Blogs

Its all happening here at Glaslyn, the third chick has now fledged and took her first flight at 4.48pm on Saturday 11 July.
 
At first glance she seemed to be a bit unsure of herself, but once she’d got the confidence to make a move there was no stopping her.

All three youngsters are now flying around the immediate vicinity of the nest, and the father still brings fish to the nest for them to feed.

Over the next few days they’ll slowly build up their confidence and wing muscles and will then develop to hunting and feeding alongside their father.

We’ll keep you updated as much as we can over the next few weeks with their activities and how they develop.

The second osprey chick successfully took his first flight yesterday (Wednesday 8 July) at around 2.05pm in the afternoon.

The chick - ring number YF - hovered for a while over the nest then sat on top of the pole for a few minutes, he then dived off the pole and flew around the nest before crashing head first into the nest - it wasn’t the best of landings but with more practice I’m sure he’ll improve!

The third chick is showing a lot of promise, flapping, and fluffing her wings while watching her siblings flying around.

The father continues to find fish for the chicks, while the mother continues to feed the chicks.

We’re all on tenterhooks waiting for the third chick to fly and we’ll let you all know as soon as we see anything happening.

The eldest osprey chick from the nest at Glalsyn near Porthmadog successfully took its first flight on Monday 6 July at 11.48am.

The youngster has been flying around the immediate area of the nesting site practicing her flying skills, but won’t go any further than this until her siblings have fledged which we hope will happen over the next few days.

Once the other chicks have fledged they will continue to use the nest as a base and will rely on their father to teach them skills such as hunting and flying, they will stay within the Glaslyn Valley and use the river and the estuary to hone their skills.

We believe several of the staff and volunteers saw the chick attempting to fly over the weekend by hovering above the nest out of camera shot, but she did not actually leave the nest until Monday morning.

The youngsters are almost as big as the adults now but still have juvenile plumage, so visitors can tell them apart from their parents.  Ospreys are renowned for being extremely accurate hunters even at high speeds, and the parent birds will be giving their young master-classes in hunting during the coming weeks.

If you’re planning to visit us this month we are holding a Community Weekend on 18 and 19 July from 10am until 5pm. This will give local people and visitors the chance to visit the site and see these fantastic birds of prey.

During the weekend there will be a range of activities including a medieval re-enactment display, owl pellet dissection and treasure hunt trail, children will be able to take alpacas walking around the visitor area, and local arts and craft stalls will be displaying their goods.

Details of this event and information about the project can be found on the RSPB website at www.rspb.org.uk/datewithnature .