Growing Chicks are now wing stretching.



Young ospreys play dead



The osprey chicks have survived the worst that the good old British weather has managed to throw at them and it was really heart - warming to see relaxed and healthy large chicks in the nest yesterday.

Tensions seem to have eased between the siblings too, and the youngest chick has apparently regained an appetite. The male bird with white leg ring SS continues to exploit his fishing source and is bringing in lovely big trout to feed the young brood.

Plenty of relaxed wing stretching was witnessed at the nest today and this is a good sign as the youngsters flex their muscles and develop their bodies in preparation for flight which will only be a couple of weeks away now.

Ringing the young chicks will be taking place shortly under licence with Tony Lightley, the Forestry Commission Scotland Conservation Manager and his team of helpers.

This will involve accessing the nest and removing the youngsters to fit their legs with Darvic ring and BTO ring so that we can gain an insight into their distribution once they have left the nest. Sightings of the large Darvic rings with the coloured background and lettering can be used to trace the origin of birds seen.

This year so far we have received news that Tweed Valley raised birds have appeared at Leighton Moss, and Tweed Valley osprey with blue Darvic leg ring ‘HF’, turned up at Dyfi Opsrey Project in Wales on 4th June - probably trying to get a spot of stardom on Springwatch!

Tweed Valley-raised chicks dispersing around the country is superb news for us, as it is so good to know that birds are returning after successful migration journeys.

Keep up to date with our ospreys progress and view images on the new FCS facebook page

New Theatre for Children- coming soon.

The scorching hot summer is wonderful for holidays but not so great if you are an osprey mum trying to defend your brood from the sun and the chance of heat stroke.
The experienced parents of the Tweed Valley are exceptionally good at keeping their youngsters shielded and so they continue to thrive. The male is such a good hunter and has found some good fishing grounds and is continuing to bring in good sized fish for his family.
The blue tits have all fledged at Kailzie nest cam and we will be editing the recorded footage to bring you a blue tit life cycle film which can be seen at Kailzie Gardens Osprey Watch.
A childrens wildlife puppet theatre is being created at Kailzie in time for the schools summer holidays, so bring your children along to meet the characters and they can play with the hand puppets and put on their own wildlife shows.

First egg is lost - but looks like another's been laid

Just as we were celebrating the arrival of the first egg in the Tweed Valley (the first from an osprey in the UK, we thought), reports came in that the egg had fallen from the nest.

The egg was laid on 5th April and it was confirmed missing yesterday (7th April). However, all the signs are that the female has laid again so everyone on the project is keeping optimistic.

Diane, our Osprey Information Officer said:

"This was very disappointing but we are pleased to report that our volunteers have seen the female sitting on the nest again so we are quite confident that she has laid another egg....fingers crossed!

"A lot of work had been undertaken to help build up the artificial nest before the ospreys returned from their long migration. It appears that the birds had continued to add more and more material on top of about 12 inches of snow which had fallen very recently.

"Unfortunately this may have resulted in a loose nest and with high winds the egg may have ended up at the edge of the nest. We think the parents then tried to roll the egg back into position but failed to do so.

"The good news is of course that we think that the female has laid again and that ospreys have continued to build up the nest further and it looks much stronger."

We'll have more details when get them.

Snow and gale force winds

Deep snow on the nest and gale force winds are not the ideal welcome home for the birds. In fact it may have upset our pair as they have not been seen due to the blizzard conditions, and another female has appeared at the nest.

We hope the pair are taking shelter and will be back to defend their territory soon.