Species Guide: Osprey (Pandion haliaetus)
Family: Pandionidae
APPEARANCE
From a distance, the Osprey can be mistaken for a large gull; due to their white mottled chest, belly, and wing feathers. The rest of their markings are shades of brown. They also have slightly angled wing stances similar to that of a gull.
Diet
Ospreys feed almost exclusively on fish and use their acute vision to spot and then catch fish near the water’s surface. They sometimes eat small mammals and reptiles as well as take advantage of carrion.
Did You Know? The Osprey has a reversible outer toe. This enables them to grip using two toes at the front and two at the back of their prey. Ospreys and Owls are the only raptors that have this feature.
HABITAT
If you are looking to spot Ospreys in the British Isles, the main breeding areas are the central Highlands of Scotland as well as central Scotland and Tayside. Re-introduction programs have also been successful in the south of England and Wales. They inhabit marine, intertidal, and wetland environments; where they set up their breeding grounds in rocky outcrops and the forks of trees. They also readily take to manmade structures such as purpose-made poles and platforms.
Did You Know? The Osprey is the second most widely distributed raptor in the world; second only to the Peregrine Falcon!
Ad Space
Behavior
Ospreys start to breed from 3 years of age, making a nest from sticks, driftwood, and seaweed. They breed in the U.K. and Europe but migrate to warmer climates during the winter. Breeding pairs mate for life, and have a single brood each year; which consists of up to 4 eggs that are hatched after 43 days and fully fledged after 69 days. Both parents look after the eggs and the youngsters.
Biometrics2
| Wing Span | 145 to 170cm |
| Body Weight | 1.2 to 2.0 kilograms |
| Longevity3 | 9 Years |
Did You Know? Ospreys in the wild have been know to live up to 20 years!
NATURAL PREDATORS
They have no natural predators in the U.K.
Conservation Status
Persecuted by mankind and impacted by mankind’s use of DDT, the Osprey was considered extinct in the U.K. by the late 19th century, although it appears that a handful may have managed to survive in Scotland right up to 1916, at which point there were no successful breeding pairs in the British Isles for nearly 40 years.
Legal protection and the phasing out of DDT (Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane – a synthetic pesticide) has enabled breeding pairs from Scandinavia to recolonize habitat in Scotland. They are still though classed as Amber Species in the U.K. due to their historical status. The International Union for Conservation Of Nature (IUCN) has classified the Osprey as Least Concern from a global standpoint.
U.K.
Conservation Status
Global
Conservation Status
Ad Space
Citations
- By Zoologistchris – This file was derived from:Wiki-Pandion haliaetus.pngWorld map without Antarctica.svg, CC BY-SA 3.0, [Accessed 17/10/2025] ↩︎
- Featherbase [Accessed 17/10/2025] ↩︎
- Poole, Alan F. Ospreys, A Natural and Unnatural History 1989 [Accessed 17/10/2025] ↩︎
