Osprey Nest - Appeal for sticks

HMWT is on the point of refurbishing our Stocker’s Lake Osprey nest. The work will be funded by Affinity Water and completed with the help of Jason Fathers of Wildlife Windows, the company which has been supplying and maintaining our heron cameras. (Jason also built an Osprey nest in Dorset as featured on BBC Springwatch - live webcam link here - from which three chicks have successfully hatched this year.) The work on the Stocker’s Lake nest is likely to take place in October, but we need your help.

We need sticks to build the nest. We need not just any old sticks - we have lots of those! What we really want are Rhododendron sticks, mainly because they last a long time. So if you have a Rhododendron bush (or two) in need of pruning please hang on to the bits you cut off; especially and ideally if the sticks are a bit curved and as long as possible. (We can always cut them down.) If you can help please let Josh Kalms of HMWT know by emailing josh.kalms@hmwt.org. In due course Josh will then let you know when and where on site we will need the sticks.

Stocker’s Lake Osprey nest as viewed from the Heron Lookout

Osprey in flight

Background to Stocker’s Lake’s Osprey Platform and nest

Ospreys are impressive fish-eating birds of prey that spend the winter in West Africa and migrate north to breed. They used to be widely distributed in the UK but persecution led to their extinction in England in 1840 and in Scotland in 1916.

Concerted conservation effort has now allowed Ospreys to return to Scotland and more recently to parts of England, such as Rutland Water. The past couple of years have seen young Ospreys fledging on the south coast of England - the first time they have done so in 200 years. The use of artificial nesting platforms has been key in these successes.

In 2009 HMWT constructed a platform and artificial Osprey nest on an island at Stocker’s Lake. This is visible from several points along the South shore of the lake. Some Ospreys fly over the lake on migration as they head north in spring and south in late summer/autumn. It is hoped that the artificial nest will look appealing to a female seeking a nest site. Then the following spring we could see them taking a greater interest in the site. It may not happen for many years but as the UK's Osprey population continues to recover we might see them nesting once again in the Colne Valley.

Stocker’s Lake platform and nest under construction in 2009