Apologies & Great News!

Firstly I must apologise for not posting anything in the last week or so I've been away and otherwise busy but I have lots of news. I was lucky enough to get a few days away in North Wales in the gorgeous weather we had over last weekend, I spent the days on the beaches watching the Buzzards and Ravens wheeling and rolling above the sea, these cliffs are also home to Sand Martins. The Buzzards will be preparing to breed shortly but the Ravens I have no doubt will have fledged young already as they are one of our early breeders starting around January/February in some parts of the country.

Whilst at work the other day I was outside talking to some students when I heard the Kee-Kee call of a Sparrowhawk, as I looked up I was greeted by a pair of spar's circling and tumbling high above me. Sparrowhawks tend to breed a little later in the year in order to take advantage of the smaller birds that will have fledged as a food source, seeing them circling in the sky calling to each other is the start of courtship for the pair and now is a fantastic time to see what is a usually secretive bird.

I was also pleased to hear from a local bird watcher/photographer that he has had several sightings of a Red Kite on my local patch, he also managed to take some cracking photos. A bird that was nearly pushed to extinction within the British Isles but has since made probably the most successful come back off the back of several re-introduction schemes. My feelings are that it will not be long before the Red Kite is a regular sighting across the UK a sighting that should be welcomed by everyone as a real conservation pat on the back!

Now for some truly fantastic news, Lady the female Osprey who is thought to be the oldest Osprey ever to breed has laid her 59th egg! Since her amazing return from Africa to her Loch Lowes nest the worry was that she would now be possibly to old to breed but yesterday she started the task of a new family by laying her first egg for 2011. Ospreys normally lay 2-4 eggs so there may be more to come and it is also not sure if the eggs will be fertile the proof will come after around 35 days of incubation, but my fingers are certainly tightly crossed for a successful outcome but will she be able to cope? To keep upto date with all the happenings at the nest click on this link for news http://blogs.swt.org.uk/osprey/

Thanks for following and make sure you get out and enjoy the Spring!