An osprey called Mrs G who has played an incomparable role in repopulating Britain with the magnificent birds of prey is missing. In nearly two decades of returning to Snowdonia every spring, she has hatched 52 eggs and become a grandmother to at least 130 chicks.
The white and brown bird is thought to spend the winter in west Africa before returning to the Glaslyn nesting site near Porthmadog in the spring to breed. She was known for being one of the first ospreys to return each year but as yet there is no sign of her.
Before this year, the latest she had arrived was April 1. In 2015, she arrived back on March 19 and usually she’s on her nest by March 26. Her regular mate is a male called Aran who usually returns after her. But he arrived on Monday, April, and so far remains alone.
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“We’ve not given up hope,” said Glaslyn visitor centre manager Heather Corfield. “But as each days passes, it’s looks a little less optimistic."
“A lot of people are wondering where she is. Mrs G is usually an early bird, she’s never been this late before. We’ve always known there would come a time when she would no longer return and it’s possible we’ve now reached that point. It’s very sad, and it will upset a lot of people, but we have to be realistic.”
North Wales Live reported that Mrs G is thought to have first arrived at Glaslyn as a three-year old bird in April 2004, though it’s possible she may have checked out the site the previous summer. She has never missed a spring in Wales since then.
Her breeding has been prolific. At first she produced just two or three eggs each season but in more recent years has provided at least 60 eggs, 52 of which are known to have hatched. She is thought now to be 22 or 23 years old.
Many of her chicks have survived. Some 44 have succeeded in flying the next, although some succumbed one year when her mate Aran, who provides the food for the chicks, was injured.Some 23 eggs, yielding 18 fledglings were with Aran, her second and, probably, final partner.
“She is a quite remarkable bird,” said Heather. “To think how long she has been coming here and what’s she’s done for the osprey breeding programme in the UK.”
The reasons why she is late returning include that she may have been blown off course by storms during her 3,000-mile migration from west Africa or that she may have died. Possible causes include poisoning or being caught in fishing nets, as happened to a young Welsh osprey in West Gambia a few years ago.
Like Aran, she is unringed and untracked, so until she nests her location is usually a mystery. Aran touched down at 2.57pm on Monday, April 3, and, if Mrs G fails to appear, it is hoped he will pair up with one of Glaslyn’s unattached females.
Live, online images from her nest are being broadcast 24 hours-a-day. Live high-definition nest and feeding images are also beamed to the Pont Croesor visitor centre by the site's manager, Bywyd Gwyllt Glaslyn Wildlife.
“If she does appear, it will be absolutely marvellous,” said Heather. “If she doesn’t, it would be nice to think she is enjoying a well-earned retirement in Africa, but unfortunately we know this rarely happens.”
Another breeding osprey pair at Pont Croesor have already been reunited this spring. A week ago, the female Blue 014 joined her mate Z2/Aeron at a nest site managed by the Friends of the Ospreys.
- Glaslyn Ospreys near Prenteg, Porthmadog, is open every day of the week, 10.30am-4.30pm, until the birds migrate in September. Entry is free, but the charity that runs the site, Bywyd Gwyllt Glaslyn Wildlife, welcomes donations.
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