






Paving the way forward
By Kayleigh Brookes on May 5, 2014
33(11) has made a much more concerted effort with mating today. At the moment he is fairly consistently unsuccessful, but he’s trying his best, and Maya is allowing him to do so. All this is a good sign, if he perseveres and gets the hang of it, and she continues to be receptive, there is still a chance she could re-lay. As I said before, we’re not ruling anything out. We must just watch and wait!
The eggs have finally gone completely from the nest cup, with no chance of another one falling in! One is still visible (occasionally, depending on stick placement) on the right-hand-side of the nest. A crow took off with one of them today when the Ospreys were away, and the other was removed by the female, after either the Ospreys or a stick broke it. We knew that there was no chance for these eggs even if they remained in the nest cup, so their absence is a good thing. It means that Maya can hopefully return to the state of mind that tells her she must produce eggs, because there aren’t any in the nest.
28(10) was not seen today, but he could still be around somewhere. It is unlikely that he will make a comeback and try to fight for this nest. From the beginning he seemed to understand that he is no match for 33. There is every chance that in the future, 28 will breed at Rutland Water, but not on such a high-profile nest!

Stick fest
By Kayleigh Brookes on May 6, 2014
...here are some wonderful photographs taken by John Wright over the last couple of days in Manton Bay. We have fish being delivered, 33 struggling with a rather large roach, an intruding Osprey, harrassment by gulls, dive-bombing of cormorants, and lots and lots of sticks! Enjoy!






The abundance of Ospreys meant that there was lots of action to see from the hides. 33(11) put on a great spectacle too when, at about 14:35 this afternoon, he caught a huge trout in the Bay, right in front of Shallow Water Hide! He took his catch off to the dead tree behind the nest, where he proceeded to eat his half. The fish was so big it took him a while to get through it, and it wasn’t until an hour and a half later that he brought it to the nest! Look out for 33 approaching the nest from behind in the video below.




