Chris Monk
Well-known member
From 'This is the Lake District' web site:
By Ruth Lythe
THE world famous osprey nest at Bassenthwaite Lake is to be re-built after January's storms completely destroyed the breeding site of the rare birds of prey, writes Countryside Reporter Ruth Lythe.
Osprey first nested at the Lake in 2001, when a pair of the spectacular fish-catching birds bred in the Lakes for the first time for at least 150 years.
The nest became a focus of global attention with pictures beamed from a camera overlooking the nest revealed to the world via the Internet.
Millions of people have followed the private lives of the Lakes osprey and watched as the five young have been successfully reared in the nest over the last four years. But disaster struck in January this year when near hurricane force winds blew the bird's nest off the top of a tree at Wythrop Wood, near Keswick, and wrecked it.
The nest, which was built from branches and moss, and was the size of a double bed because the birds, when fully grown, have a wingspan of about five feet.
Osprey use the same nest year after year and, with the birds due to arrive back in the area next month, the Lake District Osprey team was faced with the possibility that the birds would have nowhere to nest on their return to the county.
So, in a race against time, a team from the osprey project partnership has constructed a new nest in the osprey's chosen tree and are hoping that the birds will never know that anything has changed.
The new "super nest" is designed to withstand the worst that the Cumbrian weather can throw at it in future. It has been constructed with a secure timber platform as a base and a cocoon of weld-mesh to give it added strength. Branches, twigs and moss have been painstakingly applied by hand to re-create the appearance of the lost nest.
Now the team can only wait and hope that the osprey will approve of their new designer home and that these special birds will settle down to nest again this year. The osprey point at the Forestry Commission's Dodd Wood, near Keswick, will re-open to visitors on Monday, April 11.
By Ruth Lythe
THE world famous osprey nest at Bassenthwaite Lake is to be re-built after January's storms completely destroyed the breeding site of the rare birds of prey, writes Countryside Reporter Ruth Lythe.
Osprey first nested at the Lake in 2001, when a pair of the spectacular fish-catching birds bred in the Lakes for the first time for at least 150 years.
The nest became a focus of global attention with pictures beamed from a camera overlooking the nest revealed to the world via the Internet.
Millions of people have followed the private lives of the Lakes osprey and watched as the five young have been successfully reared in the nest over the last four years. But disaster struck in January this year when near hurricane force winds blew the bird's nest off the top of a tree at Wythrop Wood, near Keswick, and wrecked it.
The nest, which was built from branches and moss, and was the size of a double bed because the birds, when fully grown, have a wingspan of about five feet.
Osprey use the same nest year after year and, with the birds due to arrive back in the area next month, the Lake District Osprey team was faced with the possibility that the birds would have nowhere to nest on their return to the county.
So, in a race against time, a team from the osprey project partnership has constructed a new nest in the osprey's chosen tree and are hoping that the birds will never know that anything has changed.
The new "super nest" is designed to withstand the worst that the Cumbrian weather can throw at it in future. It has been constructed with a secure timber platform as a base and a cocoon of weld-mesh to give it added strength. Branches, twigs and moss have been painstakingly applied by hand to re-create the appearance of the lost nest.
Now the team can only wait and hope that the osprey will approve of their new designer home and that these special birds will settle down to nest again this year. The osprey point at the Forestry Commission's Dodd Wood, near Keswick, will re-open to visitors on Monday, April 11.
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