By Maurice Chesworth

Last updated at 10:56, Friday, 06 November 2009

More than 80,000 people have watched the Lake District ospreys this year – and for the first time the nest has fully embraced the digital revolution.

The number of visitors to the viewing spot in Dodd Wood overlooking Bassenthwaite Lake has reached 650,000 since ospreys first nested and reared their young there eight years ago.

This year the adult male and female birds returned to the Lake District at the end of March, the earliest so far. Along with two chicks, they had begun their migration south by early September.

For the first time this year they have been watched on the large screen at the visitor centre on the Forestry Commission estate at Whinlatter Forest.

A new satellite internet connection meant it was possible to see live video images from the nest rather than still images of the birds transmitted every 10 minutes. And appropriately, the Lake District Osprey Project started ‘tweeting’ this year on the social networking and micro-blogging site Twitter, at twitter.com/lakelandosprey.

Nathan Fox, of the Lake District Osprey Project, said: “It has been another great year for the Osprey Project. We’ve had a tremendous number of visitors again and the use of social media has added a popular new dimension to our communications.

“Live streaming was also a really big step forward for us this year. It means people can now follow the progress of the ospreys from wherever they are in the UK or overseas.

“The whole Osprey Project team is already looking forward to next April when we hope to see the birds return again to the Lakes.”

The birds nesting at Bassenthwaite this year are the male that first nested in 2001 and the female he paired up with in 2007 after his original partner failed to return. About 70 volunteers helped mount a 24-hour guard on the nest to stop egg thieves.

All three chicks hatched this year but one died shortly after it left the nest. The two other young females went on to make the long journey south for the winter.

The male osprey has now successfully reared nine chicks with his current partner, after rearing 10 young with the female he paired up with in 2001. This season a number of other ospreys visited the area on their way to or from Scotland.

The first of the Cumbrian osprey chicks to return to England was also spotted at Leighton Moss in north Lancashire, leading to hopes that it will nest in the Bassenthwaite area in the next few years.

The Lake District Osprey Project is a partnership between The Forestry Commission, the RSPB and the Lake District National Park Authority.

First published at 05:23, Friday, 06 November 2009
Published by http://www.cumberlandnews.co.uk