Horn Mill Osprey visit


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 right of the hide, less than 20 feet away but ultimately there was not enough light for a decent photo


After about 5 minutes the Kingfisher decided to leave without visiting the trout filled buffet and headed up to the Oak trees opposite. 

We were then distracted by an early heron, who made a bit of a fist of the breakfast fishing but managed to bag itself a modest trout. 

Then it got tough! Anticipating hearing Ian’s voice over the radio, informing us that there was an inbound osprey imminently arriving …but the silence continued. 5 am, 6 am, 7 am and 7.30 am came and went. Colin wandered over to my position and we ‘chewed the fat’ for a while, catching up on our lives over the past 18 months. By this time, the light was good but there was nothing around the trout pool but for some young herons, a female mallard and a moorhen and thoughts turned to how I might salvage the day by a visit to nearby Manton Bay. 

Then at just after 8 am, a bird that I recognised as our target for the session, flew into the sky in front of me. I blurted out “Osprey!” and the camera shutters started rapidly firing as Ian’s voice came over the radio from his position well above the hide letting us know the birds position when it flew over the hide out of our sight. After a short landing on a dead tree overlooking the trout pool, the male ringed bird (56) circled again.

However, the young herons were determined to disrupt proceedings and the osprey could only find a high position away from the herons but too far from the ‘breakfast buffet’.

After a few more minutes of tolerating the herons behaviour, the osprey was determined to get back to the front of the ‘breakfast queue’, despite the antics of 3 Grey herons, who repeatedly  flew back and forth over the pool and tried to take over his prime perches. He circled once more and despite an aerial spat amongst the willow tree boughs, finally got his ideal perch back.


From this position, he could select his target and once identified there was no stopping him.


He plummeted down, eyes transfixed on his target somewhere beneath the surface.


Hit the pool surface with his enormous talons and temporarily disappeared into an almighty eruption of water disturbance.


And emerged successfully with his trout meal



…and duly departed from whence he came, whilst the herons looked on. 








That was the last of the osprey action for the seeion but we did get a visit from a Red kite, scouring the site for any leftovers.

So many shots of the flight and diving sequence were out of focus but with a single occasion to get it right, I’m sure I could do with more opportunities to practice but that probably won’t be for another year 


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