Kielder Ospreys having a record 'beaking' 2016

The Kielder Ospreys have made 2016 a record-breaking year with a healthy hatching of nine chicks – the most ever recorded since ospreys re-colonised in Northumberland seven years ago.

The latest arrival on Kielder’s Nest 2 has completed the “new brood”, topping the area’s previous record fledging of eight in 2014. This includes four healthy chicks on Kielder’s Nest 1A, one of only two public nests in the UK to have hatched so many eggs this year.

Joanna Dailey, Kielder Osprey expert volunteer, said: “It has been so exciting to watch the nests and see these eggs hatch, and the public visiting the web cams have been equally enthralled.

“To have four chicks on one nest is very rare, a one in a hundred occurrence, so that’s particularly great to see.”

There are now four chicks on Nest 1A, three on Nest 2 and two on Nest 3.

Joanna said: “To have a record number of healthy chicks at Kielder is very rewarding for all involved. Ospreys re-colonised in Northumberland in 2009, following an absence from the region spanning more than 200 years, and we are seeing the species flourish here once again. The work the Forestry Commission Wildlife Rangers put into establishing these platforms is now so rewarding for everyone involved.”

Wildlife lovers can keep up to date with all the stories as they unfold through the Kielder osprey blog at kielderospreys.wordpress.com