We have a chick! It hatched at the rather unsociable time of 11:17pm last night, so none of the visitors got to see the great event, but it was watched on the night camera by members of the 24-hour protection team.
The female is still incubating the remaining two eggs but, when she gets up to turn them and stretch her legs, we can zoom in on the chick and see it in all its fluffy glory. It is almost pure white but already the distinctive dark eye stripe, which is so characteristic of ospreys, is visible.
The chick had its first feed at 10am this morning, watched by the first visitors that had begun to arrive for the day. It was only a little feed, consisting of a few morsels of fish but there have been a further two feeds throughout today. The male, already aware that he has more mouths to feed, had brought back two by mid-afternoon and flew right over the viewing site at around 4pm, possibly going out for more. As well as hungry chicks to keep sustained, the adults' food requirements will also increase as they use up energy caring for their new arrivals.
We have had masses of people here today checking out the little one and we expect even more over the weekend, as we are hoping for a second little beak to emerge on Saturday. Let's hope the next is more considerate of its viewing public and comes out when we are all gathered around the screens in the visitor centre.