What is World Osprey Week?

Birds of Poole Harbour Osprey nest cam

World Osprey Week celebrates Ospreys as they make their spring migrations to their nesting grounds. Founded by the Leicestershire and Rutland Wildlife Trust, who are celebrating the 25th anniversary of their Osprey reintroduction project this year, the week-long event aims to enthuse and educate people, in particular children, about this brilliant bird of prey. From tracking treacherous migrations, to understanding their repopulation of Scotland, the week provides an opportunity to weave the excitement of Ospreys into learning about geography, history and science.

Each weekday, from the 22nd to the 26th March, we’ll be sharing a video and content pack about a different topic, featuring activities and competitions. For some extra fun, the competition winners will be announced by Chris Packham and Megan McCubbin in The Reintroduction and Rewilding Summit on Saturday 10th of April. More information about the Making Your Future Wild competition below…

Who’s involved?

We’ve connected with 5 other Osprey groups this year to form an Osprey Network – Leicestershire and Rutland Wildlife Trust, Cumbria Wildlife Trust, Glaslyn Wildlife, Osprey Leadership Foundation and Scottish Wildlife Trust… and hopefully some familiar Ospreys!

How can you participate?

All of the involved sites will be putting out WOW content through their websites and social media each day of the week from 22nd of March. All sites in the network will be putting out the same content, with a few personal touches, so we recommend keeping an eye on the page of the site closest to you!

Each group is also reaching out to local schools, who we hope will be able to use the content as part of their school day. If you know of a school that would be interested in participating in World Osprey Week, please get in touch with us at bophhq@birdsofpooleharbour and amustard@lrwt.org.uk! Please note that most of the WOW content will be aimed at children of a primary school age, though anyone is welcome to get involved.

Don’t worry about missing out on the fun if a particular school isn’t participating – all the activities can be completed from home. We hope you can get involved! Sign up at www.lrwt.org.uk/wow to receive your very own free, daily activity packs sent straight to your inbox!

Making Your Future Wild competitions

We’d love to see you get creative for WOW! If you are aged 12 and under, be sure to check out our artwork, poetry and video competitions below! Our video competition also offers the chance for 13-18-year-olds to get involved. The competition deadline is midnight on Sunday 4th April. Winning entries will be announced on Saturday 10th April during The Reintroduction & Rewilding Summit. To enter the competition, please email your entries to amustard@lrwt.org.uk (for video entries – send files via wetransfer.com to the same email address).

Osprey Europe have kindly sponsored the competition by donating 3 child’s backpacks as prizes for the age 12 and under competitions, and Viking Optical have kindly donated a pair of Otter 8×32 Binoculars for the winner of the Age 13-18 category! For further details and terms & conditions visit www.lrwt.org.uk/wow

Prizes for Age 12 and Under categories: Osprey Europe Talon Junior Backpack

Prize for Age 13-18 video category: Viking Otter 8×32 Binoculars