Leonardo DiCaprio praises work of East Midlands osprey team

Leicestershire and Rutland Wildlife Trust said it was "thrilled" to be mentioned by Leonardo DiCaprio

Leonardo DiCaprio has praised the "amazing work" of an English wildlife trust for the success of its osprey breeding programme.

The Titanic actor is known for his passion for conservation and is a UN climate change representative.

He posted about the achievements of Leicestershire and Rutland Wildlife Trust from his Twitter account.

The trust said it was "thrilled" by the mention and hoped it would inspire others to get involved.

DiCaprio posted the tweet, which included a photo of two ospreys, on Wednesday.

He said it was the first time in nearly two centuries that a pair of osprey chicks had been produced in England.

However, Leicestershire and Rutland Wildlife Trust said the comment was not entirely correct.

Two osprey chicks recently hatched at Belvoir Castle for the first time in 200 years but many others have already been produced locally.

Mat Carter, from the trust, said: "We are thrilled that Leonardo DiCaprio has posted on social media about the Osprey Project at Rutland Water Nature Reserve.

"Our conservation work reintroducing the ospreys back to England over the last 25 years, producing 200 chicks is something we are incredibly proud of.

"We know Leonardo DiCaprio is a great environmentalist and has supported amazing wildlife projects across the world.

"We hope his interest will inspire others to take action for nature."

The Leicestershire and Rutland Wildlife Trust has been reintroducing ospreys to England over the past 25 years

DiCaprio - who describes himself as an environmentalist - frequently uses his social media platform to comment on issues related to climate change.

He has co-founded a group called Earth Alliance and attended the COP26 summit in Glasgow last year.