***2017 UPDATE: DNA analysis in 2017 proved Merin to be a MALE***

On 3rd July, all three Dyfi osprey chicks were weighed, named and ringed. They were 35, 33 and 31 days old and we kept to the tradition of naming them after Welsh rivers and lakes.

Here they are with the oldest on top (Blue W1) and youngest at the bottom (Blue W3).

The oldest two chicks are female and the youngest male, but this year it was not so easy to work out one of the birds, the oldest.

Assigning gender to young four-to-five week-old chicks is not a perfect science, unless you do some genetic testing of course. Because of their weights and the way they looked, we're 99% sure that Celyn and Brenig are female and male respectively. The problem is Merin.

Merin was the oldest (exactly five weeks old) so you would expect her to be at least as heavy, if not heavier, than her younger sister, Celyn. It turns out that Merin is also a female, despite being 130g lighter. How do we know?

Merin is a female despite being almost 10% lighter than her younger (by two days) sister, Celyn

She had thicker legs and feet and a very broad and chunky beak (just like her sister, Celyn) - all characteristics of a female. Also, she just 'felt' like a female in the ringer's hands. When all three ospreys were laid down on a blanket right next to each other (see video below), it was pretty clear the distinction between the two females and single male.

Sometimes we find 'anomalies' like this, it's not unusual. You may remember that summer storm we had when the oldest chick was a few days old on 1st June, Merin would hardly have eaten during this time - maybe this has something to do with her lighter weight? Perhaps the younger female, Celyn, had eaten a belly full of fish just before ringing and Merin hadn't. Maybe Merin is just not as gluttonous as her sister!

So we're sticking our necks out and going female for Merin. Let's say we're 90% sure, hence the small question mark.

Celyn - stunningly beautiful

Every year when we do this, we are reminded how stunningly beautiful ospreys are in 'real life'. Every feather perfect and a vitality and vibrancy in their eyes that even the best camera lens can't communicate. Looking at them and thinking of the way our ancestors treated ospreys in the past somehow strengthens and re-asserts our resolve to protect them and try and correct the misdemeanours of yesteryear.

Merin, Celyn and little Brenig will stay in the nest for another two weeks or so and start to fledge from around 19th July onwards. All three will use the nest as a base until late August or early September, before migrating south to west Africa or (rarely) southern Europe. We will hopefully see them back in the UK in 2017 as two-year-olds prospecting for nest sites.

If you're wondering how to pronounce Merin, Celyn and Brenig, here is a short video of the Posh Pete Test we do every year to winkle out the least pronounceable name options. Pete's Welsh language skills are not the best. In fact, they're probably the worst we've ever heard, so if Posh Pete can say their names - almost anyone can!

We thought of calling the three young ospreys, Mynach, Crewi and Carog. We quickly changed our minds.

We would like to thank once again this year Tony Cross and Chris Townsend for ringing our ospreys with the utmost professionalism and efficiency as always. Thanks Tony also for the GoPro footage!

The three chicks were out of their nest for a total of 44 minutes on Friday, hopefully this will be the first and last time they come into contact with humans.

Here is the video of the ringing.