As a volunteer for the Rutland Water Osprey Relocation Project for 27 years, I have been privileged to witness the growth of this fabulous species of bird of prey. In the Rutland county there is now a self-sustainable breeding population which is, albeit slowly, expanding to other areas of the country. The project will eventually help to restore the Ospreys’ presence nationally, finally righting the wrongs of our predecessors who all but wiped them out in the mid-nineteenth century.

I competed in my first Olympic distance triathlon at Rutland Water in 2019 having turned 70 a few months earlier and have participated each year since (apart from 2020 when all events were cancelled). I’m now older, slower and wiser, so I will be taking part in the shorter Sprint Triathlon and hope you will support my challenge to raise funds for this project.

For nearly 30 years the Rutland Osprey Project has been one of the UK's greatest conservation success stories, but we need your help to continue our work and protect Ospreys for the future.

In 1996, Leicestershire and Rutland Wildlife Trust in partnership with Anglian Water launched a project to bring Ospreys back to central England, where they had been extinct for 150 years. Osprey chicks were translocated from Scotland and slowly released at Rutland Water. Since 2001, there have been over 250 young Ospreys fledged from nests in Rutland.

However, our work is not complete and we face ever-increasing costs. With your support we can continue and expand the work we are doing to protect Ospreys, and educate and inspire more people about these magnificent birds of prey.

Please support us to ensure Ospreys continue to thrive and soar in our skies for the future.