Troubles

Yellow HA finally flew tohis nest area on 15th April from East Moray; he arrived at the nest area at 1.51pm, and then must have been involved in a major dispute with the new 6-year-old male (Morven’s new mate). His transmitter data shows that he was flying continuously until 2.28pm and then again between 3:01pm and 3:55pm. He then moved away to a fishing loch area where he lingered in trees to 22nd April; he did not try to go back to the nest during this time and on 22nd flew to the River Findhorn upstream of Forres. On 25th he moved further up river and the last signal was late on 26th April. By this time he was living low along the riverside and one fisherman reported seeing an osprey landing on low cliffs on the riverside in an ungainly manner. In this area there would be no mobile phone reception.  I have heard nothing since and my best prognosis is that he was injured during the fight and ‘limped away’ to try to recuperate along the river; and probably died. Fighting between male ospreys can be pretty furious and there have been cases of deaths. This episode shows the danger of being delayed by bad weather during the migration and arriving long after their mate.