Bassenthwaite Osprey Walk

Jacky Rix-Brown

You need to log in as a member of Walkingworld to access the details for this walk. Join or log in above if you are already a member. Access is available to Walkingworld subscribers or you can buy the walk individually for £1.95 once you are logged in.

Starting at the car park & bus stop for Mire House & Dodd Wood, the walk follows one of the many trails through Dodd Wood to a clearing where, from late April till early September, volunteers are on hand from about 10:30 am to help you observe the Ospreys. They provide telescopes, and ensure these are trained on the nest or the birds, and are able to give you a lot of information about the birds. If the Ospreys are out of sight, you can watch more common birds attracted to a feeding area, and red squirrels often visit. The walk then descends through the wood, and after a short road-walk goes down to the flat flood plain of the River Derwent, between Derwent Water & Bassenthwaite Lake. For a while it follows the river, and then crosses the network of fields & canals and Newlands Beck, alongside which it continues a while. It then heads towards the village of Thornthwaite with its attractive old church, before heading up through Thornthwaite Forest to the Whinlatter Visitor Centre. Here more volunteers are on hand to tell you more about the Ospreys as you watch the live web-cam images from cameras suspended over the nest. The bus stop for the return to Keswick is at the Centre in the car park.

England - North England - Cumbria - Lake District - North West