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Monitoring: the Number of Territories Inhabited by Ospreys Remains Unchanged

Regular osprey monitoring carried out by Environmental Experts of JSC “Latvia's State Forests” (LVM) allows monitoring the nesting success of this protected bird. As part of the 2022 monitoring, 240 places were surveyed – these are territories that ospreys inhabited in previous years or could potentially do so in the future. Inhabited nests were found in 155 places.

“In the last five years, the number of territories inhabited by ospreys has exceeded 150. The largest known number of inhabited areas in one year was 160 in 2021. Last year, three new territories were found, all in the forests managed by LVM. Last year, it was found that an osprey successfully nested in a nest that had not been inhabited for 13 years,” says LVM Environmental Expert Aigars Kalvāns.

There were 98 successful osprey nests in 2022. In the history covered by the monitoring, such a large number of successful nests was registered only in 2020.

LVM Environmental Expert Aigars Kalvāns points out that after a break of a few years, a nest containing four osprey hatchlings was found this nesting season. There are usually 2 to 3 hatchlings in a nest. The last time such a rare case was found in 2019.

Osprey monitoring in Latvia has been carried out since 2007, but JSC “Latvia's State Forests” has been coordinating it since 2013. The dynamics of inhabited areas and the number of successful osprey nests in the 16-year period – from 2007 to 2022 – is still positive.

There is a significant number of rare and protected species nesting in LVM areas, most of them such as the golden eagle, the white-tailed eagle, the osprey, the lesser spotted eagle, the northern goshawk, the black stork, and the capercaillie live in the forests managed by the company.

LVM Environmental Experts carry out regular bird monitoring to obtain information on the living conditions of bird species and to reduce the impact of forestry activities on the living conditions of rare and protected species.

Monitoring allows following the achievement of identified environmental objectives and, if necessary, to justify changes in forest management practices to minimise environmental impacts. As concerns bird species, monitoring results show population dynamics, development trends, and total numbers in Latvia.