Shrikey! It’s Mikey!

Friday 9th July - I’ve been waiting for a good year to make this trip again, it having been cancelled in 2020 due to Covid. This visit being particularly notable because I had been able to align my visit with an old school chum, Colin. The alarm went off at 1.15 am and I was on the road by 2 am and ‘crawled’ into the small deserted Rutland lane at 3.40 am where 2 cars were already waiting. The gate to the trout farm was opened by Ian on the stroke of 4 and the 6 of us gathered and were briefed by our host. The site was being regularly visited by a small number of single male ospreys from the Rutland area, with only one female who was raising a family. The local nest site had sadly been abandoned this year. One male was being quite territorial but reportedly had calmed down somewhat more recently. Then,  after a brief catch up with Colin, we were led into the hide. The session started promisingly enough with the arrival of a male Kingfisher perching first to the left and then to the...