Jules

Great news – our satellite tagged osprey, Jules, made it back to Starthspey yesterday afternoon after a 20 day migration from the Casamance region of Senegal. At 15:30 yesterday afternoon he was at Rothiemurchus Fishery – the location where we tagged him last September.

In our previous updated we reported that Jules was flying west over Stoke-on-Trent on Wednesday morning. We now know that he paused briefly to the south of Leek before continuing north at around 11:00 BST. He passed to the east of Manchester two hours later at an altitude of 475 metres. He continued north through the Pennines, averaging around 30 kph and reached Northumberland at 18:30. He continued flying until 21:00 when he finally settled to roost for the night in a forested area immediately south of the Scottish border after a day’s flight of 326 km.

Jules flew directly over Stoke-on-Trent at an altitude of just over 300 metres on Wednesday morning

Yeserday morning Jules cleared sensed that he was close to home because he continued north at first light and reached the Firth of Forth to the east of Edinburgh at North Bewick at 08:40. He crossed the Firth at an altitude of approximately 150 metres before continuing on through Fife, over Dundee and then into Angus. By 12:32 he was in southern Moray and at this point he turned due west to fly direct to Aviemore. By the time he reached Rothiemurchus he had flown 244 km since leaving his roost site in the Borders.

Jules does not have an established nest, and so it will be very interesting to follow his movements this summer. We’ll be sure to keep you updated over the coming months, but won’t be publishing any further movements on our interactive map because Jules is likely to visit established osprey nest sites in the course of his wanderings, many of which are kept confidential in order to protect the birds. You can however check out his complete 20 day migration on the map here.

Jules flew 570 km over two days before arriving in Aviemore yesterday afternoon

After spending the weekend at the Gulf of Morbihan in Brittany, Jules arrived back in the UK yesterday, flying an impressive 580 km in just 11 hours before roosting 8 km south-west of Stafford.

Jules set-off from his stop-over site at around 10 am BST yesterday morning and headed purposefully north. Aided by a strong tailwind he reached the north coast of France three hours later and then set-off across the English Channel, passing over Guernsey at around 14:30 BST before reaching the English coast at Portland Bill at approximately 16:20 BST, at relatively low altitude.

Jules flew over Portland Bill as he reached the English coast

With the wind in his favour, Jules continued to power north. Flying at speeds of over 60 kph at altitudes of up to 928 metres he passed to the east of Bristol at 18:00 and to the west of Birmngham two hours later. He eventually settled to roost at dusk on the edge of a wood near the villages of Church Eaton and Apeton in Staffordshire.

Jules flew 580 km from Brittany to Staffordshire in 11 hours yesterday

This morning Jules resumed his journey at first light and at 09:16 he was over Stoke-on-Trent. Without an established nest to return to, it will be fascinating to follow his progress as he continues north to Starthspey. Will he head straight there on explore elsewhere? Watch this space!

You can check out Jules’ migration on our interactive map. 

Ospreys often return to favoured stop-over locations during migration. These are often sites where they lingered during their first migration as a juvenile and they become important ‘goal areas’ during subsequent journeys. Last autumn Jules stopped-over at the Gulf of Morbihan in Brittany from 17 September to 2 October, and the latest satellite data shows that he has spent the last two days there as he migrates back to Scotland this spring.

In our previous update we reported that Jules had roosted to the east of Seville on the night of 22nd April. Next morning he resumed his migration at around 08:00 local time, and flew 138 km north to southern Extremadura before roosting close to Embalse de Navalespino.

Jules likely caught a fish next morning because he didn’t begin migrating again until around 10:00 local time. He made relatively good progress once he did resume his journey through eastern Extremadura; flying 239 km before stopping for the night at the north-east end of another reservoir, Embalse de Santa Teresa in Castile and León.

Jules made an even later start to his journey on 25th April, heading almost due east from his roost site at around midday. He turned to the north-east an hour later and then flew 160 km before roosting near a series of small lakes close to the village of Lastras de Cuéllar.

After three relatively easy days of migration, Jules set off on the morning of 26th April with much more purpose. He flew 252 km during the course of the day and reached the north coast of Spain just to the west of Bilbao around half an hour before sunset at 20:30. Usually this would be his cue to find somewhere to roost for the night, but on this occasion Jules showed no sign of letting up. As the sun set he was already 15 km out to sea, and during the course of the night he crossed the Bay of Biscay, flying 426 km at altitudes as low as 48 metres before making landfall to the south-west of Nantes just before sunrise next morning. He finally stopped to rest at around 09:30 local time just south of the Loire Estuary having flown 693 km from northern Spain in just over 24 hours.

Jules flew 693 km from Spain to Brittany in just over 24 hours

After resting for much of the day Jules flew 31 km north during late afternoon before roosting at the southern end of a lake in a forested area in southern Brittany.

On Saturday morning rather than continuing north Jules made a distinct turn to the west and flew 56 km to the Gulf of Morbihan, where he has remained since; returning to some of his favoured haunts from last autumn. It will be fascinating to see how long he remains there for.   Don’t forget that you can check out Jules’ flight so far on our interactive map.

Jules’ movements since arriving at Gulf of Morbihan (pink) in relation to his positions last autumn (green)

Jules continues to make excellent progress on his return migration to Scotland. Yesterday evening he roosted 60 km east of Seville in central Andalucia.

We know that on Thursday night last week Jules roosted in southern Morocco. Next morning he set-off early, shortly after 06:00 GMT. He reached the southern side of the vast Atlas Mountains three hours later, and over the course of the next 90 minutes he crossed the maintains, passing peaks of over 4000 metres.

Jules flew directly through the Atlas Mountains, passing peaks of over 4000 metres

Once through the mountains he powered on north, passing to the east of Marrakesh and onwards towards Rabat at speeds of over 50 kph. He eventually settled to roost for the night on a hillside with scattered trees, between Casablanca and Rabat, having flown 409 km during the course of the day.

On Saturday morning Jules resumed his migration at around 08:00 GMT and passed to the east of Rabat an hour-and-a-half later. He made slower progress than previous days and at 17:15 was perched beside Barrage El Wahda, a large reservoir in northern Morocco. This would have provided Jules’ with a much needed opportunity to feed after his flight across the Sahara and Atlas Mountains. He eventually settled to roost on a forest hillside 10 km north of the reservoir after a day’s flight of 217 km.

Jules roosted north of Barrage El Wahda before returning there early next morning to feed

Next morning Jules returned to the reservoir at around 08:30 and almost certainly caught a fish because he was perched on the shoreline for the next hour-and-a-half, presumably eating his catch. He resumed his journey at approximately 10:30 GMT. Two hours later he reached the north coast of Morocco and then crossed the Strait of Gibraltar before passing over Algeciras in southern Spain. He continued to make good progress during the afternoon before settling to roost in an olive grove in central Andalucia at around 18:15 GMT (20:15 local time) after a day’s flight of 308 km.

Jules’ flight across the Strait of Gibraltar on Sunday afternoon

Jules has flown 934 km over the past three days

You can check out Jules’ flight so far on our interactive map.

Over the past few weeks we’ve been wondering when our satellite-tagged osprey, Jules, would set-off from his wintering site in the Casamance region of southern Senegal. Ospreys with established nests usually leave in mid-March, but younger birds often depart later. Jules was unringed when we tagged him at Rothiemurchus Fishery last September, and he then set-off on migration the very next morning; meaning we do not know how old he is, or if he has an established nest site. It also made predicting his spring departure more tricky.

Jules finally left his wintering site on Saturday 14th April; a relatively late departure that indicates he is probably a young bird without a nest to reclaim. Nevertheless he has made excellent progress and last night he roosted just south of the Atlas Mountains in Morocco having flown 2336 km during his first six days of migration, and successfully crossed the Sahara. Here’s a day-by-day summary of his journey so far.

Saturday 14 April 

Jules set-off from his wintering site in the Casamance region of southern Senegal at approximately 11:00 GMT. He flew 191 km ENE at a maximum altitude of 1316 m before stopping to roost a few kilometres south of the River Gambia.

Sunday 15th April 

Jules left his overnight roost at around 09:30 and headed across the River Gambia soon afterwards. By 12:47 he had flown 81 km due north, and at this point he changed his heading to north-east. He maintained the same bearing for the rest of the afternoon before settling to roost close to the border of Senegal and Mauritania after a day’s flight of 340 km.

Monday 16th April 

After a couple of short local movements Jules resumed his migration at 09:30 and crossed into Mauritania soon afterwards, with the vast and desolate Sahara ahead. The wind must have been in his favour because he maintained a perfect north-easterly heading during the course of the day, flying a total of 349 km across the desert at a maximum altitude of 1464 m.

Jules’ first three days of spring migration

Tuesday 17th April 

Having roosted on the desert floor, Jules began migrating again at approximately 09:00 GMT. Unlike the previous day he set-off on a northerly heading, and then maintained it for the rest of the day, crossing the Akchâr Desert region of central Mauritania. He made particularly fast progress during the middle part of the day when thermals would have been strongest, covering 208 km in four hours after midday. When he finally settled to roost at around 19:15 he had flown an impressive 503 km during the day and was now close to the border with Western Sahara.

Wednesday 18th April 

Jules left his roost site just before 09:00 GMT and headed north. By 14:00 he had flown 237 km and at this point he turned more to the north-east, appearing to follow ridges in the desert below. He maintained this heading for the rest of the afternoon, flying at altitudes of up to 2000 m. He eventually settled to roost in northern Western Sahara shortly after 19:00 after a day’s flight of 437 km.

Jules appeared to be following ridges than run north-east across the northern part of the Sahara during the afternoon of the 18th April

Thursday 19th April 

Jules was now nearing the end of his crossing of the Sahara and he left his roost site in the desert at 09:15. As the previous afternoon he maintained an almost perfect north-easterly bearing as he crossed the northern reaches of the Sahara into southern Morocco, flying at a maximum altitude of 2500 m. He passed well to the east of Tiznit and continued across the Anti-Atlas Mountains until after dark. When he finally settled to roost at 20:30 he had flown 516 km during the course of the day and was approximately 100 km east of Agadir.

Jules has made fast progress across the Sahara over the past four days

All being well Jules will have crossed the Atlas Mountains today, and will reach Spain over the weekend. We’ll have another update on his progress early next week. In the meantime you can check out Jules’ flight so far on our interactive map.

In our last update on the latest movements of our satellite tagged osprey, Jules – who is wintering in the Casamance region of southern Senegal – we reported that he was dividing his time between favoured daytime perching and fishing spots on the coast and a regular roost site in mangroves 16 km inland. This is quite unusual given that most adult ospreys usually occupy a very small winter territory.

Jules has continued to favour the same stretch of coastline since the turn of the year, but over the past month he has also started roosting on the coast; usually among scattered trees about 800 metres from his favoured stretch of sand. Over the past month he has roosted on the coast more often than inland. Quite what has promoted this change of behaviour is unclear, but by doing so he is avoiding the necessity of a 32 km return flight each night.

Jules has been favouring a 1 km stretch of beach during the past two months.

Other than this change in roosting location, Jules’ behaviour has been much the same as the rest of the winter. He has favoured the same 1 km stretch of beach and continued to fish just offshore once or twice each day. Most of his fishing is done within 200 m of the shore, but on at least two occasions since 1st January he has flown further out to sea (1.5 km or more). When he roosts on the coast he is favouring an area of just over 1 km²  which is much more typical of the usual winter range of an adult osprey.

Jules’ latest movements – including a flight to the east on 16th February

Interestingly Jules roosted inland on the nights of 15th and 16th February and during the afternoon of 16th February flew 25 km to the east – perhaps flying around with other ospreys – and spent a few hours perched in creeks near Tionck Essil. Next day however he was back at his favoured spots on the coast and he roosted there that night.

Jules is likely to remain in Senegal until mid-late March before beginning his migration back to Strathspey.   You can check out all of his latest movements on our interactive map. Our other satellite tagged osprey, Blue DF is wintering 30 km ENE near the village of Baila, but unfortunately we have stopped receiving data from his transmitter due to a technical fault. There is more information here.

Over the past two decades satellite tracking has provided a unique insight into the wintering behaviour of ospreys. Whereas juveniles usually wander over a large area after arriving in West Africa, adults head straight to a known wintering site. Many of the adult birds we have tracked have been remarkably sedentary in winter; often occupying a home range of 1-2 km². There are always exceptions to this rule, however, and it has been fascinating to follow the daily movements of Jules since he arrived at his winter home in the Casamance region of southern Senegal. Jules is living in a larger area than most adult ospreys, but mainly because his regular roost site is 16 km from his favoured daytime perching and fishing sites.

Jules has spent each night roosting in an area of dense mangroves, and has four favoured perches within an area of just 0.04 km².

Jules roosts in an area of dense mangroves each night.

In this part of the Casamance delta he is surrounded by potential foraging grounds, including a section of river that is almost 1 km wide, just 2 km to the south. However the satellite data indicates he does little or no fishing in this area, and instead flies 16 km WSW to spend each day on the coast. There he favours a 1.3 km stretch of sandy beach and hunts just offshore. The satellite data indicates he probably catches most of his fish around 200 m out to sea, but on occasion he flies further out, such as 1.1 km on 3rd December and 2.65 km on 19th November. Most of these fishing trips tend to be late morning or early afternoon, and he then eats his catch on the beach.

Jules spends most days perched on a sandy beach, and fishing just offshore.

The map below gives an indication of just how predictable his daily routine is. The red circle, centered on his roost sites, indicates an area with 50 % of GPS fixes while the orange area shows the location of 95 % of fixes. In other words, when he is not at his roost site he is nearly always at the coast. Interestingly he has flown east from his roost site on just two occasions in the past month.

Over the past month Jules has roosted in the mangroves each night and then flown 16 km WSW to spend the day on the coast. The red circle indicates an area with 50% of GPS fixes and orange shading 95% of GPS fixes (calculated using kernel method).

Jules’ winter home in Senegal is 30 km south of The Gambia and 20 km north of the Casamance River.

Don’t forget that Jules’ latest winter movements as well as his migration from Scotland are shown on our interactive map.

In our last update we reported that Jules set-off across the vast wilds of the Sahara on 19th October. We now know that he completed his desert crossing just over three days later and is now settled in the Casamanace region of southern Senegal, 30 km WSW of where Blue DF is wintering.

Jules made a superb start to his desert crossing on 19th October, flying 519 km across the spectacular land forms of the north-west Sahara. He crossed the disputed border between Morocco and Western Sahara at 11:00 GMT and then maintained speeds of almost 50 kph during the afternoon, passing into Mauritanian airspace at 15:09 before settling to roost at sunset in remote north-west Mauritania. The Google Earth imagery suggests that Jules would have had to roost on the ground, and it seems that he was disturbed during the night because at 23:00 he took off again and flew 25 km south-west.

He moved a further 22 km south-west before dawn next morning and then resumed his migration at around 08:30. Conditions must have again been in his favour because he flew a further 423 km south-west during the course of the day before roosting close to the southern border between Western Sahara and Mauritania. Next morning he was away before dawn and flew 67 km south-west before pausing again at 08:06. After resting for an hour he resumed his journey and maintained a constant SSW heading for the rest of the day, covering a further 418 km across the Akchar and then Trarza desert regions. By the time he settled to roost at 19:00 he was within 100 km of the Senegal border having flown 485 km from his overnight roost and a total of 1474 km in just three days; a superb Saharan crossing.

Jules flew just under 1500 km across the Sahara in three days

On the morning of 22 October Jules set-off at first light and shortly after 09:30 he reached the Senegal River; his first sight of water for at least four days. Many European ospreys winter in this northern part of Senegal but Jules showed no signs of letting up. After crossing the river just to the west of Richard Toll he headed south along the eastern shore of Lac de Guiers and then onward across the arid north of Senegal. At 16:34 he reached the Atlantic coast at the northern edge of the vast Sine-Saloum delta. He continued flying for a further two hours before settling to roost in one of a myriad of mangrove-lined creeks in the delta, 7 km north-west of the village of Missirah; a place both Roy and I have visited several times.  Having flown 461 km from southern Mauritania, it had been another excellent day’s migration.

Sunset at the Sine-Saloum delta (photo by John Wright)

Jules obviously sensed that he was now close to his winter home because he set-off before first light next morning and at 07:22 was 25 km further south on the north bank of the River Gambia. He was then perched for an hour, perhaps eating a fish, before continuing south across the river and then back in to Senegal at around 11:00. Once in Senegalese airspace he turned to the south-west and flew directly over Blue DF’s wintering site at 13:00 – they would almost certainly have seen each other – before heading another 30 km west and eventually settling in a mangrove- lined creek on the north side of the Casamance River, having flown 153 km during the  course of the day. He was now very close to where another of our satellite-tagged ospreys, Blue XD used to winter.

Jules (pink line) flew directly over the area where Blue DF (blue) is wintering – they would almost certainly have seen each other

After arriving in Casamance on the afternoon of 23rd October Jules has roosted in the same location every night, but, interestingly, has made almost daily flights to the coast near Boko in an area of 75 km² – far larger than the usual wintering range of most adult ospreys. It will be fascinating to see if he continues in the same vein over the coming weeks. Whatever the case, we can now be certain that he has reached his winter home.

Since arriving in Casamance on 23 October, Jules has made daily flights to the coast

Jules and Blue DF are wintering just 30 km apart in Casamance

Now that Jules has arrived at his wintering site we know that he flew a total of 5717 km during 17 travelling days. His overall migration, however, took 40 days to complete because he spent 23 days on stop-overs in France and Morocco. This migration strategy contrasts greatly with that of Blue DF who migrated  5494 km in 19 days without stop-overs. A summary of Jules’ flight from Scotland to Senegal is shown below. You can also check out his route on our interactive map.

Migration tracks for Jules (pink) and Blue DF (blue)

In the last update we speculated as to how long Jules would remain in Morocco, or even if he would stay there for the winter, as a small number of European osprey do each year. However we now know that after spending just over a week on the coast between Casablanca and Safi he resumed his journey south at around 12:30 local time on Tuesday afternoon.

After arriving on the Moroccan coast on 9th October Jules initially favoured an area near Ouled Salam, spending his days along the shoreline, and then roosting 8 km inland. Then on 13th October he moved 20 km south to Oualidia where his daily routine was much the same; favouring an area of saltpans to the north-east of the town during the day before roosting a few kilometres inland.

Jules spent a week on the Moroccan coast between Casablanca and Safi

He finally resumed his migration at lunchtime on 17th October, flying 104 km south-west before turning more to the south at 16:21 and continuing onward for another two hours. He settled to roost 40 km north-west of Marrakesh at around 18:15 local time having flown 128 km during the course of the afternoon.

At 08:15 next morning Jules was perched beside a river 5.5 km south of his overnight roost and an hour later he had moved 2 km south-west, and was probably eating a fish. He resumed his migration at around 10:00 passing to the west of Marrakesh and onward towards the Atlas. These imposing mountains are a barrier to migrating birds and as Jules approached he changed his heading to west-south-west to avoid the high peaks. Over the course of the next five hours he flew south-west and then south around the western end of the mountains, flying at a maximum altitude of 2032 m. The video below shows his flight around the mountains.

By 17:00 Jules had flown 184 km and was south of the mountains but he showed no signs of letting up. He continued on a south-east and then south-west course for another five hours, covering another 139 km, before finally setting to roost two hours after sunset at 20:51. He had now reached the northern edge of the Sahara and he roosted at the top of a remote cliff face after a day’s flight of 323 km.

Jules roosted on the top of a cliff face on Wednesday night

Yesterday morning Jules left his roost site more than two hours before dawn and by 07:24 local time he had already flown 65 km. We haven’t received any data since because, as he heads across the Sahara, Jules will be out of the range of mobile phone masts. It will be fascinating to see where he is when the next batch of data comes through. You can check out his flight so far on our interactive map.

Jules’ flight through Morrocco 9-19 October

The previous data had shown that Jules crossed the Bay of Biscay from Brittany to northern Spain on 3rd October. Next morning he resumed his migration shortly before midday and set off south through the mountains of Asturias passing peaks of over 2000 m. By 15:59 he was south of the highest mountains, and he continued flying until almost 20:00 when he settled to roost among scattered trees near Une de Quintana after a day’s flight of 181 km.

Jules flew through the mountains of Asturias in northern Spain on 4th October

At 09:20 he was perched beside a large reservoir 9 km to the south and an hour later had moved 2.5 km south and was probably eating a fish. By 11:18 he was migrating again and he made excellent progress south, passing into Extremadura soon after 16:00 at an altitude of more than 2000 m. By 21:00 he had flown 325 km from his overnight roost and was perched at the northern end of the appropriately named Embalse de la Pena del Aguila. However with a full moon and favourable winds Jules took the opportunity to press on, flying a further 137 km by moonlight before finally settling to roost for the night on a hillside in north-west Andalusia after a day’s flight of 462 km.

At 08:10 next morning he had flown another 9 km south but he didn’t resume migration proper until just before 11:00. He maintained a south-westerly heading and three hours later he was perched beside the Rio Tinto at Heulva, close to one of sites where Scottish ospreys were released as part of the successful osprey translocation project in southern Spain. He continued south-east an hour later, passing over the world famous Coto Donana, before roosting for the night on the banks of the Guadalquivir River after a day’s flight of 168 km.

Jules spent the night of 6th October beside the River Guadalquivir

Next morning Jules followed the river to the coast before turning south and heading towards Cadiz. The fish rich waters of the harbour and surrounding area support an increasing number of wintering ospreys and Jules is likely to have encountered some of them while fishing just to the north of Puerto Real during the afternoon. He spent the night in a forested area 5 km east of Puerto Real having flown 75 km during the course of the day.

When migrating through Spain most migrating raptors head for the short crossing to Morocco across the Strait of Gibraltar, but ospreys are well capable of much longer ocean crossings and after two relatively easy days Jules set off from Cadiz before 06:00 and headed out across the Atlantic. By 07:30 he had already flown 113 km and was flying south-west across the sea at an altitude of 110 m. This initial bearing would have caused him to miss the Morocco coast, but over the course of the next eight hours he flew in a wide arc across the Atlantic at relatively low altitude (all positions less than 90 m) before making landfall at Casablanca at 14:17 local time having flown 398 km across the sea. After crossing Casablanca Jules turned to the south-west and flew another 113 km before eventually settling to roost for the night at 19:09 among olive trees having flown 524 km from Cadiz at an average speed of around 37 km/hour. A superb day of migration.

Jules flew 398 km across the Atlantic between Cadiz and Casablanca

Rather than continuing south on 9th October, Jules headed almost due east. At 13:02 he had reached the coast at Oualidia and then, during the course of the afternoon, completed a loop of some 57 km just to the south. He eventually settled to roost in an area of scattered trees near the village of Abde Laaziz Ben Yeffou having flown 127 km during the course of the day. However his afternoon wanderings means that, in fact, he was just 75 km south-west of his position the previous evening.

Yesterday morning Jules left his roost site at 10:00 and this time headed due north. At 11:10 he had flown 33 km and was at the coast near Ouled Salem. An hour later he was perched on the beach 6 km north-east and he remained there for the rest of the afternoon. With an hour between each GPS fix, there is every chance that Jules caught a fish in the sea at some point during the afternoon and then returned to the same spot on the beach to eat it. Eventually he flew 8 km inland to roost and he was still there at 08:07 this morning.

Jules has spent the last two days on the Morocco coast to the south of Casablanca

It will be very interesting to see how long Jules remains on the Morocco coast. His behaviour over the past two days is typical of an osprey during a stop-over, but there is a slim chance that he could winter here. Most European ospreys either winter in sub-Saharan Africa or in southern Europe but a small number winter in Morocco. The chances are, however, that he’ll continue south across the Sahara in the next few days. Don’t forget that you can check out his latest flight on our interactive map.

Jules’ flight through Spain and Morocco, 4-10 October