The three Bassenthwaite Osprey chicks reared this year on Dodd fell have fledged. Two females and a male, they will soon be taught how to catch their own fish by the adult male.
Most of our vistors will be familiar with Duncan the raven who takes stale bread & toast from the lawn and dunks it in the birdbath before eating it. He also picks up as much bread as possible to take back to tne nest, sometimes being almost unable to take flight, and frequently dropping chunks of bread around the garden.
Siskins have been plentiful on the feeders this year, and recently we have had more frequent visits from a nuthatch. The Greater Spotted Woodpecker that many will also be familiar with has been spending a lot of time on the nut feeder over the last couple of weeks.
The Bassenthwaite Ospreys are raising three chicks again this year; they should be fledging in about 3 weeks time and will then get taught how to fish by the male parent. The mother? She goes off to Africa before the others for a much needed holiday, the important work being over for another year.