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 .
This is great news both for the Ospreys and for the team at the Project.
As fourth season volunteers, we would like to thank Geraint Williams, our new Manager this season, for all the hard work he has put in to making this another successful season at the Glaslyn Osprey Project. Thanks also to the new staff, you have learned such a lot so very quickly, and just as importantly, all our Visitors, old and new, we truly enjoy meeting you all and showing you the Ospreys and telling their story. We must not forget to mention the Ospreys too - without them, all this would not be possible!