Rare osprey egg a sign species is 'fighting back'
A rare pair of ospreys have laid their first egg in mid-Wales, which conservationists believe is the first such egg in the area for at least 250 years.
It was laid in a nest near Talybont-on-Usk, near Brecon, Powys, and is a sign the "rare species is fighting back", said conservation group Usk Valley Ospreys.
The species was wiped out in Wales in the 19th century due to persecution and habitat loss, but has been making a comeback in recent years due to conservation efforts.
"Although nothing is certain, we are hoping for another one or two eggs in the next few days," said Andy King, of Usk Valley Ospreys.
Ospreys reunite in Wales for third year together
Osprey finds new lovebird and set to become dad
The ospreys began building their nest in 2023 - the first time the species has nested so far south in Wales for 200 years, according to the group.
Although both adults are unringed, it is believed they are young and in their first full nesting year.
Since their arrival, other ospreys have been seen in the area.
Mr King said the couple were running out of time to lay their egg, as it had to happen before the end of April "to give the parents a whole season to raise the chicks".
"The fact that this pair have established a nest and laid an egg shows the species has a chance of making further progress," he said, adding that it was "great news for everyone who cares about our wildlife".
The fish-eating birds used to be widely distributed across the British Isles, but their numbers declined centuries ago due to illegal killing and egg theft.
Now they are a Schedule 1 species, meaning they have the highest level of protection under the Wildlife and Countryside Act. It is a criminal offence to disturb them or their nests.
The species remains on the Amber List because of its historical decline and low breeding numbers.
Drone suspected of disturbing osprey nest
Charity gives up hope osprey will ever return
Osprey pair lay first egg of the season
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
10 hours ago
- Yahoo
Washington mom believes an Amber Alert may have saved her 3 daughters
The mother of three girls who officials say were killed by their father is calling for reforms to Washington state's Amber Alert system after her daughters' bodies were discovered and as officials search for the man. Whitney Decker believes her daughters may still be alive had the Washington State Patrol issued an Amber alert for them last week, her attorney told NBC affiliate KING of Seattle on Thursday. 'It's very important to Whitney to get that fixed,' said attorney Arianna Cozart. Evelyn, 8, Paityn, 9, and Olivia Decker, 5, were found dead on Monday, several days after their mother reported them missing. Their father, Travis Decker, 32, is wanted on first-degree murder charges in connection with the killings. Authorities began searching for the girls Friday night after Whitney Decker filed a complaint that her ex-husband did not return the children after a planned visit, according to police. Washington State Patrol issued an Endangered Missing Persons Advisory for the girls on Saturday. Unlike an Amber alert, the advisory does not send a text message to all cell phones in the surrounding area about the missing children. A spokesperson for the Washington State Patrol did not immediately return a request for comment Thursday. Cozart said that her client's ex-husband had mental health issues and that local police relayed his illness to Washington State Patrol while pushing for an Amber alert unsuccessfully. Court documents show that Whitney Decker told detectives she agreed to a parenting plan with her ex-husband in September. However, he refused to sign the document after he became homeless, according to the affidavit. The agreement was contingent on Travis Decker seeking mental health treatment and domestic violence anger-management counseling, according to the affidavit. The military veteran never did, according to court documents. The three girls were found zip-tied and with plastic bags over their heads near a campground in a remote part of the state, roughly 130 miles east of Seattle, according to the court document. It is unclear if Travis Decker is armed, but officials said he is considered dangerous. Authorities said relatives informed them that Travis Decker has skills to survive outdoors for long stretches and would sometimes go 'off-grid' for months. This article was originally published on
Yahoo
a day ago
- Yahoo
The story behind statue of King Kamehameha I
HONOLULU (KHON2) – In the ahupuaʻa of Honolulu, which lies in the moku of Kona here on Oʻahu, stands a symbol of Hawaiian pride. We are speaking of King Kamehameha I Statue. Kaʻahumanu St, from Downtown Honolulu to Pearl City What was originally proposed to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Captain Cook's arrival to Hawaiʻi, an image of a 45-year-old King Kamehameha I was chosen as a monument promoting Hawaiian national pride. At a cost of $10,000, it was politician Walter Gibson representing Lāhainā who had proposed the idea. Having been started in Boston and completed in Paris, the 7-foot-tall statue left Germany on a ship in August of months later, word reached Hawaiʻi that the ship went down off the coast of Falkland Islands, losing all of its cargo. Following the loss of the original statue, a second statue of King Kamehameha I was commissioned. But to the government's surprise, the original was recovered and arrived in Honolulu a couple months prior to its replacement. Today, there are four. Download the free KHON2 app for iOS or Android to stay informed on the latest news Molded after the marble Roman scultpure of Augustus Ceasar, King Kamehameha is shown as a 'Pacific Hero.' The replacement statue was installed first on Oʻahu in 1883 at its present location fronting Aliʻiōlani Hale. The recovered, original statue was unveiled a couple months later in Kohala on Hawaiʻi Island as it is the King's birthplace. In 1969, following statehood, a statue of the Father of the Hawaiian Kingdom was installed in the US Capitol Statutory Hall. The final statue was installed in Hilo in 1997, which was originally for a hotel on Kauaʻi, but Kauaʻi residents said no because King Kamehameha I failed to conquer them. Did you know? Now you do! Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
a day ago
WWII veterans speak of sacrifice and freedom on France's D-Day battlefields, 81 years later
OMAHA BEACH, France -- The D-Day generation, smaller in number than ever, is back on the beaches of France where so much blood was spilled 81 years ago. World War II veterans, now mostly centenarians, have returned with the same message they fought for then: Freedom is worth defending. In what they acknowledge may be one of their last hurrahs, a group of nearly two dozen veterans who served in Europe and the Pacific is commemorating the fallen and getting rock-star treatment this week in Normandy — the first patch of mainland France that Allied forces liberated with the June 6, 1944, invasion and the greatest assembly of ships and planes the world had known. On what became known as ' Bloody Omaha ' and other gun-swept beaches where soldiers waded ashore and were cut down, their sacrifices forged bonds among Europe, the United States and Canada that endure, outlasting geopolitical shifts and the rise and fall of political leaders who blow hot and cold about the ties between nations. In Normandy, families hand down D-Day stories like heirlooms from one generation to the next. They clamor for handshakes, selfies, kisses and autographs from WWII veterans, and reward them with cries of 'Merci!' — thank you. Both the young and the very old thrive off the interactions. French schoolchildren oohed and aahed when 101-year-old Arlester Brown told them his age. The U.S. military was still segregated by race when the 18-year-old was drafted in 1942. Like most Black soldiers, Brown wasn't assigned a combat role and served in a laundry unit that accompanied the Allied advances through France and the Low Countries and into Nazi Germany. Jack Stowe, who lied about being 15 to join the Navy after Japan attacked Pearl Harbor in 1941, said he gets 'the sweetest letters' from kids he met on previous trips. 'The French people here, they're so good to us,' the 98-year-old said, on a walk to the water's edge on Omaha. 'They want to talk to us, they want to sit down and they want their kids around us.' 'People are not going to let it be forgotten, you know, Omaha, these beaches,' he said. 'These stories will go on and on and on.' At the Normandy American Cemetery that overlooks Omaha, the resting place for nearly 9,400 American war dead, workers and visitors rub sand from the beach onto the white gravestones so the engraved names stand out. Wally King, a sprightly 101-year-old, wiped off excess sand with a weathered hand, resting the other atop the white cross, before saying a few words at the grave of Henry Shurlds Jr. Shurlds flew P-47 Thunderbolt fighters like King and was shot down and killed on Aug. 19, 1944. In the woods where they found his body, the townspeople of Verneuil-sur-Seine, northwest of Paris, erected a stele of Mississippi tulip tree wood in his memory. Although Shurlds flew in the same 513th Fighter Squadron, King said he never met him. King himself was shot down over Germany and badly burned on his 75th and last mission in mid-April 1945, weeks before the Nazi surrender. He said pilots tended not to become fast friends, to avoid the pain of loss when they were killed, which was often. When 'most veterans from World War II came home, they didn't want to talk about the war. So they didn't pass those experiences on to their children and grandchildren,' King said. 'In a way, that's good because there's enough unpleasantness, bloodshed, agony in war, and perhaps we don't need to emphasize it," he added. "But the sacrifice needs to be emphasized and celebrated.' With the march of time, the veterans' groups are only getting smaller. The Best Defense Foundation, a non-profit that has been running veteran trips to Normandy since 2004, last year brought 50 people for the 80th anniversary of D-Day. This year, the number is 23. Betty Huffman-Rosevear, who served as an army nurse, is the only woman. She turned 104 this week. The group also includes a renowned romantic: 101-year-old Harold Terens and his sweetheart, Jeanne Swerlin, were feted by France's president after they tied the knot in a symbolic wedding inland of the D-Day beaches last year. D-Day veteran Jake Larson, now 102, has made multiple return trips and has become a star as "Papa Jake" on TikTok, with 1.2 million followers. He survived machine-gun fire when he landed on Omaha, making it unhurt to the bluffs that overlook the beach and which in 1944 were studded with German gun emplacements that mowed down American soldiers. 'We are the lucky ones,' Larson said amid the cemetery's immaculate rows of graves. 'They had no family. We are their family. We have the responsibility to honor these guys who gave us a chance to be alive." As WWII's survivors disappear, the responsibility is falling on the next generations that owe them the debt of freedom. 'This will probably be the last Normandy return, when you see the condition of some of us old guys,' King said. 'I hope I'm wrong.'
