Osprey nest built at Ranworth Broad
Artificial nest built to attract ospreys to Ranworth Broad
Stephen Pullinger
Monday, March 18, 2013
6:30 AM
An artificial osprey nest has been built at a secluded location on the Broads to encourage the majestic bird to breed in Norfolk for the first time since the 1840s.
The Norfolk Wildlife Trust (NWT) initiative on its Ranworth Broad reserve has been prompted by the visit of an osprey to the beauty spot two summers ago.
While ospreys are often seen fleetingly on the Broads during their spring and autumn migration between breeding grounds in Scotland and their winter home in West Africa, they usually only stay a few days.
However, the 2011 visitor created a stir of excitement by staying on the broad throughout the summer and generating a roaring trade for the NWT pleasure boat Damselfly.
NWT assistant field officer Paul Waterhouse has led the project, funded by Biffa landfill tax cash, with practical help from experts at Rutland Water in the Midlands, the closest osprey breeding site to Norfolk.
Arriving on a dull winter’s morning, Rutland Water senior reserve officer Tim Mackrill and his assistant Lloyd Parker ferried construction tools across the broad by boat to the spot chosen by Mr Waterhouse last winter and declared it to be an ideal location.
After deciding which tree was most suitable, they climbed it and made space for the base of the nest high in the tree top.
The put in place a metal mesh platform, permitting drainage yet strong enough to hold the weight of a nest measuring more than a metre across.
Mr Waterhouse, who has himself worked on the Rutland Osprey Project, said: “We then started to gather sticks for building the nest from around the site which were hoisted up the tree.
“They were arranged to make the nest and secured using wire and cable ties. The last ingredient was mud and moss to line the nest and make it look like the real thing.”
He said that it required a lot of skill and knowledge from the osprey team to make the nests so convincing.
“Rutland Osprey Project has now made many of these nests, not just in Rutland, and they have been successful in attracting breeding ospreys,” he said.
Mr Waterhouse stressed it was a long-term project and it still might be many years before ospreys bred on the Broads; the project at Rutland began 18 years ago but it was not until 2001 that it achieved its first breeding success with one pair returning to raise one chick.
However, he said: “Tim agreed that the Norfolk Broads is a fantastic habitat for ospreys and it was well worth attempts to encourage them back into the area.”
It was most likely that ospreys, which will be passing through early next month, would initially use the nest as a resting place before continuing to their breeding grounds; as birds from Rutland gradually spread there would be an increasing chance of them staying to breed.
“In 2004 Rutland released birds bred in Wales for the first time in several hundred years,” he said.
The Rutland project, which has seen 43 ospreys successfully fledged since 2001, has generated an estimated £750,000 a year boost to the local tourism economy.
However, Mr Waterhouse said the main driver for the NWT’s work at Ranworth was simply to “encourage these magnificent birds back into the Broads”.
“Watching a fishing osprey is one of the most memorable wildlife experiences you can have,” he said.
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9 comments
They don't have boats on ranworth at the visitors center so let the trust entice the birds if they wish
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terence comer
Wednesday, March 20, 2013
Re Betty.It is believed that the Osprey that turned up at Ranworth was the one that lost its way from Rutland Water.Surely food is their main attraction,not a man made nest.As for boats and holidaymakers spoiling it for the Osprey well,there are more visitors to Rutland Water and there are plenty of boats but they do not deter the Ospreys.So,in my opinion the NWT should just let nature take its course.
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john kendall
Wednesday, March 20, 2013
Daisy there are lots of Harriers at Ranworth and I have seen them go after the Osprey, so it is obvious they don't like each others presence, for whatever reasons. The other thing that will deter them is the boats and holidaymakers in that area, everything is against it. So they might nest once or twice but this will not be a success story. It's nothing more than that big business NWT trying to boost their coffers. Come and see the Ospreys at Ranworth, no I don't think so.
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John L Norton
Monday, March 18, 2013
I was not aware that marsh harriers would take on an osprey.And the harriers are more on the coastal broad reed beds and on farmland-surely ospreys hunt over open water, not reed beds? I think they will face more competition for food from the cormorants. Does anyone know where the 40-80 cormorants I see fly over the beach every dusk (from fishing off the Scroby wind turbine bases I assume ) go to roost? They head off towards the Trinity Broads in numbers that vary with the weather but which have increased rapidly in the last three years.
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Daisy Roots
Monday, March 18, 2013
Ospreys - Marsh Harriers? Their feeding habitats are totally different as is the method of hunting and nesting, Harriers at ground level and Ospreys in trees - I'm no expert but I don't see the conflict.
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Thoreauwasright
Monday, March 18, 2013
What a bunch of fools, the Ospreys will never be a success story on the broads as there are far too many Marsh Harriers. Do they propose a Harrier cull?
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John L Norton
Monday, March 18, 2013
It will only be a success if NWT don't disturb the ospreys. In April last year an osprey settled at Ranworth and was disturbed by the NWT taking a boatload of visitors too close.
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Betty Swallocks
Monday, March 18, 2013
Why don't they just stick a couple of artificial Ospreys up there and job done, as most people wouldn't notice the difference, especially holidaymakers.
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Joe Mullets Uncle
Monday, March 18, 2013
Hope it's a success.
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Thoreauwasright
Monday, March 18, 2013