Osprey!

Just landed back from my Mother's after spending a couple of days with her on the dark...but friendly side. On route, on Wednesday morning, I diverted via the LDV arriving at Bank Island car park at 10.30 to meet my pal Haydn. The car park was strangely full, so I drove down to the bridge car park, which was thankfully empty. I had my friend with me, so we stood on the bridge for a while to see what my come our way. There had been a couple of Ospreys reported at Bank Island on Monday but no news Tuesday?

Our view was limited with the riverbank being lined with mature trees. A lovely setting though. It was nice to see a couple of Jays. It was now approaching 11 and we were thinking of heading down to Duff. We both looked up simultaneously to see...an Osprey flying towards us, over the trees and South down the River Derwent!!! Miraculously, I managed to sort myself out to record the moment...just...

The old camera did well

It was great to share the moment. This was my 4th sighting for the LDV with two previous records here and one at my beloved NDC. Quite a moment. We gave it another 30 minutes but we didn't see it again.

Onto Duff where we enjoyed an excellent 90 minutes Raptor watching. We accrued...

Hobby 2

Red Kite 4

Buzzard 10

Marsh Harrier

Sparrowhawk

Kestrel 4

Around 2, I said my goodbyes to Haydn and headed for Lancashire. Top Birding in top company...