Main Nest
Today began with the female sitting at the nest feeding the two small chicks. The high protein diet of raw fish has meant that the chicks have almost trebled in size in only a week.
The two youngsters seem to have a bit of an uneasy relationship and the larger chick has been seen frequently pecking at the neck of the smaller chick. The response to this has generally been a defensive one in a bid to stay out of the way of more raining blows. The male brought in a good-sized fish and the female fed her brood again.
Afterwards the chicks settled down for a nap while the female preened and then relaxed for a short while. After about an hour of relaxed behaviour the female began calling and then flew off. The chicks were left alone for five minutes and during this time the larger chick seized the opportunity to start another scrap with the little sibling. Luckily there seems to be no serious consequences and they were behaving themselves by the time their mum returned.
Later in the afternoon the family were joined by the male on the nest. He began finishing off the remains of a fish brought in earlier. The chicks soon became alert as food was available again and began begging from their Dad. He firstly began offering the morsels up to his mate and eventually leaned into the nest reaching down to give titbits to the chicks. We have never seen him feed the young at this early stage before. Usually the female feeds them and he only takes over when the chicks are virtually adults.
Back up nest
The three chicks in the back up nest appear strong and healthy. The recorded footage will be edited and shown in the centres shortly.
Windows on Wildlife
The great tits have flown the nest. The spotted flycatchers are now sitting on eggs.
The swallows at Kailzie now have six chicks in the nest. The parent birds do a fantastically fast swap over at the nest at feeding time.
The tawny owls have now all left the nest but highlights of their season can be seen on DVD in the centres.
The barn owls still have no youngsters but we will be bringing in footage from this nest, as there is hope that she may lay again.
We had a fantastic day watching the buzzard chicks from two nests in the Tweed Valley being ringed by Forestry Commission Ranger Tony Lightley. His brother Graham, climbed the trees where the birds are nesting and lowered the chicks to the forest floor. Tony ringed the chicks and demonstrated to the public who attended the event how the ringing was done and explained all about how to identify the young males from females. He showed us the birds, which had eaten that morning with a full crop and the difference in the little ones with an empty crop. The whole event was filmed and is now on DVD at the osprey watch centres. Later we are hoping to record some footage from the buzzard family at the nest before they fledge.
