Thursday 29 May 2008

Three is the Magic Number

Here at the Tweed Valley Osprey Project, we like to keep in touch with the other Osprey watch sites in the UK to keep tabs on how the species is progressing. We are happy to report its seems so far to be a good year for Ospreys, with three being the magic number at a several sites.

Both the Glaslyn Welsh Ospreys, and Loch Garten Ospreys on Speyside , like us , already have three chicks.

The Loch of the Lowes Ospreys have only hatched one chick from three eggs thus far-though their female is thought to be over 20 years old and has laid more than fifty eggs in her time , so she deserves an osprey award!

The Aberfoyle Ospreys and the Lake District Ospreys are still awaiting hatching- stay tuned! Down at Rutland Water, one nest site has a hatchling, and the other is due to hatch any moment now.

Three chicks is a fantastic result for any Osprey nest, and we hope other sites will be as lucky as us this year. It will be interesting to see if, over the rest of the season , all of these chicks survive. In the past it was often assumed that the smallest or youngest of triple chicks wouldn't survive. However, here in the Tweed Valley we can vouch for the fact that it is possible for Ospreys to raise even four chicks! Our famous 2005 nest proved that with experienced parents and good habitat, all chicks can make it at least to fledging. We have great faith in our experienced Osprey parents here in the Tweed Valley.

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