Rutland Water celebrates 200th osprey chick

Credit: PA

A breeding programme set up 25 years ago to reintroduce ospreys to England has seen its 200th chick fledge.

The project at Rutland Water was set up more than 150 years after the bird was last seen in England and Wales, having been extinct in both countries.

The programme has seen breeding pairs spread across areas. 

Now conservationists are celebrating that the 200th chick, a female, has fledged.

It is expected to remain in Rutland until September when it will head off on a 3,000 mile migration journey to the west coast of Africa.

The 200th chick has now fledged Credit: Leicestershire and Rutland Wildlife Trust

Experts expect the chicks to remain in their African wintering grounds for the first couple of years, so it will not be until at least 2023 before they are likely to return.

Suffolk Wildlife Trust is now working with the Rutland Osprey Project and the Roy Dennis Wildlife Foundation to try and bring breeding osprey back to East Anglia.

Essex Wildlife Trust has also tried to attract the bird, having erected nesting platforms around the Abberton Reservoir.