FLEDGING TIME ALREADY

I was intending writing a blog about the changing dynamics in the nest but it got overtaken by the exciting news that 733 (Jed) fledged at 1600 this afternoon after umming and aahing (spelling??) for several hours.

The chicks’ helicoptering had, to be frank, been quite conservative up until today. We had certainly seen air under his talons but he never seemed to sustain lift off for more than a couple of seconds and 732 (Ursula) hadn’t actually been seen to lift off the nest completely at all. So I thought it would be a couple of days at least before we saw a fledge but, today, everything seemed to just slot into place.

A couple of smallish fish were delivered by JW6 (Juno) by midmorning and she then disappeared off and so missed all the excitement. The first was consumed by 733 and the second by 732 and then the flapping in earnest started. I was very glad that they hadn’t tried helicoptering in the high winds we’d had in the previous days but today there was a light breeze at tree top height, which I think encouraged them. He was the more enthusiastic and was doing wing assisted hops to the branches we call the cot rails (because they are almost parallel to the ground and form the front edge of the nest area) and the nest perch.

He developed an interesting sidle to manoeuvre himself up and down the nest perch and seemed fascinated to see how far away the ground was (it’s about 100ft down). She also put far more effort into wing exercising than we’d seen before and several times lifted herself into the air but never strayed outside the confines of the nest.

The first time he looked like he was really going to go, he was disturbed by Samson bringing in a fish. That was quickly grabbed by 732 and, although 733 came back into the nest and showed some interest, he didn’t attempt to take it from her. He then went back up onto the cot rails and from there onto the nest perch and even Samson’s arrival with another fish couldn’t distract him; he was a chick driven. 732 couldn’t believe her luck and started to feed again and didn’t actually see her brother finally summon up the courage and launch into the air.

He flew high and around in several circles, clearly gaining confidence, and then frightened the life out of us watching as he went into a steep dive down towards the nest, replicating how JW6 sometimes arrives with a flourish. Luckily, he came out of the dive in time to avoid crashing headlong but seemed to really be enjoying himself. He then decided to land in the dead tree, next to Samson, but whether he knocked Samson out of the tree or Samson just took avoiding action, that has to be written off as a failed landing attempt, but he was nevertheless confident enough to recover and do another circuit.

He was airborne for 3 mins in total and when he decided to land, he came in and touched down as sweet as you like on the nest perch. It certainly didn’t look like the first time he had ever landed.

Since then, he has done another couple of short flights, landing once in the dead tree to have a man-to-man chat with Samson and the second time to have a fly around and show off to his sibling.

Coincidentally, as I mentioned, 732 didn’t notice him getting airborne as she was too busy eating so, the first time she looked up, it was to see a flying osprey very close to the nest and she didn’t know it was her older sibling. She therefore did the time honoured “face plant” to play dead but it was noticeable that she lay on top of the fish. That stranger was going to have to go through her before it attempted to steal her fish. She knows her priorities. She didn’t relax until he returned to the nest at the end of his maiden flight and I swear she looked a bit sheepish as she regained her feet.

So, the focus now shifts to 732 and when she decides to make the big move. As you will recall from the ringing blog, she is a lot heavier than 733, despite being younger, so it may not happen tomorrow as she builds up muscle and courage. Nevertheless, she won’t be content to let 733 have all the excitement and I’m sure that, all things considered, it won’t be long before we have the possibility of 4 ospreys in the sky together over the nest site. I can’t wait!