Nethy

Nethy was the first chick to hatch in 2008, on 24 May. Her parents were White EJ and Orange VS.

She was fitted with a satellite tag and a white plastic ring marked 'AY'. Her name comes from Abernethy Primary School, not far from Loch Garten. When she was ringed on 5 July, she weighed 1.628 kg.

Nethy and her brother Deshar left the nest on the same day, 20 August. In contrast to Deshar's rather wayward route, she skirted the eastern side of the Cairngorms and spent her first night away from the nest near Cupar in Fife. She then continued south, over Bradford and down to Fairford in Gloucestershire, where she stayed until 28 September and was photographed by osprey-watchers.

By the morning of 29 September she'd crossed the Channel and was in the Cherbourg peninsula of northern France. On the morning of 3 October she was flying just off the southern French coast and began her crossing of the Mediterranean, taking a rather long route which took her just west of Mallorca (Spain) before she made landfall near Oran in Algeria (many ospreys and other large birds fly down to Gibraltar to make the shortest possible sea crossing).

Nethy then commenced her crossing of the Sahara, drifting over Morocco briefly, but spent four nights (10-13 October) in what appeared to be very inhospitable terrain.

Fortunately she managed to find her way out and overflew parts of Mali and Mauritania before arriving at Lac de Guiers in northern Senegal, on 22 October. In early January 2009 she moved south-west, briefly into The Gambia, before crossing the border back into central Senegal. On 15 February, she moved south-east into Guinea-Bissau and spent time along a tributary of the Rio Géba.

Unfortunately, Nethy's satelllite tag stopped transmitting in late March 2009, so we can't be certain what has happened to her.

Follow Nethy's migration online