Three perfect little osprey eggs are now snuggled up in the Glaslyn nest. The female has been incredibly busy since our last blog entry. She laid her second egg on Friday (11 April) at around 4.15pm and a third on Monday (14 April) at 12.15pm. All of her eggs have emerged in the afternoon within just a few hours of each other, which is becoming the signature-style of this female - she was quite clockwork in her delivery last year too.
The interesting thing about the third egg is the peculiar patterning. Whilst the other two have an even splattering of red and cream colouring, the mottling on this third egg is much more distinctive. One half is almost entirely cream in colour and the other almost entirely red. It does look unusual alongside the others. It also means that we will be able to identify this egg quite easily now on the nest-cam, whereas the other two look the same. We should be able to lift a still image from our nest-cam to show you soon.
You would think that the pair would be satisfied with three eggs to care for, but since the third laying they have been busying themselves by mating again. It is possible that the female will lay a fourth. This is more common among experienced birds, and ours are in their fifth successive season now, so a fourth egg is not out of the question. We will let you know...
Most days we have seen a third osprey in the area. This happened last year too - a third bird that hadn't managed to hook up with a partner kept showing up and trying to cause a bit of fuss. Whether this mischievous little attention-seeker is the same as last year is impossible to tell. There could even be more than one bird, but we never see more than one at a time. Perhaps these birds are still in the final stages of migration to their breeding areas.
The intruder osprey that appeared yesterday must have been a male, as he was displaying over the nest trying to impress the female whilst the Glaslyn male was on a fishing trip. He disappeared before the Glaslyn male returned but showed up again whilst the female was eating her fish on a nearby feeding tree. The Glaslyn male had taken over incubation duties while the missus ate and could not leave the eggs to see this intruder off, so the female (and her fish) went up to chase the cheeky chap away. Job done she returned to stuffing her face in the tree, what a woman! The Glaslyn female showed herself to be a fiesty contender last year, fiercely protective of her brood, so it's good to see she's back on top form.
Visited Glaslyn visitor centre and hide on Friday 18 April. Due to high winds no live pics, but the previous days and last years shots more than made up for it.
V impressed by friendly welcome and knowledgeable volunteers and warden.
But what a shame you don't have DVDs of last year for sale - you would make a small fortune ! Would gladly pay a tenner to have a copy.. Good luck to all for the coming weeks.
we visited the site at the weekend and it was great to hear about the eggs.
looking forward to hearing all the developments over the coming weeks and visiting as often as we can
we visited the project last week and learnt so much about Ospreys. the video link wasn't working, but in no way did it spoil our visit at all. watching the video and talking about it with such enthusiastic and knowledgeable volunteers and warden was brillant. will keep checking in ... virtually or live throughout the season! thanks and good luck.
On the four occasions I saw the second male - between April 5th and 19th neither he nor the Glaslyn male seemed aggressive towards each other. They were joined on two occasions by a red kite who flew off NW after surveying the area. A second female overflew the viewing area last Friday afternoon. Visiting this site is a must