[2] Having once been common in the United Kingdom, the population of ospreys declined sharply in the 19th century as a result of human activity and habitat loss, eventually leading to extinction in England during the 1840s and in Scotland around 1916.
In 1954, a pair of birds returned to Scotland with a breeding at Loch Garten and the population began to grow again, assisted by a shift in attitude.
[4] Led by osprey-expert Roy Dennis, the project began trans-locating osprey chicks from Scotland to Rutland Water, where a number of artificial nests had been set up on platforms.
One was reported to have died in Senegal, for unknown reasons, and an osprey with a ring matching the 1996 birds was spotted in Northern Ireland in 2001, but it is not certain if this was one of the Rutland set.
[6] The 1997 set translocated for the first time some chicks who were not the youngest in their nests, following a rule change, and this appeared to improve the survival rates of the birds.
One female, who had no ring around her leg, formed a bond with Mr Rutland in August 2000 and the pair built a nest together although they did not breed.