Wild Rutland reveals first Osprey nest location in Central England
Added by Love Business East Midlands | 2 July 2025
A secret location which was instrumental in the recovery of ospreys in Central England, will be revealed this summer in exclusive tours.
Known as ‘Site B’, the original location which housed the first nest built in 2001 is still being used today by returning ospreys and has fledged 50 chicks during this time.
Currently home to a further brood of chicks, the pair of ospreys who have bred at the site since 2018, returned to the nest in mid-March this year.
Integral to the restoration of the species in England, the location of the site within the Burley Estate has been a secret for over twenty years. But the team behind the new nature conservation project Wild Rutland near Oakham, are planning to deliver exclusive tours on the private estate, to show nature lovers its significance and its role in the recovery of ospreys in England - taking place on 26th June, 1st July and 24th July.
Wild Rutland CEO Hugh Vere Nicoll said,
“The site at Burley has been such an important part of the osprey translocation project, so it’s incredibly exciting to be able to finally reveal Site B, where visitors will be able to see the nest and its inhabitants for the first time.
“Whilst Wild Rutland is still in its infancy with a full planning proposal submission later this year to Rutland County Council, it is important to us all that we open the site for important events to demonstrate its already significant role in the conservation of British indigenous species,” said Hugh.
Tim Appleton, former head of Rutland Water Nature Reserve, along with local ornithologist Tim Mackrill were both involved in the original groundbreaking project along with species expert Roy Dennis, who had been crucial to the success of the expanding osprey populations in Scotland.
Tim Appleton and Roy Dennis first met in February 1995 in Rutland, and the following year the Leicestershire and Rutland Wildlife Trust and Anglian Water embarked on an ambitious reintroduction project to restore this spectacular bird of prey to Central England after an absence of more than 150 years.
Sixty-four young ospreys were collected under licence in Scotland by Roy Dennis between 1996 and 2001 and then released on the nature reserve at Rutland Water, to encourage them to regard Rutland as home and return in future years to breed. The first birds returned in 1999 and then, in 2001, a translocated osprey bred successfully at a nest that became known as Site B, on the Burley Estate.
Since then, the project has proved to be a resounding success with 278 chicks fledging from nests in the local area, and other Rutland birds helping ospreys to recolonise Wales and the South Coast of England. In all a total of 80 young ospreys have now fledged from nests on the Burley Estate, which account for 29% of the overall total, demonstrating what an important contribution it has made.
Tim Appleton is advising Wild Rutland as it prepares to submit its plans to open a nature and conservation project in the heart of the county, which plans to continue the important legacy of work started there decades earlier.
“A significant number of ospreys have fledged from those nests which has increased the population across Britain. Burley Estate has never got the credit for all it has done to protect them, and we should celebrate the contribution it has made,” said Tim Appleton.
“The osprey public events this summer will allow a carefully restricted viewing point for the main nest, which was the first in Central England for 150 years.”
Tim Mackrill joined the Rutland Osprey Project as a 15-year-old volunteer in 1997 and continues to monitor and ring the local ospreys under licence, including those on the Burley Estate. He has a PhD on osprey migration and recently wrote a book on the species which was published as part of the well-known Poyser monograph series.
“One of the first translocated ospreys to return was 03(97) who built the Site B nest on the Burley Estate in the summer of 2000. He reared a chick for the first time the following year and continued to return every year until 2015, raising a total of 32 chicks in that time, many of which have since returned to breed in Rutland and elsewhere. It is for this reason he was rightly nicknamed Mr Rutland!
“The Site B nest has been pivotal in the recovery of ospreys in Southern Britain, and has been occupied by another pair of ospreys, 30(05), who is a grandson of 03(97) and a Scottish female, HJ8, who fledged from a nest in Argyll, since 2017. It is exciting that people will be able to see the nest for the first time, and I hope this will inspire new generations of conservationists, as I was inspired three decades earlier.
“I still vividly remember the excitement of watching that first chick at the nest in 2001, and it always gives me a real thrill to see a newly-returned osprey back at the nest each spring.
“This important and groundbreaking conservation project fits seamlessly into the vision of this new nature park which is why it is so wonderful to be able to demonstrate to people how important this site is,” said Hugh Vere Nicoll.
With conservation at its heart, Wild Rutland’s aim is to turn over 1000 acres of land stretching from Burley Wood to the Oakham bypass, into an exemplar of habitat restoration and conservation in the managed landscape.
The plan is to open an immersive visitor attraction for nature and wildlife lovers, which complements the area and offers a place where the local community and tourists can enjoy the natural world in all its glory.
“Re-introductions of species, when appropriate, is a vital part of conservation as we have seen here with osprey,” said Hugh.
“Wild Rutland will provide the opportunity to increase biodiversity with a blend of good habitat management, population boosting, re-introductions and captive breeding projects and we’re truly looking forward to opening the site this year for selected events.”
For full details of all the Wild Rutland nature events happening across the summer please visit Wild Rutland | The destination for the curious adventurer or email contact@wildrutland.com
For press enquiries contact wildrutland@silverpearcommunications.co.uk
