Osprey Project
Our Osprey Project aims to support osprey populations by providing platforms for the birds to nest on.
With seven platforms installed over the winter of 2024\25 at various locations around the county, we are well on the way to providing a strong network of ideal nesting locations before the ospreys return from their overwintering in Sub-Saharan Africa for the 2025 breeding season.
Ospreys pass through Cornwall each spring and autumn as they migrate to their wintering grounds in West Africa.
They can sometimes be seen stopping over at our reservoirs and estuaries where they plunge into the water to catch fish, which exclusively makes up their diet.
A former breeding bird in Cornwall, the osprey disappeared across the whole of the UK in the early 20th century due to hunting, egg collecting and the loss of suitable nesting trees.
No ospreys have been recorded nesting in Cornwall since as far back as the 18th century.
In the 1950s at Loch Garten in Scotland, a pair of ospreys nested for the first time since their disappearance.
Subsequent conservation efforts have seen them become re-established across Scotland, with the population rising to about 250 pairs by 2018.
In England, it was thought that natural repopulation could take up to 100 years.
To give that a boost, the Rutland Osprey Project in the midlands, translocated 64 osprey chicks from Scotland to its site across several years.
Breeding ospreys have now been recorded in Cumbria, Northumberland, and north and west Wales.
Osprey nests are large structures constructed on the tops of tall trees, and usually made of sticks. Nests are often used inter-generationally, however, due to deforestation, many of these large trees and nests have been lost.
Artificial nest platforms have been a vital part of the global recovery of the osprey, and in the UK, have been used to success in several locations.
Now, thanks to generous contributions to our 2023 Aviva Save our Wild Isles crowd funder and the help of a number of willing landowners, we have installed seven nest platforms in carefully planned locations around Cornwall.
Getting to this stage took more than a year of planning and logistics, with many hurdles to overcome and lots to learn along the way.
But now that we’re in our stride, we aim to install more platforms across the peninsula to attract breeding ospreys during the coming migrations.
All of our platforms have been hand-built by the team at Kernow Conservation and are equipped with remote 4G cameras so that we can keep an eye on any birds that show interest.
The location of the platforms will be kept a close secret as egg thieves still pose a risk to nesting ospreys, and any disturbance during breeding seasons could cause the birds to abandon their nests.
Suitable locations took careful planning, and the team spent a lot of time poring over maps and data before spending months contacting landowners and making site visits.
Keep an eye on our social media feeds for updates about our osprey nests.
Our work with ospreys is only just beginning. We are planning more platforms, but it could take several years for these incredible birds to take to them, and they require ongoing seasonal maintenance. But we know that due to underreporting, the number of ospreys in Cornwall is probably higher than recorded.
We are confident that with our carefully selected and managed locations, we can help bring nesting pairs back to the region for the first time in centuries.
If you would like to help us in supporting our osprey project, you can do so by donating to our appeal or by becoming one of our personal or business members.
For more direct support, engagement and a chance to align your brand at the front of our project and communications, you can sponsor this project from £5,000. Get in touch to discuss.