Diane Bennett, the project officer at the Tweed Valley Osprey Project, brings us the latest news from the nests...

 

The main nest osprey juveniles were ringed on July 12 and fitted with their satellite trackers. Their visible darvic ring numbers are 706, 707 and 708 and all three were thought to be males given the biometric measurements taken during ringing.

Because we will be following these birds as part of the Conservation Without Borders project, we thought that it would be a good idea to give them names instead of just a number, so we have asked the volunteers for the project to give suggestions for some relevant names and we will choose them by pulling the names out of a hat.

So, hopefully by the time they fledge and we are receiving data about their whereabouts we can refer to each individual by name.

Peeblesshire News: A number of the osprey chicks, although not ready to leave the nest yet, have been seen flapping their wings. Photo: Tweed Valley Osprey ProjectA number of the osprey chicks, although not ready to leave the nest yet, have been seen flapping their wings. Photo: Tweed Valley Osprey Project

Since ringing day, the three youngsters are doing well and their trackers are barely visible as they have settled into the feathers between their shoulders.

The weather has taken a very sudden change to extreme heat and the birds have had to deal with this for the first time.

They cannot sweat to cool down and so they pant like a dog to lose heat that way and they can be seen open beaked and panting in the heat.

They are very exposed on the nest and have not fledged yet, so cannot move to shady areas.

They are not far off from fledging time and have been wing stretching and lifting from the structure but no true flights yet.

Peeblesshire News: The three juveniles at the west of Peebles nest after receiving their darvic rings. Photo: Tweed Valley Osprey ProjectThe three juveniles at the west of Peebles nest after receiving their darvic rings. Photo: Tweed Valley Osprey Project

These birds could potentially migrate to Africa and so extreme heat is something that they are likely to contend with in the future and now that they are virtual adults it should be something that they are well equipped to deal with.

On July 14 two further osprey nests were visited by the environment team to ring the ospreys. One of the nests was the second ‘back up’ nest and Eve Schulte, the environment ranger from Forestry and Land Scotland climbed the nest tree to lower the chicks to the ground where Tony Lightley, (Heritage and Environment Manager also from Forestry and Land Scotland), fitted the BTO ring and the darvic rings on to the legs of the young ospreys.

It was interesting to note that all three chicks in this nest had grown really well, as the only footage we had seen previously was in the early stages of this brood when the smallest chick was getting a fairly prolonged and nasty pecking from another sibling and we had wondered if it had survived.

Peeblesshire News: Osprey chick 719. Photo: Tweed Valley Osprey ProjectOsprey chick 719. Photo: Tweed Valley Osprey Project

Well, it certainly had survived and three beautiful, healthy, big chicks were ringed. They were weighed and measured. The largest chick was fitted with ring number 719 and it weighed 1900 grammes and had a wing length of 385mm which was undoubtedly female given its size.

Another chick was also female weighing 1650g but also with a wing length of 385 mm and had darvic ring 699 fitted and the smallest chick was 1550g and a wing length of 357mm indicating that it was a male bird and he was fitted with darvic numbered 698.

On the same day the team headed off to the west of Peebles nest and they swapped over, so that Tony climbed the huge 30m pine tree to the new nest platform, supplied for these birds after storm Arwen blew their own nest down.

Tony carefully lowered the chicks to the ground and Eve fitted the darvic rings, BTO rings and measured and weighed the birds. It was good to see that the pair at this nest FS2, the female from Loch Arkaig and her unringed partner had also raised three very healthy and robust young ospreys.

Peeblesshire News: Scan this code to visit the Tweed Valley Osprey Project blogScan this code to visit the Tweed Valley Osprey Project blog

They were fitted with darvic rings: 720, 721 and 722 and their weights were 1450g, 1450g and 1550g respectively with wing lengths of 370mm, 390mm and 340mm and were likely all males.

Another two osprey nest sites were visited but the birds had already fledged and were not ringed but there were two young at both sites and it was good to know that they had been successful.

The team have continued across the project area to visit all of the nest locations and carry out the rest of the ringing which we will receive information about hopefully by next week. So far though, it is proving to be a successful and fruitful osprey year in the Scottish Borders.