OSPREY - SCOTLAND

By 1916 the last known breeding pair at Loch Loyn had been destroyed and the osprey was officially considered extinct as a breeding bird in the United Kingdom. A combination of habitat destruction to provide arable farmland, persecution, egg collectors and taxidermists had led to its decline and believe it or not, the osprey was seen as vermin by the gamekeepers and sportsmen of the time. It would be nearly 40 years before the bird of prey would make its return to UK shores in order to breed.

According to the Scottish Wildlife Trust, ospreys are still rarer in the UK than golden eagles with roughly 250 breeding pairs, a figure that blows my mind somewhat. I feel very lucky to have had the time to photograph them in Perthshire, Scotland at a secluded and private spot on family land. They’re beautiful raptors, wild and with an air of primal fierceness about them. They’re also huge with a wing span that can be up to five feet - not quite the golden eagle’s impressive seven feet but large nonetheless!