Osprey at Neath Rivermouth

A juvenile Osprey was showing very well this morning along the Neath River between the rivermouth and Brunel Dock. I first saw it flying along the river and, as I have seen before at this location, this causes most, if not all, the birds present to take to flight and alarm call; waders, gull, crows, the whole lot! It then rather conveniently sat on the metal tower next to the river(on the Crymlyn Burrows side) opposite the old oil pipelines that run into the old refinery site at Baglan Bay. It was sat up here while I was able to take this footage.

I saw it around 8am it was still around at 11:30 when Dave Lewis saw it head back towards Briton Ferry, choosing not to fly over(or under) the bridges. An Osprey was seen a few days ago, on the 10th October, when Gary Lewis saw one from Brunel Dock flying towards Baglan Bay. It is most likely the same bird. If so this is good news because it may stick around for a few more days?

The pale fringes to the feathering on its back indicate a juvenile bird. In flight an adult bird would show a dark band on the underside of the inner wing, along the top of the secondaries, these are the greater coverts. In juvenile birds this is less pronounced, being barred. It is just about possible to pick the lack of a dark band when this bird flaps its wings.