on the road with Animalcouriers

Animalcouriers were asked to help with an exciting project reintroducing ospreys to Spain. The project involves teams in Inverness (Scotland) and in Pego and Madrid (Spain).

We’re quite experienced with young raptors now, having helped in previous years with osprey chicks going to Spain and Switzerland, and red kite chicks heading to Spain.

Chick selection

The osprey chicks were born in Inverness at the Roy Dennis Wildlife Foundation. They were carefully watched over by wildlife officer Ian, who selected 12 of them to travel to Pego, near Denia.

Ian selecting chicks

An osprey chick close up

Chicks on the road

Our job was to collect the chicks in Inverness and transport them to London for their flight to Spain. The journey had to be continuous, so we left Inverness at 3.00am in order to reach London some 10 hours later.

To make the chicks as comfortable as possible on their road trip, Ian worked with fellow osprey experts Dave (also from the Scottish team) and Itziar (from the Spanish team) to create nests for them using the material they had been raised in.

Loading the chicks into our van

Here’s one of the chicks settled in to our van

The girls’ dorm

Feeding the chicks

Osprey chicks eat only fish, and need to eat regularly. When we reached London in the early afternoon, Carlos, another osprey expert from the Spanish team, made sure all the chicks had a big meal.

Carlos carefully takes one of the chicks out of the van to feed it

Such a kind and patient guy — who also knows exactly what he’s doing

Although they’re young chicks, they already have a sizeable wing span

Carlos improvised a bib for this chick to help the fish go down

Transferring the chicks to their flight boxes

Alan often makes boxes for us for dogs and cats flying to new homes, but this may have been his first time making boxes for ospreys! He built bespoke containers designed to keep them safe on their flight.

Alan’s boxes for the ospreys — flanked by our drivers Matthew and Lisa

Carlos transferring the chicks into their flight boxes

Adding more fish to each flight box

This notice explains the careful process for keeping these delicate birds calm and comfortable on their flight

Handing the chicks over at the airport, ready to board their flight

Arrival in Spain

The chicks landed safely in Spain and were taken to their new home in the marshes of Pego where they were placed in hacking boxes. Hacking is a method for raising young raptors to be as healthy and wild as possible.

Unloading the chicks at Pego

Chicks in a hacking box, closely watched over by the Spanish team

From nestlings to fledglings

The project team very kindly kept us updated and shared some videos as the osprey chicks started fledging.

Testing out those impressive wings

Preparing to take to the air over the Pego marshes