The Osprey

For my latest painting I decided to paint a bird of prey - the osprey. And, to make it more challenging, I wanted to portray it in a more active and dramatic scene where it was fishing. I hope you like it!

With wildlife I try and make sure the animal I am painting is identifiable as a species. For this, as well as using what I can see, I also utilise ID guides in this case my trusty Collin's Bird Guide.

The osprey is one of the most widely distributed birds on Earth; spanning every continent except for Antarctica. In the UK it occured widely in the past but was persecuted as it competed with people for fish. The increasing pressure from firearms usage in the 19th century saw the osprey as well as the sea eagle pushed in extinction in the UK by 1916. In its final years, as it became rarer, the osprey became the target of trophy hunters and egg thieves. In England the last breeding pair was likely in Somerset in 1847. In wilder Scotland the population clung on longer, retreating into the Highlands where the last known pair nested at Loch Loyne in 1916. 

It was in 1954 at Loch Garten, Speyside, when a Scandinavian pair of ospreys was found to have recolonised Scotland and were breeding and the population has slowly climbed from there. As the population was slow to colonise opsreys were reintroduced to England at Rutland water in 1996. Later a pair bred in Kielder Forest in 2009 - the first to do so for over 200 years. Today the osprey population has reached a modest 200-250 breeding pairs. Sadly most breeding sites have to be kept secret as well as guarded to protect from would-be egg thieves and hunting - egg collectors have stolen over 100 clutches of eggs since the 1950s.

The painting in progress:

For those curious as to my photo reference.