Looking at the latest update for Deshar's route (27/08) it would appear that he just missed us. The Google Earth trace puts him leaving at Jaywick and the hitting the North Kent coast just north of Broadstairs and just missing us. Oh well, our previous osprey report wasn't Deshar but the Google tracking is still just as fascinating!

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On the Saturday 23rd of August Lee Ebbs observed an Osprey over Potton Creek which landed briefly on the Potton bridge. Looking at the latest satellite tracking of the two Loch Garten Ospreys on Google Earth (see previous item), we have to ask did Deshar drop in on his way through!? It would be lovely to think so.

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The two osprey chicks that we have enjoyed watching grow up to fledge via the Loch Garten web cam over the last month seem to have begun their long migration south.

A really fantastic way to follow their paths is to use the free Google Earth download. To use this software please follow these instructions:

Google earth is available free from the Google website: http://www.google.com/earth

Adding the osprey data to your Google Earth software

It's easy to add the osprey satellite data to your copy of Google Earth - just follow the steps below:

1. Launch the Google Earth software
2. Go to the Add menu and click Network Link...
3. Enter Loch Garten Ospreys in the Name field
4. Paste the following address into the Link field

http://www.rspb.org.uk/kml/lochgartenospreys.kml

5. Click OK to add the Loch Garten Ospreys data to the Places list on the left hand side of the screen. 

Using Google Earth to keep an eye on the ospreys

Once the ospreys are in your list of Places you can double click them to zoom straight to their location. You can also use the standard Google Earth controls to zoom and pan around the globe.

Choosing how often to update Google Earth

The satellite data will be updated approximately once per day. To make sure you have the latest updates, you can tell Google Earth how often to refresh its data. To do this, right click on the Loch Garten Ospreys item in your Places list and choose Properties. Go to the Refresh tab and change the options so that it updates Periodically every 12 hours.

New recruit to help farmers help birds

Emily Field has joined the RSPB’s Eastern England regional office team as the project officer for the RSPB’s Volunteer & Farmer Alliance.

Based in Norwich, she will be organising free bird surveys for farmers across a region that covers Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Essex, Hertfordshire, Lincolnshire, Norfolk and Suffolk.

The highly successful scheme has already paired 4,000 farms with local RSPB volunteers nationwide. Emily’s next step is to recruit up to 80 farms in eastern England region to take advantage of a survey in spring 2009.

Emily is keen to recruit new farmers to the project, and is particularly keen to involve farmers in the Fens, west Norfolk and on the Essex coast.

Emily says: “Some farmers know they have some special wildlife on their farm and would like to help ensure its future, others just don’t know which of the many little brown birds are breeding on their land. Either way, the RSPB’s Volunteer & Farmer Alliance can help.”

By arrangement with farmers, volunteers will be surveying up to 80 hectares each on three or four mornings in the breeding season between April and July. The survey leads to the production of a report for the farmer with a farm map showing the location of birds of conservation concern.

Emily grew up on a small farm in west Wales where she studied biodiversity and farm management first hand and worked on crop science at the Institute of Grassland and Environmental Research.

She has lived in Norfolk for eight years, gaining her BSc in environmental earth sciences at the University of East Anglia. She has worked in horticulture and her local rural community in Hingham, Norfolk, spending free time exploring the countryside with her young family.

Emily continued: “Birds need what we call ‘the big 3’: nesting habitat, winter food and summer food. So for a farmer it makes sense to know what birds you’ve got and where, to help plan how to help them on the farm.”

“Arable farming is at the heart of the landscape of eastern England, it is home to some of the UK’s most special farmland bird populations, so I am delighted to be able to help farmers to learn about their birds.”

• To apply for a free, no-obligation survey farmers can contact Emily Field on 01603 697514 or email emily.field@rspb.org.uk. Next step is to complete a short application form and return it together with a map of your farm highlighting the 80 hectares you wish to be surveyed.
• For advice on management for farmland birds, or to find out if the RSPB can help you enter an Environmental Stewardship scheme to support wildlife friendly farming, contact the RSPB Eastern England Farmland Conservation Officer, Simon Tonkin, on 01603 697586 or email simon.tonkin@rspb.org.uk

Two Sea eagles from the Isle of Mull have been fitted with GPS tracking devices. You can follow their movements in real time at: http://www.rspb.org.uk/wildlife/tracking/mulleagles/