Tragedy

This blog was never going to be easy to write, but yesterday at just before 16:30 a goshawk attacked the nest and took one of our young ospreys. It was blue 8B1, the attack was very quick and out of the blue. Both juveniles and Seren 5F was on the nest eating the fish when it happened. All distracted by the food their guard was down. You could see Seren 5F looking down to the ground as if she could see him down there.

I was alerted by vigilant viewers who quickly messaged me. I watched the footage back and my heart sank. I knew I had to go and see if he was OK or not. I quickly gathered the children up and got them in my car, and drove up as quickly as I could. When I arrived I could see Seren was still on the nest and I started walking down, I had no idea what I would see down there, if he was even still there.

As I approached the nest I seen Seren take off carrying the fish, 8B2 was the last to leave the nest, I could then see three ospreys flying above me, two carrying fish so I knew that’s where Dylan had been, while this was happening. As I approached the tree i was searching for any signs, then I spotted a wing sticking up out of the vegetation, oh no! I said. There was he was, I knew then I was too late.

I picked him up gently, I could feel the warmth still in his body. I started to walk back up to my car, as I walked Seren followed me all the way to the gate, calling all the way. It was so sad, and I had that stomach churning feeling the whole time, to say that I’m gutted is somewhat of and understatement. The loss is hard to decribe but i think that it almost feels like a loss of a family member to some extent.

8B1 was only 59 days old when he lost his life, and had been flying for 10 days. I removed his Darvic ring and have kept that around my binoculars. I buried him near to his home and with views of the surrounding areas he would of explored. RIP little one you touched alot of people’s hearts.

Ringing 2023

I usually try to organise the ringing two weeks before hand, mainly due to the notice needed to get everything we need for the day. This time I organised it almost a week after the first chick hatched. The weather had been fine during this time so I expected the weather to still be fine at the time of ringing. At this stage rain isn’t too risky for the chicks as they are fully feathered, and should be able to regulate their own temperature now. The only risk is for us is if its windy as it would be dangerous at thar height in a cherry picker. Luckily everything was fine for us to go ahead.

As we got there it was raining, but it was more of a light drizzle and the weather had forecast a warm and fine day. There was not much wind and it felt just right to be eaten alive by midges! I sprayed myself with insect repellent, it was Avon skin so soft (highly recommended) so not only did I not get bitten by the beasties I had lovely soft skin! We all got all our kit ready before heading down to the nest, as so we can be as efficient as possible. We don’t want to be down there any longer than is necessary.

So not only were we ringing the chicks but also replacing the camera which had failed early on in the season. Just in time for the fledging chicks! So while we were ringing the birds, Pete could go up and swap the camera over. By the time we finished the ringing Peter was finished with the camera. It literally couldn’t of worked out any better.

While we were down by the nest, we found bits of fish and discarded osprey feathers! Here’s a fish fin, possibly from a trout!

The chicks as expected played dead (Thanatosis) and laid flat, while we could see and hear Seren 5F flying above us all the time during the ringing, she never went far. Both chicks were male, the first one got the 8B1 ring, and was a male he weighed 1330g and second chick got 8B2 he is also a male and weighed 1330g too. That goes to show how well fed both birds were and how even the food distribution has been between the two chicks. Tony had a look around the nest to see if he could find the unhatched egg but couldn’t see it. Chances are it has been buried and now has broken under all the nesting materials.

Matt carefully placing one of the chicks in the bag for weighing.

The whole process took less than an hour and Seren 5F was back to the nest before we even got to the gate. I’m glad the ringing is now done, as its another stressful part of my osprey calendar. I can relax now knowing everything went well. Now to sit back and enjoy the next stage, which will be the fledging!

The Ringing Video

Dinosaurs

The chicks are two weeks old now, and look like little dinosaurs. It’s starting to look like we may have a boy and a girl. Big Bob (the female) likes to explore the nest and is often seen towards the edge. This is normal and quite safe. The parents bring in lots of long sticks to act like cot rails. To stop their baby fish eating machines from toppling off the nest. Plans are already in place to ring the chicks in a few weeks time. Then we will be able to confirm if I’m right with my guesses.

Dylan has been very busy fishing and caught 123 fish in May this year, which in comparison to last year was 76. Perch being the main species of fish caught. Why so much this year? Well Dylan didn’t arrive back until the 5th of April in 2022, this year it was the 27th of March so a week earlier, and so the egg laying process was much further on this year. So the drive to catch fish for his family was probably increased.

Thanks to Alastair Cameron for the chart

Click picture to enlarge

Click picture to enlarge

Update 25th April 2023

Just a quick update, we have 3 eggs on the nest, laid on the 13th, 16th and 19th of April. The first laid is egg is the darker of the three, and is due to hatch around the 20/21st of May. The first egg usually takes around 38 days to hatch. Then the subsequent eggs are usually around 48 hours apart. So far the weather has been OK, and not too wet or too cold. So fingers crossed we get all three to hatch.

Intruder on the 24th of April at 18:20 we had a female osprey come make a fast and low approach to the nest, I couldn’t see the ring on that camera, but did manage to capture the ring number on the top camera. It was Blue Z5, a female from 2020 of the BM nest up in snowdonia. Managed by The Friends of the Ospreys. Hopefully she’s goes onto find a nest of her own in Wales.

Remember you can watch all the action right here on YouTube