April is here and a new Osprey season is starting! Like last year, our first two breeding females are ahead in the game. Mouche (PR4) and her partner AM06 have returned to their nest in Moselle, with the male arriving first on March 20, and Mouche soon after on the 24th. David Meyer and Dominique Lorentz are keeping an eye on what they are up to and will send us periodic updates. At the same time, Daniel Schmidt tells us that Plume (F02) and her partner BE63 have both returned to their nest in Bavaria on the same day (March 29). As for our males, we’re still waiting to see which ones will return to Switzerland or the Haut-Doubs (just across the border, in neighbouring France).

In the meantime on March 27 we built two additional nesting platforms, so we now have 28 in total in the Three-Lakes region. One is our highest ever, at 44m, adorning a majestic Larch; the other is on a 35m tall Scots Pine. Both were built with the support of the CEPOB (Centre d’Etude et de Protection des Oiseaux, Bienne et environs) as part of their 40th anniversary celebrations. Thanks again to our acrobatic climbers Christian and Paco Grand, and of course also to the ground team which included Emile Curty, Philippe Grosvernier, and Benjamin Gygax – with Denis Landenbergue and Wendy Strahm.