SHERBORNE BROOK

You  might remember Sherborne as being the home of Spring Watch last year. Over the last week there has been an osprey, fishing in the brook in the Broadwater area  of the brook and being seen frequently perched in the trees. To be honest I thought ospreys only stopped for a short while before  going onward on the last leg of their migration journeys, so having read that it had been there a week, I thought I might as well see if it was still there. 

I decided to park in the Ewe Pen car park up the road, so that I could make the visit a little longer by going for a walk through the Sherborne Estate (NT). The first part of the walk passed alongside a meadow of cows and calves, then led into some woodland. Oops, path closed through the woodland so I took an alternative route down to the road which ran along the edge. I walked along the road and stopped by a wall overlooking the area  where I expected the osprey to be. Beautiful views across to the brook, with lots of sheep and lambs, but no osprey and no one else for that matter!   As I waited a few other hopeful birders came along, and together we scoured the trees but to no avail. A few birds were to be seen by the brook included swans, mallard, gadwall, canada geese, moorhen, grey heron and buzzards soaring above. I learned that the osprey had been seen at around 8.30 am. and had flown downstream. 

I decided to return to the car, and drove across a couple of road bridges that crossed the brook but couldn't there was no sign of any osprey. Back home I saw someone had tweeted that the bird eventually appeared around 5.30 pm as it flew back upstream then up and away north. Still there's always next year, and meanwhile a visit to Rutland is always a possibility later in this year.