Osprey Conservation Mr Bloom: Here and There

# Hello! My name is Mr Bloom

# And I'd like to come to see you soon

# I'm out on the road, you see

# Here and there so that we

# Can get together and have some fun

# I'll help you out if there's work to be done

# So where is it you like to go?

# Call me up and let me know

# What is it you like to do?

# I'll pop along and do it, too

# Cities, towns or countryside

# I can travel far and wide

# I'm all about and everywhere

# I'm here and there

# Here and there

# I'm here and there. #

Oh, hello there, Tiddlers. How are you tiddling? Ha-ha!

Mr Bloom here. Now, I like going out and about. Yeah.

I like going here and there to do lots of fun things

and find out about new places.

And I'm wondering, what do you like to do where you live?

Perhaps, you might like to go swimming with your family.

Or go to the park with your friends.

Oh, looks like someone's got in touch. Right!

Well, let's see who it is.

-Hello, Mr Bloom. I'm Dylan.

-And I'm Eloise.

BOTH: And we love wildlife!

We're learning about ospreys at Rutland Water

with our friend, Harry.

We're building a nest.

And we're catching fish.

Fish is an osprey's favourite food.

There are loads of things to see and do.

ALL: Hurray!

BOTH: Come and visit us, Mr Bloom!

Eh, well, sounds like a great idea. I'd love to come.

# Whereabouts will I end up next?

# Let's put my route-finder to the test

# It could be a beach, a village or a city

# Museum or a school, a garden so pretty

# A church or station, a river or town

# I just can't wait till you to show me around

# Tiddlers, I'm on my way

# So, where am I today? #

Hey, you can't beat a day in the countryside, can you?

I can see why the Tiddlers like to come here. Look at it!

You got the water, the trees, the wildlife.

Oh, hey, would you look at that.

Now, unless I'm very much mistaken, this is an osprey.

Oh, it's a magnificent bird, this!

And if this is here, it must mean

the Tiddlers are around here somewhere.

Oh, aye! I think I've spied them.

It's Dylan, Eloise and Harry.

-Oh, hello there, Tiddlers!

-ALL: Hello, Mr Bloom!

It's nice to see you. This place is right up my street.

What do you like to do here, Eloise?

I like going to a hide and watching the ospreys and all sorts of birds.

-Oh! Are there lots of birds that live here?

-Yeah.

-Ooh! And who's this here with you?

-ALL: Lizzie.

-Hello there, Lizzie.

-Hello, Mr Bloom!

So, Eloise, what are you making?

I'm making some bird food for the birds.

-Really?

-Yes!

-All right, I'll join in.

Here we go! What do you have to do, Harry?

Well, you get a pine cone.

And then we have to fill all the gaps in with fruit and bread.

Why do you think it's good to feed the birds, Dylan?

Because when we make them food, they don't have to fly that far.

And sometimes, there's not much food around.

When might there not be much food around?

Is it in the winter?

Yeah, in the winter time.

Right, so, we need to fill all the rest of the gaps with lard.

Ahh, I see.

It feels really squidgy.

Yeah.

-Super!

-Good work!

We've made some yummy bird feeders for the hungry birds.

So, what's the next step, Harry?

We're going to go and hang them up for the birds.

Right then, Tiddlers, we've got a good spot here.

We've got our bird feeders in the tree.

Let's hope we see some birds.

You got your eyes wide open? Let me see. Big, wide eyes.

Hey!

Mr Bloom, that's a tree sparrow.

I can see a chaffinch over there.

Hey, and I think that's a young chaffinch

eating from our bird feeder.

-Woodpecker there, Mr Bloom.

-Where?

It's just there on the feeder.

Oh, yeah. There, there! It's poking round.

Aw, Tiddlers, we've seen loads of birds, haven't we?

Yeah, they've all been eating very well.

But you know, I was hoping that we would see some ospreys today.

Do you think we'll any ospreys here?

No, because they only eat fish.

-Eloise, do you know where we could find some ospreys?

-Near the water.

Come on then. Let's go.

On our way to meet the ospreys, we spotted lots of other creatures.

-Look, look, look!

-Who's that?

-It's a butterfly.

Ahh, it's a meadow brown butterfly.

Every time we see something, we put a tick on this - I spy sheet.

Well, there's a damselfly.

Hey, Harry, look at this. It's a ladybird.

Here, come on to me, big man.

Yay! Hey, he flew away! Come back on.

Eh, look - there's the bird hide.

Wow, you'll get a great view of the ospreys from in there.

Come on. Let's go inside.

Hey, who's this then, Harry?

It's Tim. He works here.

-Hello there, Tim.

-Nice to meet you.

-Nice to meet you.

You got a great place to work here.

It's a great place to work, isn't it? Look at that fantastic view!

We've got the osprey nest over there.

I bet you get to learn a lot about those birds, then?

They're here all summer. We get a fantastic summer

watching ospreys every day.

And we've got more and more young ospreys

coming back to nest at Rutland Water.

-Oh, excuse me.

-RING-RING

What's this? Ah, look. The route-finder is showing us Tim.

What are you up to there, Tim?

Something really important.

We're fitting the osprey chicks with rings on their legs.

So, once they've gone away from Rutland Water,

if they come back, we'll know who's who.

-Hey! Wow! Do you know where these ospreys go?

-Africa.

Why do they go to Africa?

Because it's nice and warm there. And if they stayed here,

they'd get really cold.

I see. I'm with you. Yeah, because it gets cold in winter

and they want to be where it's nice and warm.

And look. I think the route-finder is going to show us their journey.

The ospreys start here in Great Britain.

They fly 3,000 miles to countries in Africa and it takes them

three weeks to get there.

When they arrive, the ospreys are really hungry.

So, they set about catching their favourite food.

Can you remember what it is the ospreys like to eat?

That's right! The ospreys love to eat FISH!

Luckily, there are lots and lots of fish here in Africa.

So many that the ospreys don't mind sharing with other birds.

The ospreys stay in Africa all through the winter.

But when it's spring again, it's time for some of them

to fly back to Rutland Water.

Hey, Tiddlers, that is a fantastic journey that those ospreys go on.

-What do you think?

-ALL: YES!

-Yeah!

Imagine it - you're soaring up high above the clouds.

You can see all around.

I'm wondering, Tiddlers, if you're going to Africa,

it's a long way to come back to Rutland, isn't it?

Why do you think the birds keep coming back here?

So, they can lay their eggs.

Really, lay their eggs? Is that right, Tim?

That's absolutely right. They come here and lay their eggs.

We've got a special camera that gives us a view into the nest.

We can look back at exactly what's happened at the ospreys' nest

since they arrived back from Africa.

Ah, look, Tiddlers. They've laid some brown, speckled eggs.

-And now, it's hatching!

-Wow! What can you see there, Eloise?

-What's he doing?

-He's eating a fish.

-Oh, a fish!

I think he's enjoying it.

And they're growing really quickly.

-They're fully grown now.

-They're getting ready to fly.

Wow! Well, they've certainly grown, haven't they, Tiddlers?

Look at the size of them now!

It's amazing, isn't it? And you know what?

We have a team of volunteers, 150 people,

who watch these ospreys every day.

And it means we can learn an amazing amount of information

about their lives all through the summer.

So, why don't you become osprey volunteers for the day?

What do you think?

ALL: YEAH!

Let's do it!

-Oh, one's just gone off!

-Yeah, I saw that from the nest!

-One's just gone off!

-There!

-There it goes.

Yeah, can you see it with your binoculars?

-Oh, it's coming this way!

-Yes, it's coming back.

What have you got, Harry? Is anything going on?

The daddy bird is just flying in with some fish.

Brilliant. And what's it doing with the fish?

-Looks like it's eating the fish in the nest.

-Yeah, he's eating it.

OK, I'll make a note of that.

There's someone out there. Look! He's having a bath.

Having a bird bath. Ooo!

Can you see where the other osprey is?

I saw it flying around some trees.

Oh, yeah. That's right! Hey, you make a good osprey volunteer, you.

So, Tim, did we make good osprey volunteers?

You know what, you are some of the best osprey volunteers

we've ever had.

-Woo! What do you reckon of that?

-ALL: YEAH!

And what's been your favourite thing today?

Going to look for some animals.

We found some, didn't we? And how about you, Eloise?

Going into the hide.

Yeah, we could see the birds but they couldn't see us.

I can really see why you love where you live.

So, a big thank you for inviting me along.

But, it's time I hit the road. You join me soon when I'll be...

-HERE AND THERE!

-That's right! Bye-bye!

-ALL: BYE!

# Where is it you like to go?

# Call me up and let me know

# What is it you like to do?

# I'll pop along and do it, too

# Cities, towns, the countryside

# I can travel far and wide

# I'm all about and everywhere

# I'm here and there. #