Not long to go

Proud parents with their young sitting in the nest

The chicks at the main nest are now in their seventh week. They are fully feathered, and look chunky and healthy. With only a week to go before they are ready for flight, we might have expected to see a lot more wing-stretching and flapping to test the wings out in recent days, while they have been sitting in the nest. However, with the recent very hot weather, they have been conserving their energy until it was needed.

The weather took a dramatic change, bringing us thunderstorms with lightning and torrential rain, which gave the chicks, Tweedledum and Tweedledee, something else to contend with. Mrs O no longer has to do the motherly umbrella over her young, as their own set of feathers are waterproof now too. They just had to sit it out and wait for the rain to stop, and for Dad to bring some fish in. Fishing must have been tricky for Dad (SS), with rain dappling the surface of the water and making visibility very difficult.

A wing stretch for the young osprey

Resting in the shade

Sitting in a stormy downpour

SS feeds his son and daughter

SS not only brought a good fish in for his family, but he also fed the young birds himself. Mrs O is reaching the stage were her work is almost done, and she can relax her efforts a bit, as the chicks race towards adulthood and independence. SS still has a lot of work to do, and must continue to provide for his family even when the young birds fledge. He will bring fish back to the nest for them to return to and feed.

Once they are flying, the young birds will soon need to learn to find fish for themselves and master the most difficult part- actually catching them. This will all take time, and fortunately they will have back up from their Dad. It is usually the female bird that will leave the family more quickly. Mrs O will need to begin to prepare her own body for migration by building up her reserves, and getting into tip top condition ahead of her partner. SS has been continually hunting and fishing all summer, and must be very fit already, so his readiness for migration should take less time.

FK8, first time mum

FK8, the female tagged osprey from Tweed Valley that has nested in the Dornoch area has successfully raised one of her chicks. The other chick didn’t survive, but we don’t know what happened. The remaining youngster will be ringed and fitted with a tracker this week. The nest site that she has occupied is a very established site and has been productive for many years. FK8 is the new female at this monitored site.

Nobody knows what happened to the original bird but she never returned this year, and FK8 jumped in to take her place. She is possibly with the original resident male, or it could be a totally new pairing. As a first time mum, she has done well to raise one of her young to adulthood. We should hopefully have more news about her next week, and photos of her ringed offspring.

Return of PW3

PW3 photographed in Kielder June 2018 courtesy of Mitch Teasdale

We have received some backdated news about a bird from Tweed Valley that has returned this year. PW3 is a male osprey raised here at one of the original nest sites, one that has been occupied since 1998. To date 34 ospreys have fledged from this nest location, making it one of the most productive nests in the area. PW3  fledged in 2016 and was one of a brood of three, with two sisters in the nest with him.

He was spotted on his migration in 2016, 45km south west of Paris, fishing at some lakes on his way south, but hadn’t been seen since. This summer, he was spotted and photographed at Bakethin Weir, Kielder Water by Mrs Mitch Teasdale on 25 June at 6.13pm, and her husband got a great photo of him. We know that he didn’t stay at Kielder though, because on 28 June he was again spotted back on home turf in the Borders, flying and fishing at St. Mary’s Loch in the Yarrow Valley. As a two year-old male he will be looking for territory for next year. That may well be in the Tweed Valley Osprey Project area, seeing as he is spending the summer here.

PW3 photographed in France in 2016 on his first migration.