by Lindsey

Good news the Great Crested Grebe chicks are safe and sound. We were all really worried earlier when one of the adults dove down apparently leaving the chicks behind, then resurfaced making a lot of noise and went off alarm calling and ‘running’ on top of the water and there was no sign of either chick. Earlier when the chicks did a parent swop the Pike was around and could be clearly seen below the surface so it was fair to assume it had come back and got them. One of the adults then returned to the lilypad nest, which is unusual as they normally abandon the nest once the chicks have hatched, perhaps they felt it was safer there. Then to our delight a wee black and white ‘humbug’ head appeared, shortly followed by the second one. All were safe and sound.

A very quiet day on the Osprey nest, only two fish so far both Pike and most of the day has been spent with the female shading the chick from the sun. The chick has been stretching out its large wings and legs presumably in an attempt to cool. We’ve not seen much of the male today, he was on the Boingy Branch for a while until a couple of crows came and mobbed him and he decided to go elsewhere.

Congratulations to RSPB Glaslyn on their second chick fledging, who’ll be next Tweed Valley or Rutland?

Our HD cam is still suffering from heatstroke and cutting out regularly, the webcam view has been changed to a different camera which isn’t getting so hot and bothered. We’ll switch it back to HD once it cools down.