Red 8T is a male that I ringed in the RSPB Abernethy Forest Reserve on 15th July 2001 at nest A04; the middle chick in a brood of three males. His wing length at ringing date was 410mm and a weight of 1420 grams. He was identified intruding at the Loch Garten nest in 2005, before the male osprey Henry drove him off. We did not find him in 2006 or 2007, but in 2008 he was found breeding at a new nest at site A12 in a Forestry Commission wood in Badenoch, to the west of Aviemore. He reared at least one chick and this year the pair reared two young.

I caught him near his nest on 19th July 2009, assisted by Steve Bentall and Amy King, using a decoy eagle owl and a dho gaza net. He was in very good condition weighing 1446 grams, his wing length was 490mm and tail 210mm. His ring number was BTO 1385695. We fitted a GPS satellite transmitter (75609) and then released him, he flew off over the forest. We also caught his mate, which was unringed. She was ringed blue/white AB and weighed 1872 grams.

Earlier in the summer, Red 8T was photographed fishing at Rothiemurchs fishery and since tagging he regularly fished there, including Mike Crutch's great photo below of him catching a rainbow trout at Rothiemurchus Fishery ar 6.42am on 22nd July.

He wintered in southern Senegal in winter 2009/2010 and is now back in Badenoch & Strathspey, but has moved nest because her last year's mate failed to return.