{"id":625423,"date":"2026-10-09T13:58:11","date_gmt":"2026-10-09T13:58:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/625423\/"},"modified":"2026-10-09T13:58:11","modified_gmt":"2026-10-09T13:58:11","slug":"country-diary-a-passing-osprey-needs-to-eat-but-the-local-terns-wont-let-it-birds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/625423\/","title":{"rendered":"Country diary: A passing osprey needs to eat \u2013 but the local terns won\u2019t let it | Birds"},"content":{"rendered":"

The autumnal sunlight gilded the sea as our boat drifted off Fowley Island<\/a>, a small, uninhabited tidal saltmarsh between Thorney Island and Hayling Island. A colony of grey seals lay sprawled along the intertidal mudflats, their size and prominent, sloping Roman noses making them easily distinguishable\u00a0from the more lithe, cat-faced common seals that also inhabit the harbour.<\/p>\n

Two sub-adults were tumbling and splashing in the shallows, play-fighting with the exuberance of puppies. They mouthed and nipped at each other\u2019s heads and necks, lunging and rolling over one another before disappearing beneath the waves, only to pop up again in a spray of water and resume their boisterous tussle. These playful interactions are a form of social bonding, but they also serve as a rehearsal for future dominance contests.<\/p>\n

As we passed through the Sweare\u00a0Deep tidal channel, the boat\u00a0slowed to let us watch a flock\u00a0of sandwich terns<\/a> plunge\u2011diving for silvery bait fish driven to the surface by predatory sea bass. Glancing over my shoulder, I noticed a much larger bird approaching from the north. At\u00a0a distance, it might have been mistaken for a black\u2011backed gull, but its long, crooked wings, bent at the \u201cwrist\u201d into a distinctive\u00a0M\u00a0shape, gave it away: an osprey, stopping off to fuel up on\u00a0its migration.<\/p>\n

As I called out to alert my boatmates, the osprey dropped feetfirst towards the water to snatch a fish from the surface. Spotting the intruder, the terns intercepted, banking and diving to disrupt its flight path, and the fish escaped its talons. Their relentless harassment left the osprey little opportunity to hunt. It circled and tried again, but when a tern struck its back with its sharp bill, the raptor gave up, flapping away on slow, shallow wingbeats.<\/p>\n

Ospreys have made a remarkable recovery as a breeding species in Britain, but for this individual, the harbour was merely a brief pause on its journey south. As we puttered back to the marina, we passed an artificial nest platform installed in the hope of attracting these beautiful fish eaters to breed. I\u00a0wondered whether, in some future spring, this osprey might return to establish a new breeding territory.<\/p>\n

Under the Changing Skies: The Best of the Guardian\u2019s Country Diary, 2018-2024, is available now at guardianbookshop.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The autumnal sunlight gilded the sea as our boat drifted off Fowley Island, a small, uninhabited tidal saltmarsh…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":625424,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[111,139,69,147,406],"class_list":["post-625423","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-science","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/625423","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=625423"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/625423\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/625424"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=625423"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=625423"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=625423"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}