I've been diversifying my nestbox-making into Osprey platforms! This spring I designed and made a platform to go up on one of the Notts Wildlife Trust's Trent valley reserves. The design is an amalgam of advice from Osprey ringers, research on the web at mainly north American sites and a very useful site visit with Tim Mackrill and colleagues at the Rutland Water Osprey Project. With eventual ringing etc in mind, I've offset the platform to allow safe access to the nest.
The thinking is that the Rutland birds will sooner or later start to spread out, and this is the first of what will be a string of boxes along the Trent river valley corridor in Notts & Derbyshire. The young males from there are apparently proving adept at attracting passing Scottish female Ospreys.
JIM
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