Blue 33 brings a fish but Blue 25 intrudes until Maya sees her off: Rutland Ospreys 14 Mar 2024

Maya is on the nest when Blue 33 arrives with a fish. Both look unsettled, mantle, and moments later Blue 25 touches down. This is the female that briefly paired with Blue 33 last year, until Maya returned home and got rid of her. She does the same now - flying at the intruder and making her depart.
Blue 25 and Blue 11 are the parents of Blue 4K, the star of Simon Curtin’s book If You Build It, He Will Come, which uses our Loch Arkaig fish stats as that nest at Belvoir Castle doesn’t have a nest cam.
Sacha Dench and the Flight of the Osprey team tracked Blue 4K down to his winter quarters in Guinea, but sadly soon after setting off northwards last spring the transmissions stopped and he never made it back. Good to see his mum Blue 25 is still going strong.
Maya is the resident female at Manton Bay on Rutland Water Nature Reserve. Her mate is Blue 33(11). Last year he returned on 16th March and Maya on the 19th. Maya laid four eggs in April: 4, 7, 10 and 13th. Four chicks hatched - 12, 14, 17, 18th May but sadly the fourth only survived for one day. The other three did well, even little third chick, with dad Blue 33 supplying plenty of fish and mum Maya dispensing it fairly even handedly, and all three fledged.
Brief history (thanks Karen at RSPB Community):
The nest was first occupied by White 08(97) and Green 5N(04) in 2007 who raised 2 chicks. In 2008 they paired again but the nest failed and in 2009 it was unused. In 2010 a new pair, Green 5R(04) and an unringed female nicknamed Mrs 5R, took up residence and over the next four years raised 11 chicks. Green 5R(04) failed to return in 2014 and Mrs 5R paired with a new mate, Blue 28(10) and laid 3 eggs. Blue 33(11) arrived determined to claim this nest and ousted Blue 28(10). Blue 33(11) kicked out the eggs and spent the remainder of the season bonding with Mrs 5R who was then officially named “Maya”. Since 2015, Maya and Blue 33(11) have paired up each year and to date have successfully raised 26 chicks.
Many thanks to Rutland Ospreys and Leicestershire & Rutland Wildlife Trust (LRWT) for allowing me to clip bits off their nest cam livestream. They retain the copyright.
More here: www.lrwt.org.u...

[@suzycat2026]

After watching those bald Eagles, the Osprey behaviour is entertaining. 😁 What's this, a lady from another nest,, well done Maya. Loud shrieks for an Osprey too! 😻🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿