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Recent Events

June 14th - 21st

Wed 14th: Our chick started off the day with a long sleep - presumably busy digesting an earlier breakfast! When the male arrived soon after 9.30  however, it soon woke up, and once the male had left, the female started to feed both herself and her chick. Asmall alarm later in the morning, when the chick got entangled in some black plastic - but managed to free itself quite quickly. More fish then arrived, and again the chick was fed, but there was some left over for the male to eat whilst the female did a bit of nest re-arranging. Our chick was briefly alone on the nest at midday, before ANOTHER fish arrived and was eaten. During the afternoon the female moved sticks to the side of the nest to build them up a little. The male's contribution was to bring in a piece of seaweed and drape it over the chick.  That was soon removed!

Thurs 15th: A nice view was had of the whole family on the nest this morning. The chick was seen preening and "helping" by moving twigs around. Late morning the male arrived with a fish, and both mother and chick fed well. Then chick settled down for a snooze, whilst the female became a sunshade, the sun being very bright and hot this morning. A little later the chick was seen 'walking', using its wings as props, across the nest to reach the feeding female - and the shade.The male brought in another fish mid afternoon,  when the female took the opportunity to leave the nest briefly. Our last view of the day was of the chick sleeping whilst mum stood watchfully by.

Fri 16th: A rather drizzly day, so the female was trying to keep the chick dry during the morning.  Although the male arrived late morning, he didn't bring a fish, and didn't stay long. He brought a late lunch mid afternoon, and by 5pm, the chick was so full, its crop looked about to burst and it was definitely time for a snooze! There was still a little fish left over, which the male came back to eat.

Sat 17th: Crows could be heard nearby first thing, and the female was very alert, but no problems occurred, in fact a little later the female briefly left the nest for a short excercise flight. Mid morning the male returned, but no fish this time. The chick did a bit of wing stretching later, just before the male brought in a garfish for a late lunch. Mid afternoon we had another nice family picture: female sitting watchfully on the side of the nest, the male doing a little tidying, and a very full chick sleeping! Late afternoon the male brought another fish, but even our chick couldn't manage to eat much!

Sun 18th: A small  role reversal  this afternoon, with the female bringing in nesting material and the male standing watchfully on the edge of the nest. A wet day, and the female spent much of the day sheltering the chick undeneath her - she looked very bedraggled and soggy. More food supplied late afternoon and despite the wet weather the chick still looked very well fed.

Mon 19th: Not a very good start for our chick; as it was lying sleeping the male came in with a large branch and stood  on the chick. No harm was done, however, and later on the chick was seen preening. Plenty of fish today, including another gar fish. Our chick is now growing real feathers!

Tues 20th: A very active chick was seen this morning, with lots of wing stretching and pecking of twigs. It became quite windy, and the female was crouching down low in the nest with the chick underneath her. Late in the afternoon the chick was seen standing properly on its feet for the first time. In the evening, the wind was making it quite difficult for the female to stand and feed the chick, but she managed.

Wed 21st: This was a nasty cold, wet, windy day,  and the female was sitting low on the nest with the chick tucked out of sight. Mid morning she was feeding it, though it didn't seem very hungry, then back to sheltering it from the rain. A miserable day, with no sign of the male. The wind and rain make fishing difficult.