Both Padarn and Paith looked keen to fly earlier in the week, but the rising temperatures and falling wind speeds prevented them from fledging.

After seemingly waiting an age, Paith finally took the plunge on 21st July, the last of the three sisters to go.

Paith did seem to get into a bit of trouble though, less than 24-hours after fledging. Thankfully after a minute or so she managed to free herself from the long grasses. Wellies back in the cupboard. 

What a crazy week, meteorologically. Hotter than the Sahara desert on Monday and Tuesday then colder than Norway by the end of the week.

Thankfully, all three Dyfi chicks pulled through fine, but we were a bit worried with the 35C temperatures. 

Science Sunday

A few people asked us why were we worried... paraphrasing the main question:

"If these birds will be migrating into 35C temperatures in West Africa in a few weeks, why would you be worried about them now?"

Here are five reasons:

1. In the searing heat of West Africa, adult ospreys have a choice - they can seek shade on the ground or in mangroves. They can also drink directly from a water source if dehydrated. Nest-bound chicks don't have these options.

2. All the ospreys in West Africa inhabit coastal areas which almost always have a sea breeze coming in off the Atlantic, helping them cool down. The wind was dead-calm on the Dyfi on Monday and Tuesday.

3. Met Office temperatures are always noted as recorded in the shade; 35C would be more like 45C in exposed sunlight in the middle of the day. This is far higher than the body temperature of ospreys (around 40C). Once ambient temperatures rise above body temperatures, birds have to find a way of cooling down - difficult/impossible to do for an inexperienced chick on an exposed nest with no wind.

4. By late Monday afternoon, after being in direct 45C for several hours, the chicks were starting to 'wilt' a little. They seemed to become lethargic and their wings dropped (Note: not the adults though, we were not worried about Idris or Telyn), which is never a good sign - main photo. Thankfully we only had this intense heat-wave for a couple of days.

5. Extreme heat is dangerous for all warm-blooded animals. We have seen osprey chicks of roughly this age simply keel over in the nest and die in Wales before - and in other UK nests. A chick died in 2006 (it 'only' got to 30C then) and when bio-assayed it was found that heat-exhaustion was to blame. Intense heat can cause thiamine (vitamin B1) imbalances in birds, with disastrous results (it affects their neurological system).

So, we consider ourselves fortunate that all our chicks pulled through and the last two have since fledged. Pedran, Padarn and Paith are now all doing fine - in 18C temperatures.

As you know, every year we hope for 'Goldilocks weather' - not too cold, hot, wet, windy etc. Thankfully, this year, the 'too hot' bit came when the youngsters were between 7 and 8 weeks old. A month earlier, chances are they would not have been so lucky.

Here are the main fledging stats for you...

🦅 15th July: PEDRAN fledges at 15:05 at 50.9 days old
🦅 19th July: PADARN fledges at 15:07 at 53.9 days old
🦅 21st July: PAITH fledges at 13:49 at 54.2 days old

The middle chick, Padarn, fledges on 19th July and takes half the nest out with her...