Staff and visitors at the RSPB Osprey Centre at Loch Garten have been left “over the moon” by the successful hatching of two chicks.
The first of them, which hatched on Saturday May 14, is the earliest ever arrival at the nest since ospreys returned to breed there in the 1950s.
Afterwards, there was a tense wait to see if either of the other two eggs would hatch.
“It was a nervy few days after our first chick hatched,” said Jess Tomes, visitor operations manager for RSPB Abernethy.
“We were expecting a second chick by Tuesday at the latest, but that day came and went and there was still no sign of another hatching.
“Then, just after midnight on Thursday May 19, we got the confirmation that our volunteers on night duty had seen a second wobbly chick head on the night vision screen.
“We were over the moon at having two chicks, after fearing the worst for eggs two and three.
“We suspect that the second chick has come from the third egg and that it was the second egg which didn’t hatch.”
