The bird, Blue 44, is heading from the charity’s Loch of the Lowes site in Perthshire to West Africa for sunnier climes...

Scottish Wildlife Trust workers are following ‘Blue’ via a satellite tag as it flies South...

The bird is the offspring of ‘Lady’, thought to be the oldest breeding Osprey in the UK and perhaps the world...

Amazingly Lady has come back to the Loch of the Lowes reserve for the last 22 summers...

The resilient bird’s lifespan and its antics have captivated bird lovers each year, partly because Ospreys usually live ten to fifteen years in the wild…

Lady laid three eggs in 2012, but only one hatched. The chick, Blue 44, hatched out on May 21 and was satellite tagged so charity staff can now follow his journey across continents...

The bird only flew for the first time on July 16 but is now taking on a 3,000 mile journey...

“I hope he has a safe trip to West Africa and I’m interested to see what route he takes...” says Scottish Wildlife Trust Perthshire Ranger Emma Rawling...

The trust uses data from satellite tagging to build up a bigger picture of migration habits to and from Scotland.

By understanding migration routes better protections for rare birds hopefully can be put in place...

Ospreys, birds of prey, are thriving these days partly due to conservation efforts worldwide. In Scotland the Scottish Wildlife Trust runs a 24 hour Osprey nest protection service at Loch of the Lowes.

This year observers are thrilled because in 2011 Lady’s eggs failed to hatch so 2012 has been a marvellous result for the charity, seeing the elderly Osprey’s offspring head off to Africa.