your comments
Lin & Reg Heath, Osprey Project Volunteers
After sightings of three Ospreys on Wednesday, the male, a youngster and an adult female, followed by sightings of the male and a female on Thursday, no ospreys were seen at all on Friday or Saturday, although people have searched all their usual perching places.
It seems to us that they have now departed on their journey south. As the 2009 season at Glaslyn ends, we, as Volunteers, would like to thank the Staff at the Glaslyn Osprey Project for all their hard work and in making it a great success.
Thanks also to all the people who have given their time to volunteer at both the Protection Site and the Visitor Centre; the RSPB Residential Volunteers who came to help and lastly, but far from least, all the many Visitors who came and enjoyed seeing the Ospreys and gave their support to the Project and whom we hope to welcome back again next year, our fifth season with the Ospreys. Special mention must go to Geraint (Benjie) Williams, our new Manager this year, for his commitment and dedication to the project, and also to his wife Mev, who has put in many, many hours, above and beyond the call of duty, as a Volunteer. Thank you both so very much.
Now the project has closed, and the Ospreys have all flown away to Africa, and the nest is empty again, there may be the odd tear, and feeling of sadness at the Ospreys having gone, but this successful completion of the Osprey Season at Glaslyn is what we have all worked towards since March. Once again, the Glaslyn Ospreys have produced three fledglings, and we wish all them good luck and a safe journey on their migration. We can, of course, reflect back on the highlights of 2009, and look forward to the adult birds returning once more next March, for what we hope will be yet another year of Osprey wonder.
Mon Sep 7 09:43:20 2009
Lin Heath, Osprey Project Volunteer
It seems that as well as young male YF, the young female 91 may still be around after a possible sighting on Tuesday. The male has been seen perching in the dead tree on Moel Ddu this morning, Wednesday.
Wed Sep 2 15:35:18 2009
Lin Heath, Osprey Project Volunteer
The adult male and the young males were still around on Sunday 30th August, the youngster YF still being provided with fish by his father. We saw YF receive a fish from his father on the nest on Sunday afternoon and he had one in the morning too. A large otter was seen in the river in front of the hide a couple of times last week. This is the final week that the Project was to be open but as I write this on Tuesday afternoon, the Visitor Centre has been closed since late Sunday afternoon as the site is flooded, knee-deep water threatening the Portakabins.
Tue Sep 1 14:47:31 2009
Lin & Reg Heath, Osprey Project Volunteers
Back from our break today, Wednesday, to find that the adult female and the two young females, white 90 and 91 all seem to have left the valley, the mother not seen since Sunday, 90 not seen since 18th August and 91 also gone since the weekend.
The young male YF and his father remain. We saw both of them on the nest with fish today soon after one of them flew right over the visitor centre carrying a fish.
Much excitement this afternoon when an unknown, unringed, adult female (definitely not the mother)landed on the nest and sat there with young male YF for 40 m! inutes or so. She was confident and quite at ease on the nest, preening and tucking a foot up under herself but YF was not a happy young osprey at all at the sight of this unknown intruder. When she made a grab for the fish, YF pecked at her and raised his wings and the strange female visitor left him to it and flew away leaving YF perplexed on the nest. We saw YF on the nest again for a while around 3pm and again at 5pm and he was still there calling (for food and his siblings and parents) when we left at the end of the day.
Thu Aug 27 09:45:18 2009
Lin & Reg Heath, Osprey Project Volunteers
Coming through Tremadog after a short break, we met someone from the site on Monday evening who told us that the adult male & the adult female had been seen perching together in the dead tree on Moel Ddu on Sunday, and that young male YF was seen on the nest on Monday.
Tue Aug 25 15:34:17 2009
Lin Heath, Osprey Project Volunteer
The adult female was still in the valley on Friday, having been seen perching in the dead tree on Moel Ddu for quite a long time. The adult male has kept up the good work with the provision of plenty of fish for his offspring. He was seen carrying a fish right over the Visitor Centre on Saturday. We had some lovely views of the youngsters on Saturday afternoon flying around in the vicinity of the nest and perching on the camera pole and the nest and we heard loud calls for food (91 again?) after the male flew in with yet another fish which he took to the nearby feeding trees.As I will not be at the site again for 10 days, I wondered sadly as I left if I would see any of the youngsters again when I return on 26th August. I do hope so. The female surely will have gone by then.
Mon Aug 17 10:07:34 2009
Beth, Sheffield
We were camping on the coast of the Lleyn near Rhiw, looking out over Hell's Mouth this week. On Tuesday morning as we were preparing to go out we saw some birds of prey approaching from the East. They circled around the bay and two of them swooped low over the sea in front of us, appearing to be looking for fish. 3 others staying higher in the sky. One of these flew down into some trees at the side of us and stayed there, mewing. The other 4 then gained height and flew off across the penninsula towards open sea - leaving the 5th one behind. When we returned form our day out we could no longer hear the young bird in the trees. Could these have been your missing birds - gone fishing?
Fri Aug 14 15:01:00 2009
Lin & Reg, Osprey Project Volunteers
Pleased to see the RSPB Osprey Diary is now up and running again with several updates. We spent Monday and Tuesday working in the hide at the Visitor Centre. It was a very quiet couple of days indeed as regards sightings of the ospreys, the adult female had not been seen since Saturday when we left the site yesterday evening. We are wondering if she has set off on her migration? The weather on Monday was rainy, again, and sometimes visibility was very poor through the 'scopes. The ospreys were obviously sheltering out of our sight or away fishing as we saw very little of them indeed, despite scanning all the favourite perching places. Yesterday, the weather was better but it was still quiet on the osprey front. We had a very brief view of the male bringing a fish to 91 yesterday, as usual she was waiting on the nest pole for 2 or 3 hours in the afternoon looking very disgruntled and actually stomping around and calling in the nest as if she was in a really bad mood because no one had brought her anything for a good while! When Dad eventually brought the fish, 90 came on to the nest as well, but made no attempt to try to take any of 91's fish. Dad flew off straightaway after the fish delivery. The visitors at the time were really lucky to have seen the two young on the nest together. YF was seen on the nest as well earlier in the day. A visitor reported having seen an osprey perching on a pole across the Estuary from Borth y Gest which is an excellent place from which to look out for the ospreys fishing between there and Portmeirion, especially at this time of the season. We saw a peregrine on both days high above the field.
Thu Aug 13 09:27:12 2009
Alan Petrie from Yaxley
Having visited the Glaslyn site for the last 3 years I can imagine the excitement in seeing the otter.
Mon Aug 10 09:48:00 2009
Lin & Reg, Osprey Project Volunteers
On Tuesday, due to all the recent rain, the river was really high again. All of a sudden the most enormous otter came swimming upriver from the right of the hide, and heading towards the bridge. Its large head and tail were clearly visible and it was huge. Benjie, our manager, came across to see and said that it was the biggest otter he'd ever seen. It looked as if it was about 4 feet long from nose to tail. It swam up to the bridge and clambered up over the concrete below the bridge before swimming off up the river. What a treat! This guest appearance caused a lot of excitement and enjoyment for all who were there.Visibility was very poor with low cloud and rain and the ospreys seemed to be taking refuge from the weather out of sight from the visitor centre. Not much was seen of them in the morning, although there were some views later on of ospreys both perching in the dead tree on Moel Ddu, and around the nest.On Thursday, the weather was greatly improved, a sunny day. One of the youngsters was seen perching for quite some time in the dead tree on the hillside. At one point, White 91, the baby of the family, was on the nest when one of the others brought part a fish on to the nest, 91 quickly grabbed the fish from the other bird which flew quickly away leaving 91 to gobble it up. This happened so quickly it was unclear which bird had brought the fish! 91 was also seen flying in the area around the nest and surrounding trees. There was an abundance of swallows, swifts and house martins feeding on the midges above the river and the young swallows were still being fed by their parents on the beam in the hide. We had a lovely view of a beautifully marked young buzzard circling over the visitor centre. A young buzzard was seen recently practising its flying skills, repeatedly circling then diving fast down to the ground and rising up again, in the fields near the woods behind the visitor centre.
Fri Aug 7 13:16:30 2009
Janet, Caernarfon
I agree with Don Evans from Manchester, I find myself following other osprey nests as they keep us more informed. I would much rather follow my local nest.
Fri Aug 7 11:50:54 2009
Judith Mills London
So good to have news at last. Many thanks
Thu Aug 6 09:31:08 2009
Don Evans, Manchester
Many thanks to Lin and Reg. I am suprised by the lack of information on the RSPB blog this year, so your updates have been much appreciated.
Wed Aug 5 10:51:25 2009
Lin & Reg, Osprey Project Volunteers
The ospreys are all safe and well and the young are practising their flying skills around the valley. Their next objective is learning how to fish for themselves so that they can put on more weight and become self sufficient by the time they migrate to West Africa at the end of this month. We suspect that the oldest of the youngsters, female White 90, is catching her own fish now as she was seen by one of our protection officers carrying a fish in last week, whilst the other ospreys were all in sight in the nest vicinity. The younger female seems less inclined yet to venture out for her own food, and she often sits on the nest calling for food brought in by the male. We have had two particularly good sightings of him coming right over the top of the visitor centre carrying a fish recently. The adult female has been seen quite often perching in a dead tree on the hillside of Moel Ddu, which is much nearer to the Visitor Centre than the nest, and visitors have enjoyed watching her preening and perching there. She has been going fishing just for herself again for the last couple of weeks now that she knows that she can leave the youngsters for a while, and building up her strength and condition again. The male has also been seen perching there.
Tue Aug 4 09:46:54 2009
Don Evans, Manchester
Is there any information on the birds since July 13th?
Fri Jul 31 15:06:55 2009
Lin & Reg, Osprey Project Volunteers
Third young osprey fledged the nest Saturday 11 July at 4.48pm. Great news!
Mon Jul 13 09:57:16 2009
Lin & Reg, Osprey Project Volunteers
At at 6pm on Friday, the youngest osprey had not fledged, despite spending nearly all day on the edge of the nest, flapping her wings and rising up and down and to and fro, looking as if she really wanted to fly! We really wanted to see her first flight, but no luck today!
Mon Jul 13 09:56:57 2009
Lin & Reg, Osprey Project Volunteers
The second young Osprey fledged the nest yesterday, Wednesday 8th July, at 2.05pm. We saw White 90, the first chick to fledge, flying really well up the valley today (Thursday) with the adult male.
Fri Jul 10 09:47:19 2009
Tony Ashton Protection Volunteer
Currently the latest correct information is contained in the Blog by Vivien Finn
Tue Jul 7 10:09:25 2009
Peter and Nenita Nelson from S.Wales
We had the pleasure of visiting the centre on Friday afternoon 3rd July. We were so glad we did- absolutely amazing. Lin and Reg are so enthusiastic about it all and so so informative as well. We learnt so much.I do hope the web cam gets up and runing very soon as those young Osprey will soon fledge. Many thanks.
Mon Jul 6 14:27:04 2009
Emyr, Llanfrothen.
First chick (White 90) fledged this afternoon (4th of July) at 16.47 - she circled the nest briefly before alighting again. White 90 is 52 days old and fledges at what is the average age for Glaslyn chicks. It certainly was Independence Day for this osprey chick!
Mon Jul 6 09:41:30 2009
Lin & Reg, Osprey Project Volunteers
The first flight of one of the young Glaslyn Ospreys happened this afternoon! White 90 flew in a circle around the nest at 12 minutes to 5! Great news!
Mon Jul 6 09:41:07 2009
Vivien Finn Protection Volunteer
Chicks are now as large as adults and are taking whole fish from the male and feeding themselves. Over the weekend lots of beating wings and lifting with dangling legs up to 4 to 5 feet directly above the nest and dropping down again. No controlled flight outside the diameter of the the nest yet. This should happen in the next couple of days. Update to 6 PM Sunday
Mon Jul 6 09:40:31 2009
Lin & Reg, Osprey Project Volunteers
Just to let you know that all is well at the nest, we have live pictures at the Visitor Centre and we hope this webcam will soon be back online, please!The youngsters are growing fast, no longer really chicks, but fit and healthy young ospreys, and they should fledge in about a week.
Web team: Sorry about the break in transmission. We hope to have the webcam back online in a couple of days.
Fri Jul 3 09:22:15 2009
Don Evans, Manchester
Anyone any idea what's happened to the webcam?
Web team: Sorry about the loss of picture. We're investigating at the moment. In the meantime, if you can make it to the RSPB visitor centre at Glaslyn, you can still view the nestcam there.
Fri Jun 26 10:34:26 2009
Lin & Reg, Osprey Project Volunteers
It was a hot sunny day today at the Project. The chicks are growing so very quickly and we saw much stretching of wings going on, there's only around a couple of weeks or so now until they will be ready to fledge.
The male brought fish at 10.30 and 1.30 and was away from the nest, probably off for another fishing trip, when the site closed. He's being kept really busy providing for the family, bringing about 6 or 7 fish a day now. He spent some time having a well-deserved rest in the sunshine in the tree to the left of the nest-tree and also perched for a wh! ile on top of the camera pole above the nest.
The herons were about again in the river near the bridge, despite the fact that the cows were paddling in the water and sheltering from the sun under the bridge. We had a rare, brief view of the kingfisher perching on a branch on the river's edge. The swallows first brood having fledged, they now seem to be starting to build another nest further along the beam in the hide. This also happened last year after the first clutch of eggs were tipped out by an unknown intruder, and yet the female swallow eventually returned to the original nest to lay a second clutch.
Wed Jun 24 12:28:12 2009
Lin & Reg, Osprey Project Volunteers
Pleased to let you know that the chicks were ringed successfully this morning despite the windy conditions. The chicks weighed in at between 1.4 and 1.7kg and all looked fit and healthy. The male came back with a fish whilst the ringing was taking place, circled around a few times and then took it away, to return with it to the nest along the female, once the chicks were safely back in the nest.Faithful volunteers Judith and Gwyn were honoured and excited to be allowed to attend the ringing as the volunteers who put in the most hours this season.
Thu Jun 18 15:56:54 2009
Emyr, Llanfrothen.
Good news from the Glaslyn - all three chicks were ringed this morning and thankfully the rain stayed away. Thirteen chicks have been ringed now at this nest site in five years (we know one of these has died) and today was the earliest ringing yet, beating 19 June 2007 by one day! Osprey chicks are ringed at around five weeks old when the legs are fully developed in terms of girth, but young enough that there is no chance they will try and fledge the nest prematurely.
Thu Jun 18 13:01:51 2009
Lin & Reg Heath Caernarfon
It was good to see Linda Cameron and her husband again while we were working at the site yesterday. (See comment below.) We have noticed significant changes in the chicks' development this last week. They are actually standing up on their feet now, beginning to stretch their wings, their plumage is altering and they are now taking an interest in what lies beyond the rim of the nest. The male osprey brought about five fish yesterday. As the chicks are growing so fast he is kept busy providing their food. Mum and the chicks were visibly shocked when a huge jet roared low over the nest (and so were we when it got to the visitor centre)! The swallows all fledged last weekend and the herons and mergansers were seen on the river. We also saw linnets, meadow pipits, the peregrine and a kestrel. A Community Weekend will be held on 18-19 July. More details nearer the date.
Wed Jun 17 12:30:55 2009
John Roberts, Rhyl
This web cam link does not do justice to the live clear and brill pics being transmitted at the Glaslyn viewing site daily.
Wed Jun 10 09:11:53 2009
Lin & Reg Heath, Caernarfon
All three chicks still doing well, the weather has cooled down a little, which is very welcome. Peregrine and male Hen Harrier seen at Glaslyn this week. Looking forward to the Community week-end in July.
Thu Jun 4 11:53:33 2009
Linda Cameron, Wirral.
We were down last weekend and hoped to see the male fetching fish back to the nest. I have been coming for 3 years and not seen him flying yet. I am persistant and will keep coming back. The live link in the office is brilliant. It's good news that the 3rd chick hatched. Can I say a BIG thank you to all the staff and volunteers, you all make it a really pleasant day out.
Wed May 20 16:13:34 2009
Lin & Reg Heath
Great news. We now have three Osprey chicks in the nest at the Glaslyn Ospreys Project. Why not come and visit us, where you can see the proud parents feeding the youngsters on our large screens. A great day out for all ages, and great for children.
Mon May 18 10:53:33 2009
Elfyn Lewis, Porthmadog.
Great news! First chick emerged this morning. Well done everyone!
Wed May 13 11:59:31 2009
Paul and Karen Liverpool
Looking forward to the eggs hatching this year and visiting the site to get a close up view of the family and hopefully get a glimpse of the male returning with his catch. Well done all involved in the project!
Mon May 11 10:03:22 2009
Emyr, Llanfrothen.
David, nobody knows for sure where the Glaslyn ospreys winter, but based on ring ID and radio transmitter data of numerous UK ospreys over the years, they spend the Winter in west Africa. Gambia, Senegal and Mauritania are the three three likeliest candidates. They take around a month to travel there, leaving August/September and arriving back late March.
Thu May 7 12:44:51 2009
David Richardson from Wisbech
Is there any information regarding this pair's wintering quarters?
Fri May 1 09:36:30 2009
