Ospreys on the Erme Project
WATER is supporting the Devon Osprey Partnership’s programme to encourage Ospreys to return to the Erme after a 200 year absence from South Devon. There has been a resurgence in the reintroduction of Ospreys in the UK in recent years and the Erme estuary is an ideal location for breeding pairs.
Here’s a report from one of the ‘Ospreys on the Erme’ Project Team.
We have made great progress and now have one of our four nesting platforms recently installed. This was a fantastic day’s work wading through mud with nesting materials, timber, ladders and climbing equipment.
Seb from the Devon Osprey Partnership, spent several hours putting his climbing skills to good use 9 metres up a tree while the rest of us offered ground support with a pulley to hoist up materials. The first nesting platform is now in place with a camera installed to catch future Osprey activity.
On the day there were Otter tracks identified scurrying across the mud, a Goshawk warning off a Buzzard, who was forced to let go of its nesting material in case it needed its feet for defence and an exhausted but satisfying trudge back through the mud for us to get home before sunset.
Thanks to everyone for your support back in the autumn and we look forward to sharing more with you as the other nests are built.
We aren’t sharing precise locations but will keep you abreast of activity should an Osprey or anything else interesting turn up on a nest in the future.
