(C) Roy Dennis Wildlife Foundation
Morven
2026 UPDATE
04/04/26
Photographed by Will Pedley Nr Cadiz, Andalucia Spain.
https://macaulaylibrary.org/asset/654183105
24/04/26
Intruded Dyfi Osprey project.
https://www.dyfiospreyproject.com/blog/emyr-mwt/morven-osprey-royalty-visit-today
2025
Followers of UKosprey Information may have recently seen DOP’s news of Gwynant (Blue 3R, Dyfi, 2014) being seen in Spain. He was spotted as part of a programme, run by the Spanish conservation group FAPAS, which uses trail cams in the Villaviciosa area of Northern Spain to monitor ringed birds both resident in Spain and passing through on migration.
https://www.fapas.es/proyectos/proyecto-aguila
Interestingly, as part of the same programme, another bird was recently spotted on a trail cam who has a very remarkable history indeed. This capture/sighting has been reported to RDWF
This is White PE, also known as Morven. What is so remarkable about her?
Firstly her age: she was hatched in 2003 and ringed as a chick at a nest near Keith, Moray, with a BTO ring only, number 13505949. So the sighting of her this year on March 25th makes her almost 22 years old, which is an exceptionally good age for an osprey.
Secondly, she was caught “by accident” as an adult intruding at a nest in Moray whilst Roy Dennis was trying to fit another bird with a tracker, so he also ringed her with the Darvic ring White PE and fitted her with a tracker too. Roy’s pages on the RDWF website are well worth a look (see references) and have much more detail on her movements, but in short, he discovered that she wintered in Mauretania, and, every spring, made a stop-off at the Villaviciosa Estuary in late March, the very same time and place she was seen this year. He also discovered that at the end of each breeding season, Morven surprisingly flew North and spent a couple of weeks in Caithness before properly starting her migration South. In 2017, her satellite tag (which had failed and was becoming dangerous for her) was removed by FAPAS conservationists in Villaviciosa on her usual March stop-over.
Roy Dennis Archive on Morven (White PE)
Morven was photographed at the Villaviciosa estuary by Miguel Puente on 21st March.
Thirdly, her breeding history.
2009-2010: Morven took over Logie’s old nest and mate Talisman (Black 6R) in Moray when Logie failed to return in 2009, and raised three chicks with him in two years.
2011-2014: She then bred and raised seven chicks with Yellow HA – another interesting bird, a son of the Norwegian female who was also the mother of several famous translocated Rutland chicks, including Green 05(00) and Red 08(01); and Green SK (SSK), another of Roy Dennis’ satellite tracked birds. Her single 2012 chick with Yellow HA, named Stan (Blue AA0), was also tracked and became famous himself for a fascinating, if tragic, first migration to the Cape Verde Islands out in the Atlantic, where sadly his signal was eventually lost and it was thought he drowned at sea.
(C) Roy Dennis Wildlife Foundation
Stan’s Incredible Journey.
2015-2016: Morven then bred at another nest from 2015-2016, raising three chicks. Her mate at this nest was unknown.
2017-2018: Morven moved to a nest near Forres with another male, and raised three chicks, then returned in 2018 but the nest failed. She was then thought not to have been seen thereafter.
However in 2020, amazingly, she was spotted on a trail cam on the Villaviciosa Estuary in exactly the same place as she had been seen in previous years, and again in 2024 at the age of 21 (see references). She returned there right on cue this year too!
Finally, perhaps the most interesting thing is that several of Morven’s offspring became part of Roy Dennis’ translocation programmes, including to the Basque area (Urdaibai) and Switzerland. But perhaps her most famous translocated chick was Blue LS7, one of her three 2017 chicks, who was translocated to Poole Harbour in that year. He returned in 2019 and was the male who initially bonded with CJ7 at Poole, but sadly didn’t return to breed in 2020.
To have survived to the age of 22 and to have raised at least 16 known chicks, and probably many more that haven’t been publicly recorded, and to have contributed to translocations across Europe, is already an incredible legacy for an osprey. Let’s hope she has returned to Scotland safely, breeds again and adds to this legacy in 2025.
References:
A Life of Ospreys, Roy Dennis
News of LS7 and mention of him being Morven’s son:
Sightings of Morven in Northern Spain in 2020 and 2024 (in Spanish, translation available):
LA NATURALEZA SIGUE SU CURSO, Y UN AÑO MAS MORVEN REGRESA A LA RÍA DE VILLAVICIOSA
Cada mochuelo a su nido…. Y cada pescadora a su refugio invernal
Caroline Woodley.
One response to “MORVEN 2003- 2026”
[…] Could there be a better start to the season, 22 years of age and still counting […]
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