Ospreys' Llyn Brenig rebuilt-nest taken over by goose

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Goose in an Osprey nestImage source, Brenig Osprey Project
Image caption,

The goose has been spotted on the platform which was built for the ospreys

A goose has taken over a platform built for a pair of breeding ospreys whose nest was destroyed in a chainsaw attack.

The greylag goose has taken over the temporary platform at Llyn Brenig, which borders Conwy and Denbighshire.

The felling of the original platform on the night of Friday 30 April was captured on CCTV.

Members of Brenig Osprey Project hope the pair of ospreys will eventually be attracted back to use the new platform.

Media caption,

CCTV captured the moment a vandal took a chainsaw to the platform

In a Facebook post, the conservationists said: "This could effectively, perhaps temporarily, displace our ospreys, who had been showing considerable interest in it."

The project said the goose's takeover over had created "something of a dilemma", as moving its clutch to another nest site would be illegal without an appropriate licence.

Image source, NWP Rural Crime Team/Twitter
Image caption,

Ospreys lay eggs in the second half of April

The attack was met with widespread condemnation from wildlife experts and police, with the project labelling it a "horrific act of vandalism".

BBC Springwatch presenter Iolo Williams called the incident "unbelievable" and labelled those involved "morons".

At the time, he told BBC Wales it was a "disaster" because there were only five breeding pairs in Wales.

According to the RSPB, external, female osprey lay two or three eggs between one and three daily intervals in the second half of April, and incubates them for 37 days per egg.

Image source, Brenig Osprey Project
Image caption,

The new nest has been built on a mobile platform