New osprey nesting platforms erected in Cumbria

27/08/2006 00:00:00 Forestry Commission wildlife rangers have started work in an attempt to attract more Ospreys to new locations in Cumbria. A number of potential new breeding sites have been identified at secret locations around the county and will undergo a dramatic face-lift in the coming weeks to offer more ospreys a variety of attractive and secluded nest sites. A team of wildlife rangers from Grizedale Forest have joined forces with the Lake District National Park forestry team to construct a series of artificial osprey ‘super-nests’ to appeal to the migrating birds as they fly back over the county this spring. Each osprey nest will be the size of a single-bed and take a day to construct. The timber platform base will be covered by a cocoon of wire-mesh to give added strength. Branches, twigs and moss will be painstakingly applied by hand to re-create the appearance of a real osprey nest and to withstand the worst that the Cumbrian weather can throw at them.

Mike Thornley, Chief Wildlife Ranger for the Forestry Commission at Grizedale Forest, says: ‘Cumbria has a limited number of potential breeding sites for ospreys, so we’ve decided to offer the birds ready-made nests that will hopefully attract them to new locations around the county. If the project is successful the ospreys will be able to use the same nest year-after-year.’

Once the work is complete the project team can only wait and hope that the ospreys will approve of their new designer homes and that these special birds will settle down in the nests. The exact location of the new sites will remain under wraps to allow any potential new osprey couples the privacy and seclusion they demand for successful breeding.

Ospreys have been nesting at Bassenthwaite Lake since 2001, when a pair of the spectacular birds bred in the Lakes for the first time for at least 150 years. The ospreys decided to nest in another artificial nest platform that the Forestry Commission and the National Park Authority created.

The return of ospreys to the Lake District is one of the greatest conservation stories of recent years, and the birds are bringing important economic benefits to the region. Around 100,000 visits are able to see the nesting birds each year at special viewpoints set up by the Lake District Osprey Project. Visitors who come to see the ospreys contribute around £2 million to the Cumbrian economy each year.

The Osprey Viewpoint at the Forestry Commission’s Dodd Wood near Keswick will re-open to visitors in early April 2007. Click here to read more about ospreys in the Lake District and how to see them.

The Lake District Osprey Project is managed by the Forestry Commission and the RSPB, in partnership with The Lake District National Park Authority.