The osprey pair successfully fledged two chicks at Ranworth Broad and Marshes in 2025, making the nature reserve the first known site in the region to make a home for breeding osprey in hundreds of years.  

Just before the birds returned this spring, we carefully installed a wildlife camera that offers views into the nest the pair used in 2025, which will be streamed online thanks to support from NWT corporate partners, MelBek. 

The avian couple returned to Ranworth Broad nature reserve in late March, making 2026 the fourth consecutive year that the site has welcomed a pair of osprey. Much to our delight they settled back into the same nest site as last year, within close sight of the new camera. 

The osprey pair has already been seen settling into life in Norfolk, feathering their nest, hunting for fish, and displaying mating behaviour. 

Following the historic breeding success of the birds last year, there is gathering excitement that the new web camera could, for the first time, welcome us to close-up sights from an osprey family home in Norfolk. 

Adam Houlgate, our Broads South Reserves Manager, said: ‘Last year’s breeding success gave us great cause for celebration, so it’s great to welcome our historic pair back. We’re delighted they’ve chosen the same nest as last year, giving our new web camera
a nest-side seat onto family life. We are hopeful that they will successfully raise a family again this season.

‘As we continue to manage our nature reserves to protect and restore Norfolk’s wildlife, we look forward to sharing a rare window into the world of one of county's most incredible species.’ 

Teala Leader, our Visitor Centre Co-ordinator, added: ‘I’ve been watching our osprey pair for years now, so it’s like welcoming old friends back. Visitors love to see these special birds – we all get really excited about the prospect of new osprey chicks, especially following the amazing outcome last year! It's brilliant to be able to offer our visitors even closer views of nest life, and it opens a new world of natural wonder to people that can’t visit the nature reserve.’ 

Osprey will typically lay two or three eggs, and the chicks will stay with the parents until they are ready to migrate in September. 

You can watch the new osprey camera from home and it will also be available to watch on a screen in the visitor centre. 

About osprey 

Length: 56cm 
Wingspan: 1.6m 
Weight: 1.5kg 
Average lifespan: 9 years 

Classified in the UK as Amber under the Birds of Conservation Concern 5: the Red List for Birds (2021). Protected in the UK under the Wildlife and Countryside Act, 1981. 

Ospreys are migratory birds, present in the UK in summer and currently nest in parts of Scotland, Cumbria, the East Midlands and Wales. It is not unusual, on migration, to see a travelling osprey over any large body of water, with the Norfolk Broads often playing host to several en route to Scotland.  

Ospreys eat fish, catching them in spectacular fashion as they dive towards lakes and lochs, stretch out their talons and scooping them out of the water with ease. 

How to identify 

The osprey is a brown-and-white bird which could possibly be mistaken for a seagull at a distance. The osprey is a large bird of prey with dark brown upperparts and contrasting white underparts that can appear mottled in females. Their heads are white with a dark brown through their eyes. Their wings during flight show strong barring and distinctively dark brown, angled ‘wrists’.