Horn Mill Trout Farm

Horn Mill is a very special place - a great example of finding a way for nature and farming to co-exist. It's a Trout farm (as you probably figured out from the name!) sitated on the River Gwash - just next to Rutland Water. When The Rutland Osprey Project started on it's mission to re-introduce the Osprey to England, the owners of the trout farm were, quite reasonably, concerned.

Ospreys will absolutely decimate the trout in the farm ponds - the fish might as well be a barrel. Fortunately, with the help of Tim Appleton a way forward was found. Firstly by building netted enclosures around almost all of the ponds, and secondly, by leaving one pond un-netted, with a hide in front of it. And this is rented to birders and photographers who want to see Ospreys hunt close up.

I visited this hide as part of a workshop with Gary Jones. There were two sessions, morning and evening. The morning was an especially brutal session, starting at 4.30 AM 😱. There were plenty of dives across both sessions, but the light was never quite right when the action happened. Too dark in the morning, too contrasty in the evening. There's always another time!