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.
He took his first flight on 16 July.
You can follow Bynack's migration on our osprey tracking page or in Google Earth.
The story so far
Bynack made his move on Sunday 21 August. At 10am he was 'at home' near Loch Garten but by 11am he was high to the south-east above the Braes of Abernethy. By midday he was west of Ballater. He continued his south-easterly path and by 2pm was over the North Sea, just off the Montrose Basin.
In 2008, Deshar performed a similar manoeuvre but thought better of it and returned to shore. However, Bynack kept going.
At 6pm he was 65 miles east of the Farne Islands. We're missing some data about where precisely he went next, but by 5am on 22 August he was 40 miles from the coast of Belgium, so he could well have flown all night. This is very risky for a young bird which has never flown over the sea or during the hours of darkness.
Fortunately, he made it to land between 6am and 7am and settled in a tree by a lake, east of Zuienkerke, for a couple of hours.
He passed to the west of Brugge at 11am:
Bynack spent the night of 22-23 August close to the border; by 1pm he'd crossed into France. He didn't travel far on 24 August and was in a wetland area south-east of Condé-sur-l'Escaut at 5am on Thursday 25th. It looked like it could be a good place to stop off.
Initially, Bynack seemed to be undertaking quite a leisurely migration south, neither moving very far each day nor stopping over. He only notched up 110 miles between 26 and 29 August. He travelled south through the Champagne-Ardenne and Lorraine regions of France.
By 6am on 30 August, Bynack had arrived near Neufchâteau, at the confluence of the Rivers Meuse and Mouzon, where he stopped over.
On 27 September, Bynack finally made a move south-westwards. He got as far as the Saône-et-Loire departement before stopping for the night. By the end of 28 September he'd reached the Lac du Barrage du Grandval.
Thank you Katie. I will follow this thread with much interest.
I'm just so thankful he made it safely over the ocean. Surely the wind might have had something to do with his direction? Why did he not just follow the coast line south, I shall always wonder.
Thank you Katie I very much appreciate the added detail to Bynack's jounrney.
Thank You Katie, so frightening thinking of him flying all that distance over water and at night, I hope he rests well before heading off again.
Brilliant Katie. This is such an instructive way of following Bynack. It is worrying that he flew over that distance of water, when he was so relatively close to land. But for now safely in Belgium. Where will he take us next I wonder. Thank you.
Hi SheilaFE. At the moment we don't have Bynack's coordinates for 7pm, 8pm and 9pm on the 21st (though they may come through in a subsequent download). So we don't know which route he took. He could have popped in to East Anglia, for example.
To start with, data is collected every hour between 5am and 9pm, and all we can do is effectively join the dots between those times. Hence the straight lines. Hope that helps.
It is lovely to see what route both Bynack and Tore are taking, Tore is doing her rounds of the centres, while Bynack is somewhere in France unless he has moved on? Any idea if he stops overnight?,as I could not believe it when you mentioned he was in Belgium.
Thanks for doing the data for us.
Quote: "Bynack ... by 11am he was high to the south-east above the Braes of Abernethy."
Was Bynack pinpointed at that location at that time? Because if so, we had either Odin or an intruder on the nest at 11.32am - looking (only tail in view) and behaving (position and attitude) exactly like Bynack!
What a journey down thru the North Sea! Did he hitch a lift? What a brave, strong boy he is :-*
Thanks again CIRRUS and katie Its such a relief that he ended up in a safe place but hope he doesn't repeat anything so risky again
Thank you again, Katie! There is so much that you and the team do to get the data ready for we eager followers! You are brilliant!
Mmm interesting point SCYLLA. Well, I for one put my penny on Bynack being on the nest at 1032hr! Surely no other bird has his shriek!
Thank you Katie for all the information. This is going to be a brilliant record to keep.
SHEILA and SCYLLA - my money is with you too. It was Bynack making that racket on the nest at 11.32 am
I don't know the local geography, but it strikes me that Bynack's visit to the nest at 11.32am would account for him only reaching Ballater on the first day. I reckon he had a final fly around his home stomping ground before bidding farewell.
I wonder about hitching a lift too. Might explain the 0' altitude close to Belgium (mentioned by Caroline). Greater than 600 miles in one day (and his first day) is an INCREDIBLE distance; though I think others have done further.
Scylla, he is noted west of Ballater on the satellite reading. But Caroline mentioned before the data came in that there was an eye-witness sighting over Ballater. Source wasn't indicated... The points don't give the time of day do they? Is it possible it was Odin on the nest at 11:32? Need to check the video. Can't remember if there was the telltale cries!
Either way, Bynack is superbly impressive. Thank you Katie for the update.
Dear Bynack
It's been a long time since we saw you. Keep safe. By which I mean, please will you choose a route over the Med that will give you the least amount of desert to fly over. (please)
Lots of love