2016 – 2017

2016

Mrs G returned on the 23^rdMarch and had to wait until 12^thApril for the return of her new mate, Aran to arrive. Unusually, Mrs G laid the first egg just six days after Aran returned, but within hours of it being laid she had buried the egg under nesting material. Generally, Mrs G lays her eggs three days apart and there is usually at least a 12 day period from first mating to the first egg being laid. Perhaps the seven eggs she laid during 2015 had affected her regular laying pattern? The second egg was laid four days later on 22nd April and there was also another four day gap between that and the third egg. Both of these eggs were incubated from the start. Mrs G reverted to her normal laying pattern after 2016.

On 3rd May 2016 Dyfi born Blue 2R (2013), better known as “Clarach”, landed on the Glaslyn nest. This was the first resighting of her as an adult. Ten days later she was back again causing havoc, she stole two fish that Aran delivered and also did a bit of leg pulling when snatching a trout from him! She trampled on Mrs G and even pooped on her back. Mrs G remained on her two eggs throughout and did not behave aggressively towards Clarach, who was behaving similarly to how a juvenile would, Mrs G clearly did not perceive her to be a threat and chose to protect her eggs. Clarach left the Glaslyn nest on the 14th May. On 17th May she intruded at the Manton Bay nest at Rutland and on 29th May she was at Glaslyn born White YA’s original nest in Kielder Forest.

Two chicks hatched on the Glaslyn nest on 28^thand 31^stMay respectively, they were ringed on 3^rdJuly. For the first time DNA buccal swabs were taken for analysis. The eldest chick was a female, ringed Blue W7 and the youngest chick was a male, Blue W8. The female chick fledged on 20^thJuly and the male on 23^rdJuly. The night after W8 fledged he fell from the perch as he fell asleep and following the tragic death of “Ceri” the eldest of the two Dyfi chicks shortly after she fledged, concerns were raised. However, as soon as Aran delivered a fish the following morning he was back on the nest. A few days later W7 limped back to the nest with a leg injury. It was not known how she had sustained the injury, but she appeared to have a gash on her leg. After a few worrying days refusing food, just as Ceri had done, she began to respond to Mrs G’s offers of food and made a full recovery.

Mrs G left Glaslyn on 9^thSeptember. The two chicks were last seen on 13^thSeptember. Aran remained until 16^thSeptember.

It had once again been a challenging year for everyone at Glaslyn.

 

2017

Mrs G was back at Glaslyn on 22^ndMarch and Aran returned on 7^thApril in 2017. Just 12 days later on 19^thApril, Mrs G laid her first egg, followed by a further two on 22^ndand 25^thApril. After the disruptions of the previous two years, she had returned to her regular egg-laying pattern. The first chick hatch on 26^thMay, closely followed by the second chick on 27^thMay. The third chick was not too far behind its siblings, hatching just before midnight on 29^thMay.

The three chicks were strong and healthy and for the first time in Glaslyn history they were ringed in the nest rather than being bought down to the ground, by the highly experienced ornithologist Tony Cross. He judged all three of them to be males, the first time we had seen a same sex brood of three at Glaslyn. Buccal DNA swabs were taken under licence from the chicks, which later confirmed the sex. The three boys were fitted with darvic rings Z6, Z7 and Z8, with Z6 being the eldest and Z8 the youngest.

Z6 fledged at 51 days old on 16^thJuly, followed by Z7 at 53 days old on 19^thJuly and finally Z8 at 54 days on 22^ndJuly. The family of five temporarily became a family of six on 23rd August 2017. Blue JS5, a female chick ringed on 11 July that year at a nest in Argyll, joined the Glaslyn family for three days. Her “adopted brothers” soon grew tired of her stealing their share of the fish that Aran delivered however, and she was last seen being chased away from the nest by Z7.

Mrs G was the first to depart on 5^thSeptember, followed by Z6 on 8^thSeptember and Z8 on 9^thSeptember. Z7 left on 11^thSeptember and Aran finally departed on 12^thSeptember.

During 2017 there was other exciting news with first resightings of other Glaslyn born birds. On 12^thJune Blue W0, the “miracle youngest chick” from 2015, was caught on one of the nest cameras in the Kielder Forest. Then not one, but two of the three 2014 chicks were resighted. Firstly Blue 9C was photographed at RSPB Leighton Moss on 25^thJuly. Then his younger sister, Blue 8C was photographed at Popenguine, Senegal on 7^thOctober. The first sighting of a Glaslyn born Osprey on the African continent.