Three 5-week-old osprey chicks have been tagged with ID rings at Foulshaw Moss Nature Reserve near Witherslack, one of Cumbria’s key breeding sites for these spectacular birds of prey. The chicks, which hatched from 20 to 25 May, have been identified as one female and two males and all three are doing well.

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. 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.

Paul said: “It’s always an amazing privilege to get close to these wonderful birds of prey and to see the chicks for the first time. 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 100^th osprey chick was tagged – it happened to be one of the Foulshaw Moss chicks! The recovery of ospreys in Cumbria is a fantastic success story and we hope they continue to go from strength to strength.”

The tags are invaluable as they enable us 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 summer, before they start their hazardous first migration to southern Spain or West Africa. Until then, you can continue to watch their progress on our osprey webcam.

Foulshaw Moss Nature Reserve is open to visitors. It is located near Witherslack, off the A590.  

For more news of the Foulshaw ospreys, listen to the regular Osprey Watch slot on Radio Cumbria. Join in the osprey conversation on social media using #FoulshawOspreys