Tweed Valley Osprey Diary 17th July

Main Nest 17th July

The two chicks in the nest have now been confirmed as male and female from the results of the DNA testing, which, was carried out by vet Anna Meredith at the time of ringing.

It is incredible the speed at which these two chicks have developed and even in the short time since ringing there has been a remarkable change in overall size and feathering. The female chick is larger than her brother but both birds are now at the stage where time is spent wing stretching and flapping, it will be only a matter of maybe a week or more before the birds take to the air for the first time. Much of their time is taken up with preening as well, which is another sure sign that they are not far from flight.

During one of the flapping sessions one of the chicks lifted a couple of centimetres up from the nest and quickly ceased exercising, so not quite ready yet!

The Back up Nest

The chicks in this nest have now been confirmed as two females and a male.

The family is at the same stage as the main nest so it will be a race between nests to see which chicks are the first to become airborne.

The latest highlights DVD has now been produced for this nest and is available to be seen at the osprey centres. This shows the family from their arrival in the spring right up to the ringing of the chicks on 5th July. There is even a nice sequence of bedtime with the ospreys! We often get asked what the ospreys do at night so now you can see for yourselves on a horrible windy, wet night the female sheltered her brood and slept.

There is some incredible footage taken in gale force winds were the female has to brace herself against the wind and use her wings as stabilisers to prevent her from being swept off the nest.

Come along to see the birds at the osprey watch centres before they fledge and watch some of the highlights from both families, which have been filmed during this season so far.

Windows on Wildlife

All of our other species have fledged now but we did film every stage of their lives while they were with us and these are available to see on DVD at the centres. Glentress is currently showing the barn owl family, the tawny owls and Forests of Butterflies. There is still live action on the bird feeder cameras and we are waiting for the swallows to decide which nest they will use for the second brood. Once they have chosen a site the camera will be moved on to their new nest.

At Kailzie Gardens we are currently showing great tits, spotted flycatchers, buzzard ringing, barn owls and tawny owls, all on DVD highlights. Live images from the stock pond are also on show.

Coming soon – Newcastleton barn owls - the whole story, once we have the full footage from this nest a highlights DVD will be screened to show the chicks as they grew up in the box.

House sparrows have been filmed and this will also be on show soon. We are also hoping to get some great footage from a maternity roost of pippistrelle bats. Small mammals will be filmed at our small mammal event