Odin

Now he is our favourite male Osprey: Odin the Magnificent!

Welcome to Loch Garten Odin.  What a wonderful mate you have turned out to be for dear EJ.  Hope to see you on the nest again in Spring 2010 alongside EJ.  Pru

Dont forget Odin had a brood of 3 chicks to survive 2010 , unfortuately not ringed or tagged , but 3 very strong birds who we hope survived their migration and will one day return to Scotland .

Garten was inside the third and last egg to be laid in 2009, on 22 April. She hatched on 26 May. Her parents are White EJ and 'Odin' .

When she was ringed, she weighed 1.7 kg and had a wing length of 325 mm.

Garten doesn't have a satellite tag but she does have a colour-ring - white with a black 'PH'. If she's spotted anywhere, someone using a telescope will be able to read the letters and report her whereabouts.

Keep an eye out for any birds with leg rings - you can send in the details to www.ring.ac and find out about 'your' bird!

Mallachie was inside the second egg to be laid in 2009, on 19 April. She hatched on 24 May. Her parents are White EJ and 'Odin' .

When she was ringed, she weighed 1.79 kg and had a wing length of 342 mm. Mallachie's colour-ring is white with a black 'PM'.

Mallachie was the last young osprey to leave Loch Garten in 2009. She left on 29 August, flying south-west past Dundee, then Bamburgh in Northumberland, over Newcastle and roosted overnight near Northallerton.

She then followed the Swale valley and spent the next night near Thorpe Underwood, north-west of York. On 1 September she headed south-west over Bramham, Leeds, our Denby Dale office between Huddersfield and Barnsley, before heading over the Peak District National Park and eventually roosting near Burton on Trent in Staffordshire.

Next day (2 September) she continued south-west and flew right over the middle of Birmingham before resting near Tardebigge in Worcestershire.

On the morning of 3 September, she left her roost and flew south past Cheltenham, Cirencester and Swindon before heading south-east again just west of Southampton, over the Isle of Wight and commencing her Channel crossing. It took her between two and three hours and she spent her first night in France near Fonguesemare, Seine-Maritime.

Early on 4 September, Mallachie set off in a south-easterly direction which took her past Bernay and Blois, before she settled for the night near Valençay. Next day she started to fly south-west, over la Brenne - an area of lakes famed for its gatherings of cranes in spring - past Buzançais and Bellac and to the south of Bordeaux, not all that far from her older sister, Rothes .

Mallachie woke up on 6 September at her roost just outside the Parc naturel régional des Landes de Gascogne. From there it was a short flight to the Biscay coast which she hugged south past Bayonne and Biarritz. She had her photo taken by Didier Domec at Saint Jean de Luz where she tried fishing before flying over the border into Spain . By 6 pm she was north-west of Pamplona.

On 7 September, Mallachie continued south-west, deeper into Spain. Her flight took her past Logroño (on the Ebro river) and over the mountains east of Burgos to end up north-west of Madrid near Pedro-Rodríguez, on the Rio Arevalilla.

She kept south-west on 8 September, flying over the Sierra de Gredos and into Extremadura. Mallachie flew west over the Parque Nacional de Monfrague and settled near the Puente Trajan, a Roman bridge built in 98 AD. There she fished for a couple of days along the River Tagus, near the border with Portugal.

On 12 September Mallachie flew west along the Tejo or Tajo (or Tagus) - Iberia's longest river - and roosted overnight near Machera, just inside the Spanish border. Next day she flew across into Portugal where she found some reservoirs which must contain fish.

On 9 October Mallachie finally made a movement again, south to roost south-west of Seville, right on the Spanish border. Next day, she headed south over the Atlantic, taking a few hours to cross and eventually making landfall in north-west Morocco , where she spent the night. On 12 October she made it to Algeria , having flown south through Morocco, and over the next few days she made relatively short flights through the desert, passing through Algeria, Western Sahara and Mauritania .

On 19 October Mallachie arrived in Senegal , crossing the River Senegal near Kaedi (below)

before flying on south over the Reserve de Faune du Ferlo Nord. Next she headed south-west towards the border with The Gambia , where she roosted over 20-21 October before moving south-west into the southern part of Senegal.

On 22 October Mallachie did a bit of exploring, flying west, then south into Guinea-Bissau and then east, eventually finishing up in southern Senegal. At one point, she was less then 5 km from Rothes! Next day she flew further north-east, crossed the River Gambia and roosted not far from the Trans-Gambia Highway and the ferry crossing. She then explored The Gambia.

In December 2009, we lost contact with Mallachie. We don't know whether her tag fell off or stopped working, or if she met a sticky end. It might not be the last we hear about her, as she still has her metal ring and colour ring marked with her unique code. So if someone sees or finds her, we might find out where she's been!

Rothes was inside the first egg to be laid in 2009, on 16 April. She hatched on 22 May. Her parents are White EJ and 'Odin' .

When she was ringed, she weighed 1.646 kg and had a wing length of 376 mm. Rothes' colour-ring is white with a black 'PJ'.

Rothes surprised everyone by leaving Loch Garten before the rest of the family! Usually it's the mother who leaves first.

On 9 August, Rothes flew the nest. She travelled south-west, down the Spey valley and spent her first night away from her natal area just south of Loch Lomond.

On 10 August, she continued her SSW route towards Irvine in Ayrshire, over the Galloway Forest Park, very close to our Mull of Galloway reserve . She flew over the Irish Sea, just west of the Isle of Man and ended up on Anglesey for the night.

After briefly flying over the Llyn peninsula on 11 August, she headed strongly south-east past Dolgellau, Llandrindod Wells, Ebbw Vale, Caerphilly and west of Cardiff. Rothes crossed the Severn estuary before heading south past Westonzoyland and Chard. Next she turned south-west towards Axminster and over Beer to roost near Branscombe.

On 12 August, she continued her tour of the Devon coast, over Budleigh Salterton, west of Babbacombe and Paignton before heading out over the Channel at Torcross.

Her southeasterly crossing was longer than Mallachie's , taking somewhere around 4-5 hours, and she made landfall in Brittany, west of St Malo. That was enough for one day and spent her first night in France near Lanrelas in Côtes-d'Armor.

Next morning (13 August), Rothes continued her migration, past Redon, over the Loire at Saint-Nazaire and tracked the coast to roost south of Talmont-Saint-Hilaire in Vendée. On 14 August, she flew south-west past La Rochelle and Saintes before settling on the shores of the Gironde estuary, north of Bordeaux. There, she found a regular roost site near a sturgeon-rearing farm (though apparently the fish will be too big for her!) and explored the area around the river.

Rothes stayed around the Gironde until 24 September when she made a move south-west, past Bordeaux and roosted next to the Etang d'Yrieu near Bayonne.

Next day she crossed into Spain , not far from where Mallachie had done the same on 6 September. She took a similar south-westerly route to her sister, past Pamplona and skirting the west side of Madrid before spending the night near Toledo and the River Tajo (the same river that Mallachie found further west!).

On 26 September, Rothes continued south-west, past Villanueva de la Serena and Jerez de los Caballeros to roost in farmland south of Oliva de la Frontera, not far from the border with Portugal.

27 September was a big day for her: she flew kept south-west, zigzagging in and out of Portugal , before heading out over the sea over the fishing port of Olhão. Her route was not ideal, taking her a long way over the sea rather than keeping to land for as long as possible (lots of ospreys and other big birds head down to the Straits of Gibraltar). Rothes flew south-west along the coast of Morocco and it looks like she may have flown through the night; by 5 am on 28 September she was over the sea again (the sun doesn't rise until 6.30 am).

Eventually she made landfall and crossed a little bit of Morocco before continuing south over Western Sahara and then down to Mauritania . She spent the night of 28-29 September in the desert not far from the N1 road. Next day she flew further south-west, just clipping the corner of Western Sahara but roosting again in Mauritania, not far from the N1. By the end of 30 September, she'd made it to the coast, just south of the Mauritanian capital, Nouakchott.

On 1 October, Rothes continued her south-westerly route again, hugging the Atlantic coast and finishing for the day in Senegal . She didn't spend long there, and pressed on next day, dodging The Gambia and roosting in south Senegal. On 4 October, she commenced her exploration of Guinea-Bissau .

Tore, a female, was inside the first egg to be laid in 2011, on 14 April. She hatched on 19 May. Her parents are White EJ and ' Odin '.

At the time of ringing, her wing length was 335 mm and tail 140 mm. Female ospreys are bigger than males, even at a young age. Her colour ring is blue with a white 48.

You can follow Tore's migration on our osprey tracking page or in Google Earth .

Bynack, a male, hatched on 24 May. His parents are White EJ and ' Odin '.

At the time of ringing, his wing length was 325 mm and tail 125 mm. His colour ring is blue with a white 47.

You can follow Bynack's migration on our osprey tracking page or in Google Earth .

It would be nice to get an update some time on Odin - a better picture must be possible with all this year's wide-cam shots.  And details, like when he left this year, would be nice.  OK, I appreciate it is a busy time of year!