Date Caught: 9th July 2008
Nest Location: B16 Moray
BTO Ring Number: 127049
Colour Ring Number: Green 5B
Satellite Radio Number: 84128
Sex: Female
Measurements: Wing 546mm; Tail 235mm
Weight: 1862g
To view details of Beatrice’s recent movements click on the following link: BEATRICE 2012-13
General
This osprey had been known to us since 2003 from her colour ring Green 5B. We caught her at nest B16 using a decoy and a dho ghaza net. She was in very good condition. We could tell from her ring number that she had been ringed as a chick in Strathdon, Aberdeenshire on 8th July 2000 by Ian Francis and Stuart Rae, and was one of three chicks. We fitted a GPS satellite transmitter and released her, and she flew straight to her favourite perch, a tall larch tree next to her nest.
Annual Movements
Beatrice is a slightly unusual osprey in that she doesn’t migrate all the way to Africa, but winters in southern Spain, an area which is only a stop-off point for most Scottish ospreys. Beatrice wintered in southern Spain in 2008/2009 and returned to her nest in 2009 and reared two young. She then returned to the River Guadiaro that winter. In April 2010 she arrived once again at her nest, but her old mate did not return, and she moved to a new nest and successfully reared three young, before wintering again in her usual haunts in southern Spain. In 2011, Beatrice returned to her old nest near Forres, and with a new mate reared two chicks. She again wintered on the River Guadiaro in and is now back at her usual nest with the same mate from last year, Blue/white HU.
Spring (yellow) and autumn (red) migrations 2011
Spring (yellow) and autumn (red) migrations 2010
Spring (yellow) and autumn (red) migrations 2009
Autumn migration 2008
To view details of Beatrice’s movements click on the relevant link: BEATRICE 2012
Beatrice 2011 | Beatrice 2010 | Beatrice 2009 | Beatrice 2008
Reproductive History
Since we have known her she has successfully reared 16 chicks (2004: 1, 2005: 2, 2005: 2, 2007: 2, 2008: 2, 2009: 2, 2010: 3, 2011: 2) She had the same mate until 2009, which we ringed ‘ochre TK’ on Forestry Commission land near Elgin in 1998, but has two different mates since then.
Photos
