On Thursday, June 11, on a really hot sunny day which is a rare occasion here in the Scottish Borders, the male bird was away from the nest leaving the female with the chicks and despite the hot weather; she was not shielding her young chicks from the sun.

When the male brought a fish in, she took it from him and fed herself, ignoring the chicks and leaving them exposed to the heat. Later in the afternoon, the male bird returned to the nest with another fish, with the head removed which he had already eaten and presented this to his partner. She was then seen to be feeding one of the chicks and the others could not be seen.

At 12.15pm, the female flew off the nest and the male fed a chick. Only one chick could be seen at this point with the other two thought to be still in the nest. The next time any conclusive footage was recorded was on Friday, June 12, when one chick is seen to be active and two chicks were not moving in the nest.

At this point the male brought in a fish and the female was up on the perch and she was not interested in the fish and the male then flew off with it. No interest was shown in feeding the remaining chick. It was not until 3.25pm when the male returned with fish again that the female took the fish and fed the remaining chick.

At this point many flies could be seen in the nest and the two chicks were now presumed to have died. We do not know if the bodies of the chicks have been removed as they cannot be seen but there is definitely only one remaining active chick. On Sunday, June 14, the remaining chick was then left alone and vulnerable in the nest as both parents flew off and eventually the female returned and settled down on the nest to brood it.

On Monday, June 15, both ospreys were at the nest and paying no attention to the one chick, the female was on the left hand perch and spent hours preening and the male took off only to return with a stick for the nest, both parents then spent considerable time moving the sticks around while the hapless youngster trundled about the nest and kept trying to get underneath mum.

After their spell of nest adornment, the male flew off and the female resumed her position on the perch, leaving a lonely and probably fairly hungry chick in the nest. There were so many flies around it and landing on it and at times it seemed quite feeble and then it would have an energy spurt and begin waddling about. At this stage it would seem like a miracle if it survives.

With only one chick, the chances of its survival should be good, as all of the fish brought in would not have to be shared meaning good growth but what is of concern is the lack of attention that the parents are paying to their surviving offspring.

We can only watch helplessly and hope that the parent birds will resume their duties for their only one. It does further confirm our suspicions that this female is not experienced and is possibly a first time mum, as she doesn’t seem to know how to look after the young or know what she is doing.

Things went so well at this nest site for 10 years, that it is a bitter pill to swallow having two tragic years consecutively. Fingers crossed that over the next couple of weeks, the osprey pair get their mojo back after losing two chicks and put their all into rearing the one.

In the camera box with the blue tit family there are now only four chicks. Struggling to find any green caterpillars due to the cool spring means that food that is essential for the growing youngsters is not available and so one of the chicks has not made it. The parents removed the body from the nest and are concentrating their efforts on the remaining brood. The hot weather of last week would have brought about a sudden boost to the caterpillar population and this will be good news for blue tits.

Volunteers for the Tweed Valley Osprey Project were given a treat to visit a family of barn owls being fitted with BTO rings by Eve Schulte, Conservation Ranger for Forestry Commission Scotland.

Barn owls are another schedule one species from the Wildlife and Countryside act which makes them a species of serious conservation concern. Their numbers in the region crashed considerably after two very severe winters in 2009 and 2010 and only now are they beginning to pick up.

It was lovely to observe in close up, a brood of three owlets with their wizened faces, ranging in size from the large eldest chick to the tiny fluffy youngest. Hopefully, if the bank vole population and field mice are in good numbers this year then this little family will successfully fledge shortly.

Their parents are a beautiful sight to see hunting at dusk, floating across the sky like ghostly images with their beady, black eyes peering out of their white disc faces and shrieking out their eerie banshee like calls.