Ospreys return to Northumberland after 200 years

Europe’s largest manmade lake, Kielder Water in Northumberland, is home to ospreys again for the first time in over 200 years.

In fact, according to the Kielder Partnership, they have not only returned to call the lake home, but are thought to have laid eggs, some of which may have hatched recently cementing the assumption that they may stay for a while.

Ospreys are large birds, classified as hawks, that feed on fish and were last seen near the Kielder Lake during the 18th century, at which point records of the ospreys occupying the area disappeared.

The birds did not land in the area by accident, as conservationists in the area drew them in by building four artificial wooden nesting platforms on the north side of the Kielder Lake, in hopes that breeding in the area will help them continue to migrate back to the area in coming years.

While conservationists cannot say for certain that the birds have been breeding, that fact that the females who were nesting have been more active and that males are hunting for fish on a regular basis is positive, as this behavior is often observed after breeding.

The Forestry Commission’s ecologist for the area, Tom Dearnly, stated that the Lake has been on the migration path of the ospreys for while but the recent increase in osprey sightings is what prompted the commission to build nesting platforms in the hopes the birds would finally stop.

Dearnely went on to say that their goal is to help the birds with the new offspring as many are probably breeding for the first time and the ultimate goal is to repopulate the area with ospreys.

Ospreys were hunted to extinction in Britain in the year 1916, when the last of the species was shot in Scotland, but previous to this date the last sighting of them was in 1842.