Bann Estuary - 24th August 2024

Bann Estuary - Saturday 24th August 2024

Last Saturday, I visited the Bann Estuary near Castlerock, hoping to have a second encounter of a colour-ringed Osprey which I photographed on the 29th August 2023.  This year the bird returned to the Estuary on the 10th August, with many sightings having been reported on an almost daily basis on the NIBA website.  On visiting the hide that overlooks the Estuary, I was informed that the Osprey had departed from the area about an hour before I got there.  Undaunted, I began to read colour-rings on Sandwich Terns on an incoming tide which pushed the birds closer to me.  Altogether, 7 Sandwich Tern rings were read, along with one Oystercatcher which had managed to lose some of it's rings.

This morning, while finishing and publishing my latest blog post concerning my Antrim Marina Study, I had a look at the NIBA website, which read, that an Osprey with a white ring was present this morning.  No second guessing what I did next.  On reaching the Estuary, I went straight over to the hide, which had two gents inside.  They told me that the Osprey was present, and it was resting since 8:30.  A quick look across the mudflats with my binoculars, there it was, perched on a fence post.  I explained to them, that I had photographed this bird last year showing the coded ring, and I was here to obtain another photo of the bird.

I asked them if it was ok with them, if I walked over towards the bird in order for my camera to have the reach to get a photo.  The bird was fairly distant, but if I could cut the distance by half, my camera should get what I needed.  No sooner had I been given the ok by them, my bird flew off.  I then tracked it's every move with my binoculars to see where it goes to.  At times it was a distant spec, before coming closer to us.  I had followed the bird for a good half hour, when a second Osprey appeared, with both in view of my binoculars at he same time.  Keeping a watch on my bird, it broke away from the second bird, and landed back onto it's fencepost.

With one down, I began looking for the second bird again.  A short time later, I picked it up, just in time to see it plunging into the River Bann, lifting up again with a large fish.  One of the gentlemen took a few photos, which he said were of poor quality, but reckoned that this bird had a Blue colour-ring.  This news had me 'fired up', and I did not want to lose it.  Hoping for the bird to land somewhere nearby to eat it's catch, it flew away over to distant farmland disappearing completely out of view.  I never saw this one again.

With my target still resting on the fencepost, I walked over and roughly at the halfway point, I was able to get my photo.  (White) EY, was ringed as a female chick in a nest containing two chicks, on the 23rd June 2012, in the Dornoch Firth area of the Highland Region in Scotland.  Before turning up here on the Bann Estuary last year, it's only previous sighting was in Gambia on the 13th January 2020.  Having contacted Tim Mackrill of the Roy Dennis Wildlife Foundation, the breeding site for (White) EY is still unknown.  The distance from Dornoch to the Bann Estuary, is roughly 337 kms / 209 miles (SW), and the duration since being ringed, is now 12 years, 2 months and 1 day.

With the Osprey sorted, I went to look for Sandwich Terns.  With several men spread out along the shore waist deep whilst fishing, nearly all birds had relocated themselves to the other side of the Estuary.  A trifle disappointing, but at least I got what I wanted.  I'll keep an eye on the NIBA Website, and should there be any further sightings of the Blue-rung Osprey, I might have another go for that one next weekend.

Osprey  -  (White)  EY  -  Bann Estuary, Castlerock, Co. Londonderry  (24 Aug 2024)

(Ringed as a Chick (Female), on the 23rd June 2012, at Dornoch Forth, Highland Region, Scotland)

Osprey  -  (White)  EY  -  Bann Estuary, Castlerock, Co. Londonderry  (29 Aug 2023)

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