South Cumbria's sign spring has 'sprung' with the Ospreys' return

It's around ten days until this conservation success story is re-told and female Blue 35 and male White YW return from Africa. 

The lovebirds usually return to nest at the site and have raised 27 chicks over the nine years they've bred at the site - 13 males and 14 females. 

There was some concern that female Blue 35 would not return last year however.

Her mate White YW had brought unknown female ospreys to the nest and she was not seen in the first few days he arrived.

She soon flew in however to take her rightful place. 

The pair usually have three eggs however sadly not all the chicks survive. 

A chick died in the nest in 2016 and in 2020, and in 2019 an egg failed to hatch. 

Ringing the osprey chicks enables Cumbria Wildlife Trust to follow their progress as they grow up, nest and start to raise chicks of their own.

This enabled it to discover that one of the very first chicks, Blue 7A, has been breeding at Esthwaite since 2017. 

The volunteers are always delighted when they hear the news such as this and also, that other chicks have survived their first migration. They're hoping for the 'big 3-0' this year.

This is a very exciting time of year at Foulshaw Moss Nature Reserve and as the activity isn't without its drama, webcams have set up to capture the action as it happens.

The live feed on the osprey nest has been going for over ten years and its popularity has grown ever since. In lockdown particularly, viewing rates skyrocketed with nearly 400,000 unique visits to the live feed page. 

There are now thousands of viewers all over the UK. 

It costs around £12,000 to get and keep these cameras running for the season however and as such, Cumbria Wildlife Trust is asking for donations here:

The cameras are a chance to witness in real time what has been hailed as a conservation success. 

Ospreys were pushed to extinction for around 150 years because of systematic persecution and low breeding numbers. 

Before the 1990s, the 900-acre Foulshaw Moss peatland site was drained and used for commercial forestry and farming.

Almost all English peatlands have been damaged by drainage, heavy grazing, regular burning, cultivation, forestry or other management.

When peatland is damaged it is no longer waterlogged and the specialist plant species that make the peatland, such as Sphagnum mosses, cannot survive.

A lot of hard work and around £1,124,682 went into the area being transformed back into a healthy wetland full of wildlife. 

After it was purchased in 1999, Cumbria Wildlife Trust removed trees and blocked drains and ditches to raise the water level of the peatland and in turn, covered it with Sphagnum mosses which creates peat itself. 

It's around ten days until the Ospreys return and the cameras are usually turned on in late March.

To view find out more, visit the Cumbria Wildlife Trust website.