Osprey & Hobby at Amwell, Herts - 15th to 18th September 2023

The juvenile Osprey that had spent a couple of weeks at Bowyer's Water decided to relocate to Amwell so another chance to see this magnificent bird. While waiting, a juvenile Hobby put on a great display before returning to its favoured perch in a Birch tree.

The buff underparts rather than red are the key ID feature in showing it is a juvenile. Hopefully it will have a safe journey to its wintering grounds in Africa.

The Osprey was using a specially designed Osprey perch installed around 20 years ago. It shows patience is a virtue! It would scan the water from there, diving straight in and catching mostly small Perch.

It had a lot of hassle from Cormorants, Red Kite, Jackdaws and this Grey Heron.

It was good to get confirmation that the bird was ringed on the 10th July 2023 near Monymusk, Aberdeenshire. This is a photo (by Ewan Weston) I was sent through of 256 on the nest with two siblings. 256 is one of the birds with their heads down.

At one stage it even tried to land on one of the "gull goalposts"!

But the best opportunity for shots was when it went for a fly around the pit.

What a super bird and as I write this on the 19th September it has not been seen since 11.00am yesterday, so it could be on its way south! Safe journey 256!