Early return for ospreys after 'dismal' season

The first osprey to return to Kielder this year arrived on 21 March

Ospreys have returned to one of their most important sites in England on the earliest ever recorded date after a "dismal" breeding season.

The first to arrive back from sub-Saharan Africa to Kielder Forest in Northumberland was spotted on the 21 March, three days ahead of the previous first arrivals to the area.

This has prompted hopes of a better breeding season in 2025 after 12 chicks failed to fledge last year.

Joanna Dailey, who monitors the birds for Forestry England, said: "We have had three arrive so far but they're all female so they're getting a bit impatient waiting for a male to turn up."

In 2024 more than half the chicks died during very poor weather in June

Once found throughout the UK, wild ospreys were persecuted and the species became extinct in England in 1847 and in Scotland in 1916.

However, in 2009 ospreys were born for the first time in Northumberland in more than 200 years, with 124 successfully fledging since then.

"In 2021 we had our record season, when we had seven nests with 16 chicks which went on their way but we did drop the following two years," Mrs Dailey said.

"Last year we got off to a flying start with a record number of nests and 22 chicks, but we had terrible weather in June with heavy rain and winds.

"We did get 10 away and that's still really significant but it was just so dismal to see the dead chicks when we could have had so many more."

Three females have arrived in Kielder in March, but so far no males have been spotted

There are now approximately 350 breeding pairs in the UK, mostly in Scotland, but numbers in England and Wales have been slowly increasing.

"It does go up and down so we have to hope that this year numbers will bounce back," Mrs Dailey said.