Fearna spent the last couple days doing a circuit of the big plain between Logrona and Belorado – is she going to stay for a while or move opn north.
May 13th to 15th
North to River Tay and then back to Carlisle
May 14, 2013
Rothiemurchus flew north and reached Loch Tay on 7th May and then spent two days along the River Tay, where he centred his range last summer, but on 10th May he flew back south and on 11th May was south of Carlisle in the area he also frequented in previous summers. It looks very unlikely that he will breed this summer but it would be good if he found a mate and a nest.
Return south 11th May
North to the Rioja Region
May 12, 2013
Fearna flew 200 km north today to a small river near Pradillo in the Rioja region, but I did not get intervening GPS data yet to show her route. The map shows start and finish points
May 12th
North to central Spain
May 11, 2013
Fearna set off early on 11th and flew NE over Cordoba and at midday was just south of Portullano. She was following the track of many a northward migrating osprey and by evening after a flight of 360km she stopped for the night by the banks of the Rio Tajo, jest west of Buendia Reservoir. It is going to prove very interesting to follow this young osprey for the first her first summer using GPS transmitter data. We did have a young Rutland Water translocated osprey come back to the UK in 2002 as a one year old, but she had wintered in Portugal and we only got a few non GPS locations in the UK. This is the first one trcked over the whole Africa to Europe migration.
May 11th
An amazing spring migration
May 10, 2013
Fearna was so settled along the River Senegal for her first summer in West Africa that I had reduced collecting data to every 10 days. Imagine my surprise when I found that she was in southern Spain.
She was still on the Senegal on 3oth April and then she set off north towards the desert – her earlier migrations were modest at 193 km on 3rd and 143 km on 4th when she roosted in the Sahara Desert SE of Fderik iron ore mine. By 6th she was in southern Morocco and then on next two days had big flights north of 568 km on 7th and 444 km on 8th May. She crossed the Straits on 10th May and flew over Barbate Reservoir at 1300GMT and Guadalcacin reservoir an hour later. By nightfall she was roosting by a small reservoir south of Almodovar del Rio.
This is the first time we have tracked a one year north from Westr Africa to Europe – it is an unusual event so it is going to be most interesting to see if she visits UK or stays in Spain, and when she returns south to Africa.
May 1st – 10th
Across theChannel and flying north
May 6, 2013
This early morning not all the GPS data in but signals showed that he flew 400 km yesterday and overnight roosted beside the River Wye south of Builth Wells. He should be in Scotland tomorrow – I wonder where he will go
Overnight roost site on the River Wye
On his way and in France
May 5, 2013
Rothgiemurchus ledt his haunts in Galicia just after 0800GMT on 2nd May and flew all the way along the north coast of Spain. What an extra cost in travelling because he make this big dogleg to Galicia instead of a direct migration through Spain – will he ever learn? He flew fast at 60kph and just after Gijon her headed out over the Bay of Biscay and tracked offshore, being some 20 km north of Santander at 1700hrs and an hour later he reached an overnight roost just SW ofLa Benne, north of Bayonne after a flight of 535 km. On 3rd he headed north through France, in from the coast, starting at 0500GMT and stopping to fish at Etang de Soustons arounf 0800hrs. He crossed the Giroinde estuary between 1400 and 1500 hrs and settled to roost at 1800GMT north of Rochefort. A day trip of 242 km.
May 2nd and 3rd
Flight north to Channel coast
May 5, 2013
On 4th May Rothiemurchus was flying north by 0700 GMT and during the day flew 318 km to roost overnight in north Brittany near Plougat.
May 4th
Lost
May 1, 2013
No more signals from Fidich since 19th April when transmitter was at same village in Senegal – it dosn’t look as though we will not find out whether Fiddich was accidentally or intentionally killed, and sadly the transmitter has not ben retrieved despite knowing where it was.
Incubating in cold weather
May 1, 2013
Bearice is now well settled in incubation at her usual nest and with last year’s mate
