We have lift off!!



Strathard News - July 2012



 As many other osprey sites are reporting both of our osprey chicks have left the next. The oldest made their first flight on the 22nd July and sticking with tradition the next chick left on the 24th July, 48 hours after the first, exactly the same amount of time between them hatching!

We have seen both chicks on numerous occasions returning to the nest to receive food from both male and female. It won't be long before all of this years osprey family are on their way to West Africa for winter.

In other news, our ospreys, who are already in celebrities in our eyes, have become local icons by appearing on the front cover the of the Strathard News. Regular project updates features in the paper, but it is great to see, this striking images by volunteer Annette Reed making the front cover.  

Ospreys Are A Go!

In the last week all of our ospreys have made their first flights off the nest. The first (read earlier blog post) on the 17th July followed by the other 2 at some point over the last week. We nearly didn't know about this as we believe that as one of the ospreys chicks made its first leap it landed on top of the camera causing the camera to tilt meaning it was recording the ground. A mission rescue had to be launched on Friday 23rd July to allow us to see pictures of the nest again. All 3 chicks have been seen back on the nest feeding
We never thought that we would see this moment, with the live nest failing early on in the season. But we have battled through and the season has been very successfull!

We have lift off!

On Saturday 17th July our oldest osprey chick took its first flight off the nest. It had been doing a lot of flapping and walking very close the edge of the nest most of the day before making its first flight.

Both of the other chicks are preparing for their 1st flight with lots of flapping action taking place. The other chicks are expected to take their first flights in the next few days!