Ringing

The adult female, Blue 372, knew that something was about to happen. The sound of the boat heading towards the nest triggered her alarm calls and the chicks lay flat. The adult male, LJ2, had just caught a fish and was de-heading it, oblivious to what was about to happen. He then realised and made a different call; he flew up from his post with the fish (there was no way he was leaving that behind!) and perched somewhere high and out of sight. Meanwhile, 372 continued to alarm call and circle the nest...

Our osprey chicks were ringed on Tuesday 7  July and the traditional approach by water was the order of the day. I watched in awe as the ringer climbed the osprey pole and then, one-by-one, lowered the chicks down in a bag to the boat. Once there, they were weighed, measured and sexed, and then ringed with their unique blue Darvic rings. The first chick, designated '9L1', is presumed male and weighed 1.48kg. The second chick, designated '9L2' is presumed female and weighed 1.69kg

With the process completed, the chicks were returned to the nest where they once again lay flat until the boat was well out of sight. 372 circled above the nest and then perched high on one of her favourite perching posts, inspecting the nest closely. LJ2 returned with fish and, after a short while, 372 returned to the nest and allowed the feeding process to resume as normal. The events of the morning were seemingly forgotten in an instant, although both adults did seem to increase their patrols of the area and brought in more sticks to build up the 'cot rails' on the edge of the nest.

Naming

A tradition of each osprey breeding season is the naming of our chicks, which are decided on by a public poll on our social media channels. This year's choices came from a work of Welsh literature called 'Te yn y Grug' (Tea in the Heather) by Kate Roberts, an acclaimed collection of short stories portraying the lives of children in a slate quarrying village in Gwynedd. The vote was counted and the winning names were Rhys (9L1) and Winni (9L2).

Fledging

In what felt like a heartbeat, 9L1 fledged. He had spent a couple of days hopping across the nest with wings outstretched and was soon helicoptering 2 or 3 feet above the nest itself. Then, on the morning of Sunday 19 July at 11:14, he stood up, hopped a little bit and launched himself out of the nest - gliding across the peninsula and landing on one of the tallest posts. He remained there for a while before flying to a different post, and finally flew back to the nest at 17:09, upon which LJ2 brought in a large brown trout. It wasn't too long before 9L2 followed suit; making her first flight from the nest at 07:24 on 29 July. 

We will now watch them grow and embark on ever-increasing flights from the nest until one day, in just a few short weeks, they will take off for their long journey to West Africa. 

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