Caerlaverock Osprey HJ back on the Solway
One of the three osprey chicks hatched from the Caerlaverock nest in 2010 has appeared on the nest at Wigtown Bay. Just before he left the nest, the young osprey was fitted with a unique leg ring made of blue plastic with the letters HJ engraved on it in white. He flew off successfully that autumn and headed south for the winter and to spend the next year or two in West Equatorial Africa in countries like Senegal and the Gambia. He has not been seen since then until this week when he was seen via the CCTV system on the nest at Wigtown Bay, which amazingly is where his father (green ring AW) hatched out in 2004. It is fantastic that a Solway hatched bird has made it back to this area and also that he has arrived at his ancestral home. There must be some instinct or internal sat nav that brought him back to the Solway and to the nest where his father hatched out, some 70 miles west of his own nest at Caerlaverock. Sadly we didn’t see his father, AW this summer at Caerlaverock. Another male has arrived and taken his place but the pair sadly lost their two eggs when an intruder male arrived and the eggs were broken in a fracas on the nest. The nest at Wigtown Bay has also been unsuccessful this season with their regular male EP only seen occasionally at the nest. HJ is now in residence and has been bringing in nest material, it is however far too late for him to find a mate and lay eggs this year. The nest can be watched at Wigtown on CCTV from the viewing room in the Town Hall.
