Both chicks are going great. In fact, they are flourishing.
Good parents and a few weeks of Goldilocks weather have had a positive effect again this year. Big Bob is four weeks old exactly today and the younger Bob is three days behind.
This week we have seen a huge spike in their growth rate, but it is still too early to tell whether they are male or female. Although we have our suspicions!
Bob & Bob - youngest on the left
© MWT
The ubiquitous Blue 24 is still with us, although Monty and Glesni have enjoyed a few hours without her this weekend. She visited the Glaslyn nest yesterday, around 28 miles north of the Dyfi, causing no end of problems there too, as she has been here. Blue 24 dive-bombed the Glaslyn nest for over 20 minutes on Saturday afternoon, thankfully no harm done.
Blue 24 on her favourite electric pole around 500m from the Dyfi nest
© Alan Davies
Talking of the Glaslyn, many congratulations to all the volunteers up there who have taken over the project after the departure of the RSPB last year. This week they established a live air-fibre link of the High Definition video from the nest to the viewing hide for the first time. They are open on Saturdays and Sundays, 10am- 4pm and will hopefully have a small visitor centre by next year.
One of the Glaslyn chicks fledged on Thursday also, so a double Brucie bonus for them this week. No doubt the other two will not be far behind.
Glaslyn nest this weekend
© Viv Finn
The Dyfi chicks will be ringed in just over a week's time, but we will not be satellite tracking this year due to time constraints and other work commitments at Cors Dyfi.
Both chicks will be named as soon as we know their gender on the ringing day. As usual, they will be named after Welsh rivers. Here's a sneak preview of the two rings we'll use this year.
This is what we have as our Mission Statement at Montgomeryshire Wildlife Trust:
"To rebuild biodiversity and engage people with their environment"
Well, we certainly did that this weekend. Over 50 'frogs' (don't ask!) congregated at Cors Dyfi from all corners of the UK and beyond. These are people with serious and chronic cases of Ospreyitis.
An eventful day in glorious weather was followed by an evening of food, merriment and a quiz night. How amazing that a pair of ospreys can bring people together like this. People that didn't know each other just a few years ago, but have now made many friends thanks to a pair of birds and social media.
50 Ospreyitis sufferers at the community hall, Derwenlas, last night.
Oh, there was cake too!
Thank you all for coming and to Janet and others for coordinating and arranging the first, of many hopefully, 'Grand Meets'.
The Chat is just over a year old and on the whole has been very successful.
Nevertheless, we have recently made a few changes to address some concerns that some 'chatters' were telling us about. The Live Chat was, and is, intended to be a place whereby people and children can talk and learn about the ospreys and wildlife in general in a friendly, comfortable and above all, fun environment.
Sadly, some people's experiences have not been as pleasant as they expected of late, and we are determined to change and improve this.
We have introduced some basic guidelines to help people better understand what can be expected on a wildlife-based Live Chat. This week, we will see a couple more 'Emoticons' too!
Emoticons, or 'Smileys', look like fun little characters you can put in the middle or the end of your message. But they do have an important function too.
Electronic communications can sometimes be interpreted in a way not intended by the writer, especially perhaps by people whereby UK English is not their first language (ahem!). Soon we will have a 'thumbs up' smiley and an 'applause' smiley which will hopefully be useful additions to the other members of the smiley cast!
Many osprey followers from around the world have been watching one particular nest in British Columbia, Canada, recently.
The adult male, Nelson, was tragically electrocuted and killed when he flew into nearby electricity cables just below his nest. Nelson's partner, Nellie, continued as best she could without him, trying to feed two young chicks on her own.
As if this wasn't enough for the poor female to deal with, the heavens opened and essentially prevented her from feeding her two chicks which were getting weaker by the day. This continued for several days and a decision was made to try and leave fish for her, so Nellie wouldn't have to leave the chicks exposed to the weather and predation pressures without her mate around.
Sadly, the youngest chick died, leaving just one, out of an initial brood of three, fighting for its life. Soon after, Nellie, clearly in stress, was observed not feeding her remaining chick properly.
The guys looking after this nest took the decision to intervene and take the last surviving chick, named Nel, out of the nest and hand him/her over to a wildlife rehabilitation centre. Thankfully, Nel is doing much better and is now eating like there's no tomorrow! Her Mum, Nellie, is also feeding again.
Nel - the last remaining chick
These decisions are never easy to make and always come with a load of excess baggage when you least need it - criticism.
Just normal people trying to do their best in a rapidly changing and deteriorating situation, minute by minute, hour by hour. Add on top of this all the legal and licensing issues, the logistics of getting to the nest, the tragic way Nelson died and the feeling you're being watched by everybody around the world.
It is a sickening and utterly helpless feeling you can sense in the pit of your stomach.
I would just like to add our thanks and especially our support to the decisions and the work of these people over the last few days and weeks. Faced with adversity they took decisions that gave these birds their best options going forward. Nellie will feed herself up now and hopefully be back next spring in tip top condition, with a new partner to boot with a little luck. Little Nel is in the best place for him/her.
Nel has a chance now of getting stronger and eventually fledging in a few week's time, a chance that had practically disappeared just a few days ago.
The nest is sponsored by Nelson Hydro and Columbia Wireless in British Columbia. Little Nel is in the care of O.W.L - Orphaned Wildlife Rehabilitation Society.
We thank and wish all of you that made these difficult decisions the best, and hope that Nellie and her young offspring continue to do well in their battles to get stronger. Nature can be difficult at times, a helping hand can sometimes make a world of difference.
Ceulan. © MWT
