THE OSPREY IN THE WESTERN PALEARCTIC: BREEDING POPULATION SIZE AND TRENDS IN THE EARLY 21ST CENTURY

The number of Osprey (Pandion haliaetus) nesting pairs in Europe, northern Africa, and the Middle East has reached between 9500 and 11 500 in the early 21st century. Compared to numbers from the 1980s (ca. 5500 pairs), the population has almost doubled. The increase is most obvious in countries like Germany and the United Kingdom. The largest and most important European populations in Sweden, Finland, and Russia seem to be stable. In contrast, Portugal, mainland Spain, and Turkey lost their last breeding pairs in the 1980s and 1990s. Negative trends are also reported from Poland due to persecution and from southeastern Europe and northern Africa, where only very few pairs remain. Reintroductions in England, Spain, and Italy have resulted in a few new breeding pairs in recent years.