This year’s Osprey season has started early! News from our first returnee, Mouche (PR4), came from Moselle in France, where Dominique Lorentz saw her back on March 20, four days after her male (AM06). The dates are nearly the same as last year, when the male arrived on March 17 and Mouche the day after. The pair immediately set up house-keeping at their nest (photo above), and we can only wish them another good season, after successfully raising 2 young in 2021 and in 2022, then three in 2023.

Daniel Schmidt-Rothmund sent us the good news that Chronos (ex-PS9) returned to her nest in Baden-Wurttemberg on 29 March, four days later than her male AE83. Last year the pair were first recorded by the LPO-Alsace on March 29 on the French side of the Rhine, before crossing over the river to nest on a platform on the German side where they successfully raised 2 young. Despite being a leap year with one extra day in 2024, some of “our” Osprey certainly know how to keep time!

In Switzerland Saturday 23 March was a big day, with Arthur (F12) first seen by Fabien Grossenbacher at Hagneck. There he holds a territory for the fifth year, competing again for his platform with a pair of Yellow-legged Gulls, and still hoping to meet – and keep – a passing female. Olympe (F28) apparently arrived on the same day to the Grande Cariçaie, where he still seems to be quite mobile early in the season, being recorded at least twice (on March 26 and 31) on fishing excursions in the Fanel. Both these arrivals were a bit earlier than last year, when Arthur was first seen on March 25, and Olympe on April 1.

No news yet from Flamme (ex-KF6) in the Drugeon basin in nearby France, nor from Racine (F29) in the Three-Lakes region. In 2023 both were first spotted around mid-April, so keep your eyes to the skies… . And please don’t forget to mark the time of any Osprey sighting, and whenever possible, note whether they are ringed or not!