By Susanne Masters
Summer visitors that attract their own audience of tourists, ospreys (Pandion haliaetus) are once again a barometer of our seasons. Over-wintering in Africa, it is their habit to head north in late spring and settle in Europe to breed in summer. A standard trifecta of peril for raptors of persecution, egg collection, and demand for taxidermied adults caused their numbers to dwindle until only one osprey pair bred in Britain in 1916, followed by none.