Open Country

Ospreys in Cumbria


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Caz Graham goes in search of Cumbria's regular visiting ospreys at a selection of locations in the Lake District.

Once extinct in England, Ospreys are now thriving in the UK. Breeding pairs are well established in Scotland and for several years they have become regular visitors to the Lake District.

Caz travels to Foulshaw Moss, a nature reserve on the side of the busy A590, just south of Kendal, where a nesting pair have made their home and are raising three chicks. Whilst there she encounters a host of rare butterflies, dragonflies and moths, along with a big fat toad sheltering from the summer sunshine under a corrugated iron canopy. She also finds several slow worms trying to keep cool and unnoticed by predators that maybe roaming.

A few miles from Foulsahw Moss is Esthwaite Water and here Caz meets with Natalie Cooper from the National Trust. Natalie recounts the relationship Beatrix Potter had with the area and in particular Estwaite Water itself as it is just a short distance from Hill Top Farm, where she once lived.

Then Caz takes to the water, cutting through Jeremy Fisher's lily-pads as she goes in search of the lake's own resident Ospreys, and visits the parts of the lake that the birds are known to hunt. But will she find them?

Presenter: Caz Graham

Producer: Martin Poyntz-Roberts.

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Open CountryBy BBC Radio 4

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