Silly Osprey!

Some of you may remember that I posted a while back about a webcam where you could watch baby ospreys as they grew up and started to learn to fly. Well, each winter these ospreys migrate to Africa (who can blame them with the winters that happen over here?). The two chicks that fledged the nest at Loch Garten in the highlands of Scotland were fitted with radio transmitters so that the wildlife biologists that are interested in them could follow their route. They've also made the signals, and therefore the paths that the birds are flying, available on google earth so that people with an interest can follow their progress. For the past 4-5 weeks the two chicks have been staying in southern England (in different areas) eating lots of fish and not venturing too far. One, the male bird named Deshar, had been based in the very south west of England for ages when he finally decided to make his move, so to speak, on Friday. However, instead of flying ESW across the channel to France, as I and most other people would have expected him to, he's flying WSW. The problem with that is that there is absolutely no land that way until the Azores (see image below). The experts think he's actually been flying without a break for two whole days! What will happen to poor little Deshar? The satellite won't pass him again until tomorrow, so I just have to wait to find out . . . the suspense! It's almost as good as an episode of Eastenders! ;)