A WILDLIFE trust met its latest feathery additions for the first time this week to undertake an important conservation method.
Three five-week-old osprey chicks have been tagged with ID rings at Foulshaw Moss Nature Reserve, near Witherslack.
The chicks, who hatched from May 20 to May 25, have been identified as one female and two males and all three are doing well, according to Cumbria Wildlife Trust.
Paul Waterhouse, reserves officer for Cumbria Wildlife Trust, visited the nest site, to accompany a licenced and experienced bird ringer, brought in to tag the chicks with ID rings.
As the osprey is a Schedule 1 protected species, only those with a licence from the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) are permitted to approach and handle the birds.
The parent birds kept a watch on the wing as the three chicks were carefully lowered from their tree-top nest.
According to the trust, the process took no longer than 30 minutes and neither parent birds nor chicks seemed ‘unduly alarmed’ by the activity. As well as being ringed with blue ID bands, they were weighed, measured and checked over.
“It’s always an amazing privilege to get close to these wonderful birds of prey and to see the chicks for the first time,” said Mr Waterhouse.
“They were weighed by the licenced bird ringer and each chick was given a coloured leg ring.
“This year we have Blue 479, a female weighing 1.8kg, Blue 480, a male weighing 1.7kg, and Blue 481, a male weighing 1.4kg. As fully-grown adults their wingspan will be around 152cm–167cm (about 5 feet), making them one of the largest birds of prey in the UK.
“Last year we reached a conservation milestone here in Cumbria, when the 100th osprey chick was tagged – it happened to be one of the Foulshaw Moss chicks! The recovery of osprey chicks in Cumbria is a fantastic success story and we hope they continue to grow from strength to strength.”
The tags enable Cumbria Wildlife Trust to identify the birds individually, keep tracks of their movements and understand their life history.
They have been fitted with metal BTO rings, as part of the national bird ringing scheme and also a plastic colour ring, which allows individual birds to be identified in the field using a telescope or telephoto camera.
The osprey chicks are expected to fledge in the next couple of weeks and will fly the nest at the end of the summer, before they start their first migration to southern Spain or West Africa.
Until then, people can continue to watch their progress on Cumbria Wildlife Trust’s osprey webcam.
And people can join in the osprey conversation on social media using #FoulshawOspreys
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