24/08/2023
Welcoming the news of breeding Osprey in Northern Ireland
For decades, people have marvelled at the spectacle of Ospreys splashing into wild waters in Scotland and travelled there to see the spectacle. Conservationists, across all parts of the Island, have erected artificial nest platforms, in the hope passing migratory Ospreys might settle here again. Now at last, the Ospreys have returned by themselves and restored another lost icon of the Irish landscape.
The history of the Osprey, across Western Europe, over the last 300 years, is a sorry tale. Nest, after nest were destroyed and birds shot with increasing ease, as fi****ms became more effective. Numerous countries have records of declining populations, prior to extinction.
The news that Ospreys, have nested in the Lakelands of Fermanagh, this year and fledged young is such a beacon of hope for Irish wildlife. The Ulster Wildlife Trust team are to be warmly congratulated for their measured response – putting the welfare of this bedrock pair, before any other consideration.
The information about the dwindling Irish population, identified several nest sites across various counties. The last recorded Osprey nesting attempt seems to be on the ruins of McDermott’s Castle, on an islet in Lough Key, County Roscommon, by Beranger, in 1779 (see Lost Irish Birds, Gordon D’Arcy).
The old Gaelic name for Osprey was “Iascaire Coirneach”, signifying “Tonsured Fisherman”, possibly related to its obvious black eye-band demarcating its white crown. There is plenty of evidence that the Ospreys often hunted over the fishponds of monastic settlements and thereby would have been linked to the tonsured monks, of that era.
The slow westward spread of the European Osprey population, since its low point in the early 20th century, is testament to the conservation reality; where there is human tolerance – wildlife can co-exist with human settlements.
Hopefully, this pair of Lakeland Fermanagh Ospreys, will now be the fulcrum for a gradual natural recolonisation of the Northwest, with a myriad of suitable and potential Osprey lakes and rivers, nearby.
