Two eggs have hatched to the oldest established breeding pair of ospreys at Kielder Forest in Northumberland.
Mr and Mrs 69 become the first birds to hatch an egg this year at the Northumberland breeding colony, with the hatchling spotted when Mrs 69 moved towards a fish by her side, rising as her mate arrived at the nest. A second egg has since hatched.
The couple have bred at Nest 4 since the platform went up in early 2016. He was born at a nest near Loch Lomond in Scotland in 2013, but as she is unringed, her origin is unknown. The have raised two chicks to fledging each year, apart from 2021 when they managed three and 2022 when only one survived. Before this breeding season, their tally stood at 14 chicks raised.
Two of their offspring have been seen back in the UK. Belling, who hatched in 2018, has been seen in Kielder Forest over the last three years. He has not appeared this year, however, so could have a nest in the Borders. The 2020 chick, Darden, was seen at Leighton Moss in Cumbria last year.
Mrs and Mrs 69 become the senior pair at Kielder after the disappearance last year of osprey YA. He had been raising chicks at Kielder since 2013 with Mrs YA and first bred the year before with a female who failed to return from migration the next season. At the start of last year YA had raised 26 offspring to fledging – more than a quarter of the total output for the Kielder colony - since breeding at the site began in 2009.
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.
Osprey Watch takes place at Tower Know at Kielder Water every Saturday, Sunday and Wednesday to August 13 between 11am - 4.30pm, with visitors offered views of the nest via scopes and a close up on nest 7 via a camera in the cabin.
