Fishing Ospreys

Aviemore in the heart of Scotland is a great place to see ospreys in the wild. These fish eating raptors return here from Africa each summer to breed and raise their young. Extinct in the UK until being reintroduced in Scotland in the 50’s they are now thriving and with a strong base in Scotland have spread around the country and down into Northern England.

Aviemore Ospreys allow you to get up close to these stunning birds in a couple of hides set up to allow you to watch and photograph them as they come in to fish on a small pond stocked with trout. On their website is a gallery of images and so at 3.45am I set off to try and snap something similar. The hides are located behind the main hotel in the town and during the day would be busy with guests and children on the nearby play area, but at 4am the only people about were 5 hardy photographers and Gordon the guide. Gordon settled us into the hides and explained what he hoped would happen before disappearing to the carpark with his walkie talkie to provide the running commentary. As the hides are built low down at water level it’s difficult to see the birds coming in so Gordons commentary keeps you aware of what’s in the sky and if any bird looks like diving in he lets you know.

The birds soon arrived but in the dark dawn light my pictures were quite frankly rubbish as I struggled to get the settings anywhere near what’s needed. However just seeing these birds plunge into the water and on most occasions emerge with a sizeable fish is something really special.

Eventually the light slowly improved and so did my pictures but nowhere near the quality of what the professionals get.

For me it was a tough morning photography wise and the window of opportunity is small to correct and readjust what you think the settings need to be as by 8am it was all over and the ospreys had moved on to other fishing grounds.

The above osprey is a 7 year old male ringed locally in 2010.

I take my hat off to the photographers who take such stunning pictures of these birds and it shows me I still have lots to learn to improve my pictures. I thoroughly enjoyed the experience but was disappointed with my photo’s.

While chatting in the hide I learnt of a nearby nest which was fairly accessible so guess where I went the following day?