Stronger season hopes for Kielder ospreys
Laid back Northumberland ospreys set for good breeding season after two years of poor results. Tony Henderson reports
Ospreys at Northumberland’s breeding colony are hopefully set to bounce back after two setback seasons.
This year there are eight occupied nests at Kielder with eggs, which is a record.
On nests with cameras, 14 eggs have been counted but it is hoped that the total is likely to be over 20.
“There is about a week to go until the first eggs in Kielder Forest should start to hatch. In some ways I would like the season to stop now, as it has gone well to date,” said osprey observer Joanna Dailey.
“After several poor seasons for a variety of reasons we very much hope for an upturn in fortunes.”
In 2024 it was hoped that Kielder would achieve a record breeding year with at least 22 chicks hatched by the end of May. This included a new wild nest which had at least two chicks.
Then bad weather struck. Persistent low temperatures, rain and wind in early June and storms at the end of the month resulted in just 10 chicks surviving.
Then 2025 proved to be the least productive year for the breeding birds since 2015. Only six youngsters fledged from nests at Kielder Forest, with losses for reasons including predation, weather conditions and natural causes.
This year will hopefully be third time lucky for the pair on new Nest 12, built on a pole and platform erected by Forestry England.
This has been erected after a natural nest constructed in a nearby dead tree was partly blown away in strong winds in 2024, with the chicks being lost.
Last year winds caused a repeat, leaving the birds with an unsuccessful season, but this season they immediately moved to the new nest and are now incubating two eggs.