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Since taking their first flights more than two weeks ago, both youngsters have been growing in confidence and are now very strong flyers.

They have begun experimenting with longer and longer flights and, a week after they fledged, spent more than half an hour in the air with 'Dad' flying around and travelling extremely high. They will need this strength and confidence for when they migrate to Africa in weeks to come.

Not content with merely taking pleasure flights, YB decided to try and earn her keep and has had her first attempts at fishing - with little success. Around a week ago, she flew 200 yards down the river and dived three times into the water trying, and failing, to catch a fish.

Disheartened, she went back to the nest with empty talons. However, she will certainly keep trying and we expect to see one of the young bring back their own fish within the next week or so. When they do, their independence will really be established.

For now though, they are still relying on the fishing skills of 'Dad' and 'Mum' - yes, the adult female has been fishing herself, something we have not seen her do all season. Yesterday she came back with a flat fish - we think it was a flounder. She had disappeared a very long way down the estuary, almost to the sea, before she came back with the fish. It was the juveniles' first experience of a flat fish and they weren't too sure how to handle it.

They are still eating in the nest most of the time. YA has had an attempt at eating in one of the nearby trees, but instead of choosing one of the trees favoured by his parents, he picked a a very flimsy branch on a different tree, which proved to be his downfall. He had the fish grasped in his talons, and everytime he bent his head to pick at it, the branch would wobble and he lost balance. This happened over and over again for five frustrating minutes, until finally he conceded defeat and went to one of the trees he has seen his parents use - he got his meal eventually.

The birds are still using the nest to roost in at nights, though throughout the season the adult male as been roosting in a separate tree close to the nest - possibly to allow him to snooze and perform as a night watchman over his family. Once the youngsters are catching fish for themselves, they will use the nest less and less.

As for life beyond the ospreys, we have been treated to great views of a grey seal in the water just outside the viewing hide over the last few weeks. It has made several appearances, coming right up the estuary, and seems as fascinated by us staring down at it as we are with it. Obviously giving the osprey project the 'seal' of approval! (sorry).

Both young birds have taken their first flights this week and are now fully mobile! The first one to take the plunge was YB, the older chick and the one we think likely to be a female. Her first foray into the World beyond the nest was not quite aviation at its finest and was mostly caused by the interference of her clumsy mum.

It was Sunday afternoon and YB was flapping in earnest, as we have seen her doing more and more over the last week or so. There was a good foot of space between her and the nest and she was watched all the while by her doting mum, who was looking down from her perch on top of the camera pole above the nest.

Not content with just watching though, mum flew down to join her young and collided with YB, pushing her out and off the nest, and so, at 3.02 pm, the first flight was had. Though taken by surprise, YB kept it together and flew to a perch about seven feet below the nest, where she stayed for the next three hours (possibly wondering how on earth she was meant to get back up again!)

She continued flapping her wings down there and practising as she had done in the nest. Mum flew past just to check on her and see where she was. At 6 pm she flew up to a camera tree about 50 yards from the nest, before returning home again to join her brother at about 7.15 pm.

After that, she did a few more practices over the nest. On one practice she got about five feet above the nest before crash-landing directly on top of her brother, squashing him flat! He looked a little peeved, but unhurt.

Well, the gauntlet had been thrown. YA had seen his big sis' take a flight and it was a matter of honour that he do the same, and soon! The following day (Monday) he was very active and flying four or five feet in the air for 20 or 30 seconds at a time. It looked so promising but by the time we had all gone home at 7 pm, he still hadn't flown off the nest. However, when we arrived at 8 am on Tuesday morning, the nest was completely empty - we haven't been greeted with that sight since the season began!

It wasn't empty for long and about 10 minutes later YB came back follwed quickly by YA.

So, the chicks have successfully fledged and we couldn't be happier. They are still eating their meals in the nest and plenty of them. At the moment, the youngsters are actually heavier than their parents but they will lose a lot of this fat now that they are exercising and they will start to gain muscle.

YB's first flight was wonderfully timed, as it was during our community weekend, which 1,200 people turned out for over Saturday and Sunday. As always, we had a fantastic time with stalls and activities on site. If you missed it, don't worry, we have one more lined up for this season over the August bank holiday weekend.

If you would like to provide vital support for the Glaslyn Osprey Project by joining the RSPB, please contact Ellen Perry on 029 2035 3000 or e-mail: ellen.perry@rspb.org.uk - it can cost as little as £2.67 each month. Alternatively, you can join online at: http://www.rspb.org.uk/join

Remember to enter the promotional code GOS when asked as this will ensure the Glalsyn Osprey Project benefits from your membership. To find out how to help the RSPB fundraise in Wales to support this and many other important projects, please contact Nick Bates on 029 2035 3009, e-mail: nick.bates@rspb.org.uk

They may still be around a week or so from fledging, but that hasn't stopped the two Glaslyn youngsters from been getting their first tastes of being airborne over the last week - albeit for just a few seconds. Their frenzied flapping has been rewarded with a few moments of mid-air suspension over the nest, before flopping back down again.

It's a very exciting time in the visitor centre. Quite often, the visitors watching the screens are out of their seats and squealing 'it's going to go!' Not quite yet, but this behaviour is a good start and an important phase to go through whilst they prepare for the big take off. We are expecting to see a first flight from one of them fairly soon, maybe over the coming weekend. The youngsters have also been feeding themselves straight from the fish, not every time but quite regularly. Again, this is consistent with the behaviour of chicks that are very close to fledging.

Wind is a problem at the moment - no, not a bad case of the burps! - The blustery weather that has been up here of late means that the chicks are more inclined to snuggle down into the nest in search of shelter than bounce around on the edge preparing for flight - and quite right too! No doubt, when the time comes there will be no stopping them, wind or no wind. In fact, all four birds have been coping admirably with some of the worst weather they have had to experience.

Though we have no way of conclusively telling the sex of the chicks, we have reason to believe that there may be one boy and one girl. They are both full size now and we can get a fantastic view of them on the nest-cam so it's possible to see that one chick (with the YB ring) is clearly bigger with more brown markings, and was heavier when the pair were weighed at the ringing session.

This suggests the chick is a female. The other (with the YA ring) is smaller, lighter and much paler, which is more typical of a male. At this stage in their development, the fact that one is a couple of days older than the other would not explain such clear size differences, so we are confident, but not sure, that a boy and girl is what we have up there.

Over the weekend, we saw the female regurgitate a pellet. Pellets are made up of the indigestible bits of the meal. This would be the bones from the fish in the osprey's case, but in other birds of prey it would include fur and feathers etc. It is not unknown for ospreys to do this but it is quite rare so we were quite lucky to see it.

The third osprey has been around over the last three days or so and a couple of buzzards have seen flying over the nest too. Now that the chicks are at such an advanced stage in their development, the parent birds will often both go up off the nest to see off other birds.  They are not so anxious about leaving their young alone for a short while now.

The coming weekend promises to be a great one for two reasons. Firstly, visitors are in with a very good chance of seeing the first flights of the chicks! And, secondly, we have another community weekend with stalls of local produce for sale, displays of photographs and artwork by local people, bird safari sessions, refreshments, face painting and much more. It's all completely free of charge and open to all from 10 am until 6 pm on Saturday and Sunday, so please come along and say hello, we will be delighted to see you.