Local people were around the estuary most days. At low tide in the main channel they worked on a net barrier with a series of net 'locks'. The high tide covered the traps and as the tide went out fish returning to the sea swam into long net tubes. As the water dropped and the fish were exposed, a frenzy of feeding gulls and terns began to pick out small fry through the netting. Ozzie saw two young Ospreys fly out over the channel, attracted by the melee. Confusion reigned over the traps and the first Osprey quickly got a fish. Ozzie left his perch. The other young Osprey tried to take a fish from the mouth of the trap. He wasn't successful but hovered clumsily a metre or so above it, legs hanging. A fish surfaced and the Osprey struck. One foot clenched the netting, the other the fish. The fish turned out to be bigger and stronger than expected. It shot down the mouth of the trap dragging the Osprey with it. Too late the Osprey released its grip on the fish, but not the net- ting. The fierce current caught the Ospreys open wings and swept it into the trap. Within minutes it was drowned.
Man's fishing activities are responsible for nearly a quarter of all known causes of death amongst Scottish Ospreys. They may become entangled in fishing line after catching fish already trailing hooks and line, or get entangled in nets protecting fish farms, or get caught and drowned in fishtraps.