Foulshaw Moss (Cumbria Wildlife Trust, UK) Osprey cams (1 Viewer)

[Andrea Collins]

Two cams (one wide angle, one close up) on one nest at Foulshaw Moss in south Cumbria, UK. The cams were a bit glitchy to start but seem to be working ok now.

Two birds were present this morning (28/03) and copulated briefly which required some precision flying from the male in very strong winds.

https://www.cumbriawildlifetrust.org.uk/wildlife/cams/osprey-cam

 

[Andrea Collins]

Female is currently on the nest eating a fish (0825BST).

 

[sbarnhardt]

That is impressive.

 

[Andrea Collins]

The birds at this nest site currently have at least two eggs. Very good close views of the sitting bird can be had at this site though until the eggs hatch there are very long periods where nothing much happens unless you happen to get lucky and the partner arrives with a fish.

 

[Andrea Collins]

Cumbria Wildlife Trust have kindly given me permission to post some screenshots here from the Foulshaw Osprey Cams which I hope is ok with BirdForum's owners. The screenshots are copyright of Cumbria Wildlife Trust.

The first is from 28 March and shows the pair copulating briefly. The male wasn't present on the nest prior to this and flew straight in and landed directly on the female in very strong winds.



For a while the closer cam seemed to be zoomed in a bit more than it is at present which gave some really nice close views. The cam has since been zoomed out a bit more but is still good.



By the 12 April the birds have at least two, possibly three, eggs. The sitting bird here has spent the night on the nest in sub zero temperatures and is covered in frost.

 

[Andrea Collins]

This nice little interaction took place on 20 April. The female was sitting on three eggs (just visible centre bottom) when the male arrived with a fish. He was a bit reluctant to give it up but eventually released his grip on it. The female immediately flew off with it to eat it somewhere else. The male then did a bit of nest fettling before settling down on the eggs.

 

[Andrea Collins]

For the insomniacs out there, both these cams can be watched at night although there are of course very long periods when nothing happens. The sitting bird here spent a very long time in this position without moving except to deal with an itch, and when a couple of crows passed by very close. The bird did have its eye nearest to the camera open for long periods of time though so perhaps sleeping uni-hemispherically?

Shortly after I took this screenshot a Grasshopper Warbler started singing close by. It went on and on and on and..........eventually I had to turn the sound down.

 

[Andrea Collins]

Haven't managed to get any screenshots myself yet but the birds now have at least one chick which hatched yesterday (18/05/21).

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https://twitter.com/x/status/1394654003754151938

 

[Andrea Collins]

Here's chick number one at half past five this morning. Whilst I was watching the female left the nest twice for about a minute each time leaving the chick looking horribly exposed. When I checked back later there was a large fish on the nest and the chick was seen being fed later in the morning. Interesting the way the bird holds its talons when moving about on the nest.

 

[Andrea Collins]

Two chicks now, being fed by the female early this morning, although she soon covered them up again in the heavy rain.

 

[Andrea Collins]

All three eggs have now hatched.

 

[Andrea Collins]

All three youngsters here. The male (behind) has just arrived with the fish. The female took a good helping for herself and is now feeding the chicks. The two begging towards the female are, I would guess, the first two that hatched. Behind them the other chick is begging in the wrong direction towards the male. It didn't get any food at all this time. It was also regularly attacked very aggresively by the chick that's being fed in this picture so may not survive long.

.

 

[Andrea Collins]

Just in case anyone is concerned about this nest being heavily publicised, it is one of a couple of Osprey nest sites in Cumbria that have been well publicised since the birds first returned to nest in the county. It's location is already very well known and the nest has had cameras on it for several years. There are several other Osprey nest sites in the county which are definitely not publicised.

The birds at this site have so far successfully raised eighteen young in the last seven years.

 

[Andrea Collins]

All three chicks have survived whilst I've been away on my holidays. The nest is starting to look pretty full now.