The first of the four eggs hatched on the Manton Bay nest during the hours of darkness, late on 12th May. This was followed two days later by egg #2, also late in the evening, and then #3 hatched during the afternoon of 17th May. We eagerly anticipated the fourth egg to follow within two or three days but, for whatever reason, it never hatched and remains, for now, on the nest. Whether either of the adult Ospreys choose to eventually remove it, we will find out in due course.

All three successful chicks have been growing at a vast rate. In the image they are 8, 6 and 3 days old respectively. As I type this, on 8th June, they are significantly larger and already growing their proper juvenile plumage.

Within the next few weeks, our specialist team will be visiting the nest and ringing the chicks. We will measure their wingspans, weigh them and, with this information, we can them sex them. Females are larger than males, so we have certain known parameters to work within. It's not a totally exact science and we will only truly find out if they return from migration in future years and begin mating!

Once they have been ringed, it will only be a short time until we see them fledging from the nest (roughly early July) and properly learning to fly ahead of their migration south, which usually happens from mid-August onwards.