Fears mount across the globe for survival of UK’s most famed osprey

Fears are mounting across the globe for the future survival of the UK’s oldest breeding female osprey, which astounded wildlife experts when it returned to the Scottish Wildlife Trust’s Loch of the Lowes Wildlife Reserve for the 20th consecutive year this March.

The 25-year-old bird, which has significantly outstripped the average eight-year lifespan of an osprey, began showing signs of poor health last Friday night (18 June) and continued to decline over the weekend as it became unable to open its eyes, stand over its chicks, and stopped eating.

As the demise was watched by Scottish Wildlife Trust staff along with thousands of online followers of the Trust’s live osprey nest cam at www.swt.org.uk, a policy of non-intervention is being followed by the wildlife charity as it is believed that the bird is finally succumbing naturally to old age.

It was feared that the bird’s final moments were imminent on Sunday, however today (21 June) the bird famed for its record-breaking fortitude appears to be rallying its strength and shows signs of some improvement.

Peter Ferns, Scottish Wildlife Trust’s Loch of the Lowes Visitor Centre Manager, said:  “The last 72 hours has been a real emotional rollercoaster for our dedicated team of staff at Loch of the Lowes who have watched over this amazingly resilient female as she has returned each breeding season.”

“Year after year, we watched the skies with baited breathe fearing that she would fail to complete her 3,000 mile migratory journey from West Africa.  Now however, we could be watching her final days on the nest as she struggles to keep going and care for her latest two chicks – part of the amazing tally of 48 chicks she has raised during her lifetime.”

“Today she seems to be rallying her strength and can once again be seen holding her head up and occasionally standing over her chicks to shade them from the sun, but sadly we anticipate that this show of strength will be short-lived.  If she continues to reject the food brought to the nest by her mate, she risks dehydration and we estimate that by Tuesday or Wednesday we could lose her.”

“Her fight for survival is showing her in all her glory as a magnificent bird capable of enduring life against all odds.”

“If and when she does pass on, we will remove her body with minimal disturbance to her male mate and the remaining chicks in the nest.  We hope that the male will continue to feed these chicks and that we will still see them successfully fledge from the nest next month.”

Simon Milne, ‘Scottish Wildlife Trust’