Excitement as young osprey launches into maiden flight

A young osprey has caused a flutter among bird of prey fans by taking his maiden flight at Rutland Water.

The moment, on Thursday, when 50-day-old 1R0 spread his wings and launched off was captured on a live video feed of his nest at Manton Bay.

A clip of his take-off has been watched more than 93,000 times.

Conservationists from the Rutland Osprey Project said it was an exciting moment.

And he's off...

Posting on Facebook, the project said: "For the first time this season, the nest is empty.

"We expected him to just hop up to the camera perch, but instead, he flew around for 10 minutes before settling on our T perch in the bay.

"What an amazing young osprey he is."

The project, run by the Leicestershire and Rutland Wildlife Trust, said 1R0 had been building his strength and flight muscles in recent days by "helicoptering" his wings.

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