Osprey chicks born from 'very rare' love triangle in Scots forest die after just three days

Daily Record

04-06-2025

The ospreys' nest was being filmed on a live-stream camera which the public could watch.
Four osprey chicks born as a result of a "very rare" love triangle between three adult birds have sadly died after their unusual situation failed to work out.
The trio of adults - one male and two females - all shared a nest in the Tweed Valley, in the Scottish Borders. Their arrangement unfolded on a live-stream camera set up by Forestry and Land Scotland (FLS) as part of the Tweed Valley Osprey Project.
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However just three days after the chicks had hatched, all four succumbed to starvation on Tuesday, June 3, after the adults struggled to share looking after them.
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A post on the project's Facebook page, which had provided regular updates from the nest, announced the sad news on Tuesday night.
The male, known as Newboy, mated with both females, a form of polygamy known as polygyny, and they laid four eggs between them in April, which hatched on consecutive days in May.
The live camera feed showed them initially getting along ahead of the eggs hatching, apart from occasional tension over fish deliveries.
However, Newboy later abandoned the nest before the chicks arrived, leaving both females - one named Mrs O, the other F2 - taking it in turns to leave the nest for periods to source food and then swapping over sitting on the eggs.
After they all hatched by Saturday, May 31, Mrs O and F2 were forced to adapt again to bring enough food to feed themselves and their young while nurturing them in the absence of Newboy.
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It was hoped the "intelligent and capable" birds would be able to manage, despite it going against their instincts to wait at the nest for a male to provide food.
However, Mrs O quickly went into her instinctive role to nurture and protect her young by staying with them, leaving F2 to go against her natural instinct, and take on the role of hunter and provider usually taken on by a male.
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Sadly, she struggled to adapt, and barely brought any fish back to the nest. On one of the few occasions she did, it was all eaten by a ravenous Mrs O.
On Tuesday morning, three of the chicks had died from starvation. When F2 finally brought another fish back to the nest at 5.30pm, the remaining one had also sadly passed away after begging to be fed.
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The post on Facebook from Tweed Valley Osprey Project added: "This has been very upsetting and sad to watch this family drama turn to tragedy and brings home just how vulnerable and fragile the whole breeding cycle can be for ospreys.
"For their very brief lives they touched many hearts of people who dearly wanted them to survive.
" Nature is raw and can be seen as cruel at times but it is part of the natural cycle of life. We hope that Mrs O can go and feed and get herself fully back into condition now that she is released from the bond to nurture her babies.
"F2 will also need to do the same to a lesser extent. We do not know if they will return and both claim territory again next season.
"Hopefully, Mrs O will return and a new male will come, that will provide for her and F2 will move on to territory of her own."