Osprey on the Doorstep..Friday 31st August..a special day

Spring saw a few Ospreys dropping in to Upton Warren, but not when I was there. They don't tend to hang around much, so twitching them can be a bit of a waste of fuel. On Thursday one popped up, but I was in a meeting all afternoon and left my phone on silent by mistake. When I picked the news up I had made other arrangements and reasoned it would not stick. As the evening went on , it was apparent it had, and I felt like I was doomed to connect with this species locally.
So when news emerged Friday that it was still lurking I was somewhat on edge all afternoon til I could escape and make a beeline for Upton.
I arrived around 5pm and collecting news on the way headed for the flashes, and straight into the Cuckoo hide. What an awesome bird ! It was perched about 80 yards away on the first flash, straight ahead of me, and this was a memorable birding moment for me. I studied the bird for around 30 minutes until it headed towards the sailing pool. I nipped over behind it and was rewarded with 3 fantastic dives, the third producing a fish supper. I returned to the hide to watch it until 7pm. A very special birding experience.

If the video does not play , it can be viewed on my Flickr here