Latest news with #osprey
BBC News
4 days ago
- General
- BBC News
Kielder Forest's first osprey chicks of the year hatch
The first osprey chicks of the year have hatched at one of their most important sites in chicks hatched at Kielder Forest, in Northumberland, earlier this week despite what were described as "less than ideal" conditions with wind and year saw the ospreys' earliest recorded return to the national park from sub-Saharan Africa with a sighting on 21 March - three days ahead of the previous first led to hopes of an improved breeding season after 12 chicks failed to fledge last year. The park is awaiting possible further hatchings this a Facebook post announcing the new arrivals, it said: "Conditions have been less than ideal here, with wind and rain causing a few wobbles but we're hopeful for a few more hatching over the weekend."There have been some excellent parenting skills on show and, with a steady diet of Kielder's rainbow trout, the chicks will grow quickly."Once found throughout the UK, wild ospreys were persecuted and the species became extinct in England in 1847 and in Scotland in in 2009 ospreys were born for the first time in Northumberland in more than 200 years, with more than 120 successfully fledging since are now approximately 350 breeding pairs in the UK, mostly in Scotland, but numbers in England and Wales have been slowly increasing. Follow BBC North East on X, Facebook, Nextdoor and Instagram.
BBC News
4 days ago
- General
- BBC News
Tears of joy as ospreys visit Devon nests on telegraph poles
Conservationists said they "burst into tears" after ospreys landed on special nesting poles in Tamar and Tavy Osprey Project installed the nests on top of 56ft (17m) high telegraph poles in June 2024 on farmland in Warleigh Barton, Plymouth, with the hope it would help the rare birds to breed.A year on from the installation, the group said a female osprey had landed in the Kent, who helped set up the project, said while the birds had still not bred in the nests, the fact an osprey had used them was exciting and made all the work worthwhile. The project said the south-west of England currently had no breeding ospreys, despite the birds being sighted locally for 40 years. 'Something really magical' Ms Kent said the bird which visited had a tag on it which showed the osprey was a female and had travelled from Rutland in the East Midlands via Poole Harbour in said the bird using the nest made the hopes of ospreys breeding locally move "one step closer"."I burst into tears when I saw the osprey land and I was shaking," she said."I was so emotional and so excited that all of the work that we've put in and all of the doubt and all the work we put in came to something really magical."
The Independent
23-05-2025
- General
- The Independent
‘Very rare' love triangle between osprey birds in Scotland caught on camera
This is the moment that a trio of osprey birds were caught nesting together in a love triangle. Footage captured by Forestry and Land Scotland shows the three birds - two female and one male - sharing a nest of four eggs at Glentress near Peebles in the Scottish Borders. Experts have said that the behaviour exhibited is 'very rare', with the two females even sharing incubation duties. 'The only tension witnessed so far has been on the arrival of a fish delivery from the male as the two females both make a grab it,', said Diane Bennett, a Tweed Valley osprey project co-ordinator. Observers have said the egg hatching will only add more intrigue into how the polygamous relationship functions.
Times
23-05-2025
- General
- Times
Ospreys share love nest in live-streamed ‘throupling'
The relationship history of Mrs O, a female osprey which nests in the Scottish Borders, is one that soap opera writers could only dream of. The bird, which has returned to the Tweed Valley site for several years, is now engaged in a throuple after last year fighting another female for the prime nesting spot, and stealing her mate to boot. The rare 'polygamy saga' involving the three ospreys — one male and two female — has been captured on a livestream for the first time which experts say will help them to better understand the birds' behaviour. The new young male has mated with both females, a form of polygamy known as polygyny, and they have laid four eggs between them. The trio are
The Independent
22-05-2025
- Science
- The Independent
Three birds share a nest in osprey ‘love triangle'
A 'very rare' love triangle involving three ospreys is being captured on a livestream camera for what is thought to be the first time. The trio of birds – one male and two female – are sharing a nest together in the Tweed Valley in the Scottish Borders. The male has mated with both females, a form of polygamy known as polygyny, and they have laid four eggs between them. They are said to be getting along with each other all right so far apart from tension over fish deliveries from the male which both females, one named Mrs O, want to grab. Viewers can watch the domestic saga playing out on a livestream camera set up by Forestry and Land Scotland (FLS) as part of the Tweed Valley Osprey Project. Diane Bennett, Tweed Valley osprey project co-ordinator, said: 'So far things are looking good. The females seem amicable and tolerant with both having mated with the male bird and laying four eggs between them. 'The only tension witnessed so far has been on the arrival of a fish delivery from the male as the two females both make a grab it. 'Mrs O usually wins the fish and flies off to feed but has been seen to return with a portion remaining and letting the other female have it. 'This nest behaviour with all the birds in the same nest is very rare and as far as we know it is the first time this has ever been on a livestream camera with most other research involving such a set-up previously conducted though distant observation. 'Getting to watch this saga close up as the season unfolds is exciting both for the drama but also for the important research insights it will allow.' Mrs O has nested at the site before and has been joined by a new female and young male this year. FLS said the identity and background of the new arrivals is not clear. Although they both have British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) rings which provide information on survival and movements they do not have the coloured, alphanumeric Darvic rings that enable researchers to identify individual birds. While Mrs O is also only fitted with a BTO ring she can be identified from her head markings as she has been returning to the site for several years. The eggs are expected to hatch in the coming weeks. The Tweed Valley Osprey Project was set up in 1998 to help to establish a breeding population of ospreys in the Scottish Borders. The livestream can be viewed at
