After a fast start to his migration at the end of last week Blue JV3 spent much of yesterday at the Gulf of Morbihan on the Brittany coast and was still there at 12:57 local time today.
The previous batch of data had shown that Blue JV3 was just north of Leamington Spa at 08:45 on Saturday morning having left his overnight roost near Leeds soon after first light. Over the course of the next four hours he made fast progress south and at 12:52 was approaching Southampton at an altitude of 698 metres. An hour later he was high (854 m) over western Isle of Wight and he then made a two-an-a-half hour crossing of the English Channel, making landfall to the east of Cherbourg. Once in French airspace he changed his heading to south-west and flew direct across the sea to St-Malo. He eventually settled to roost for the night beside the Rance Estuary, just north of the village of Saint-Suliac at 22:01 local time having flown an impressive 584 km from South Yorkshire.

JV3 roosted beside the Rance Estuary in Brittany on Saturday night
On Sunday morning BLue JV3 had already left his overnight roost at 08:00 and was flying purposefully south-west. Four hours later at midday he was perched on the edge of a forested area to the east of the Gulf of Morbihan having flown 122 km. Interestingly he went no further and instead made only local movements during the course of the afternoon. At 17:18 he was perched in the estuary and was still there an hour later: suggesting he was eating a fish. He then headed off to roost in a wooded area 18 km north-west near the village of Leran.
This morning Blue JV3 flew back to the Gulf of Morbihan and appeared to be fishing at both 10:56 and 11:57, the latter being the last GPS fix in this latest batch of data. This vast natural habour would be an excellent place for a stop-over and it is possible that JV3 will linger here for a few days. His change of track through Brittany certainly indicates that he made a conscious decision to head there. Many ospreys have a favourite stop-over site that they visit on each migration; it seems very likely that this is a place Blue JV3 has visited before.
You can check out Blue JV3’s migration on our interactive map.

Blue JV3 has remained around Gulf of Morbihan since arriving there at lunchtime on Sunday

JV3’s migration 15-18 Sept