Williamson's Weekly Nature Notes

LOOK up into the sky this week and you might see an osprey passing over. September is the time when they cross Sussex on their way to Africa. They may have bred in Scotland or Scandinavia.

By The Newsroom

Published 5th Sep 2008, 15:53 BST

Updated 8th Jun 2018, 03:13 BST

In a good year, 90 per cent will return next spring to breed, but last year only 70 per cent returned.

The 'fish eagles' were caught out over the Atlas mountains and the Spanish sierras by snowstorms.

Even so, about 500 birds are airborne right now from the north. Only about a score of them are noticed in Sussex.

They are mainly spotted at Arlington and Weir Wood reservoirs, and at various ponds in Ashdown Forest and along the Adur and Arun valleys.

One of my favourite places to see them is over the Great Deep on Thorney Island on the West Sussex/Hampshire border.

They may spend two weeks with us or they may go through in a day.

Looking up at them as they glide high overhead, you can tell them from the buzzard by their white chin, belly and legs, and their speckled white-and-black wings.

For full feature buy the West Sussex Gazette September 10