Osprey eggs laid at Kielder for thirteenth consecutive…

Osprey eggs laid at Kielder for thirteenth consecutive year

Ospreys have followed up their return to Kielder last month with new eggs in several nests in the forest.

It's the 13th year in a row that the fish eating eagles have returned to Northumberland, with their presence in the county during the summer months has been dubbed "the soap opera in the skies" in that time. And the new twist in the plot has seen all but one of the breeders from the seven successful nests last year return, with two ospreys born in Kielder among them.

There are now at least 16 eggs on five nests in Kielder Forest, with the Nest 7 female KX7 having laid three eggs, the last of which was towards the end of April. Elsewhere throughout the forest, Nest 1A has a full clutch of four eggs for the fifth time in six years.

There is no camera coverage at Nests 2 and 8, so there could be even more than 16 eggs. Following the decision in 2017 to start an alphabetised naming scheme for the birds which hatch at Kielder, the 2022 chicks will be named after parts of Northumberland beginning with the letter F.

Breeding pairs of ospreys have nested in Kielder between March and September since 2009, with activity on the nests mainly throughout May to August as the chicks hatch, are fed and then take to the wing and practise hunting. In that time, the ospreys have become a big hit with the public who are able to watch their lives unfold via locally-streamed nest cams and from a new cabin at Tower Knowe visitor centre.

A heavyweight osprey chick named Coquet, from 2019 (Joanna Dailey)

Have you seen the ospreys at Kielder? Let us know in the comments below!

Katy Barke, West Northumberland Manager at Northumberland Wildlife Trust, said: "One of the reasons Kielder is so successful is there's a ready food source in the reservoir, good habitat, and Forestry England put up the nesting platforms that they choose to nest on. It's amazing that we have them up here.

"You can go to Kielder and almost guarantee you'll see one as there are so many birds around. We have some here in Northumberland, some in the Lake District and some in Rutland too.

Osprey chick Embley practising lift offs in 2021 (handout)

"Some have recently been reintroduced to Poole Harbour, but here in England there aren't massive populations and only a few spots to see them. So, Kielder is a really great opportunity for people if they want to see an osprey in the wild, it's one of the best and only places for it!"

Each weekend, and every Wednesday from now until Saturday August 14, Northumberland Wildlife Trust and a team of volunteers are running Osprey Watch from the Tower Knowe cabin. Following a two year break due to the pandemic, visitors are being offered views of the activity on the nest via telescopes, and a close up on nest 7 via the nest cam on screens in the cabin.

Live images from two nest cams are also being streamed to public screens at the mobile Street Diner at Kielder Castle.

The Kielder Osprey Project is a partnership between Kielder Water & Forest Park Development Trust, Forestry England, Northumberland Wildlife Trust, Northumbrian Water and Calvert Trust Kielder. More details are available here.

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