Ospreys have a clear pattern to their lives. Because we’ve studied and tracked them, we know roughly what they’ll be doing from the moment they’re born.
Adult Ospreys stay in Africa for the whole winter before returning in early spring to Scotland for the breeding season. Ospreys, especially males, usually return to the breed in same area where they themselves were fledged; but females can wander throughout the range.
Sometimes they return when they’re two years old, but don’t begin to breed until they’re three to five. Occasionally a pair will prepare a nest and territory one year, returning to breed and lay eggs the next. Once paired, Ospreys almost always mate for life.
Ospreys can live up to 30 years, but most survive for between five to eight. Deaths are mainly due to bad weather while they’re migrating, and man-made hazards such as overhead power lines, discarded nylon line and fish hooks, and occasionally shooting and trapping.
World-renowned ornithologist Roy Dennis is the man behind the work of the Highland Foundation for Wildlife. Read on...
Logie, one of our Ospreys,
is set to feature in a major
BBC Radio 4 documentary
on migration. Read on...
How protected are Ospreys? What more can we do to ensure they’re safe from persecution? Read on...