Tears of joy as ospreys visit Devon nests on telegraph poles

Conservationists said they “burst into tears” after ospreys landed on special nesting poles in Devon.

The Tamar and Tavy Osprey Project installed the nests on top of 56ft (17m) high telegraph poles in June 2024 on farmland in Warleigh Barton, Plymouth, with the hope it would help the rare birds to breed.

A year on from the installation, the group said a female osprey had landed in the nests.

Elsa Kent, who helped set up the project, said while the birds had still not bred in the nests, the fact an osprey had used them was exciting and made all the work worthwhile.

Ms Kent said the bird which visited had a tag on it which showed the osprey was a female and had travelled from Rutland in the East Midlands via Poole Harbour in Dorset.

She said the bird using the nest made the hopes of ospreys breeding locally move “one step closer”.

“I burst into tears when I saw the osprey land and I was shaking,” she said.

“I was so emotional and so excited that all of the work that we’ve put in and all of the doubt and all the work we put in came to something really magical.”