’s really exciting to think that we may well see 1H1 breeding down there in future years and, who knows, maybe we’ll see 1R0 return to Rutland in a few years’ time.

We were relieved that Maya seems to have made a full recovery by the end of the season and I hope that both she and 33 will be back again next season ready to further add to our osprey population and continue their legacy.

I can’t wait to see which Osprey we have reported over the winter months and I can’t wait to be back here for the start of the 2025 season. I’m sure there will be all sorts of new stories to look forward to.