Osprey chick ringed

Jul 24 2009 by Our Correspondent, Dumfries Standard Friday

THE CAERLAVEROCK osprey chick made his national TV debut last week when he was fitted with unique leg rings to enable his future progress to be monitored.

The chick was lowered carefully from the nest in a canvas rucksack by FCS conservation manager Tony Lightley who had climbed up the lofty Scots pine to the eyrie at the top.

At 39 days old and developing fast, the chick received a metal ring on his right leg inscribed with a unique series of letters and numbers and the address of the British Museum to which details of the ring should be sent if found.

On the left leg a royal blue plastic ring with large letters LY engraved in white.

This should enable the ring to be read by binoculars or telescopes from a distance allowing him to be easily identified in the field.

All of this information is collected and collated by the BTO (British Trust for Ornithology) so we can build up a picture of the amazing lives of these birds as they migrate to and from equatorial west Africa every year.

The chick was also weighed and measured and from this data we can tell if it is male or female.

Females tend to be larger and heavier than the male birds and also have thicker legs. On this evidence our bird is thought to be male.

After posing for the BBC cameras, LY was put back in the bag and hoisted up to the safety of his nest, oblivious that he was soon to appear on BBC TV.

Using these colour rings we can build up a picture of the family tree of Blue LY.

His father, Green AW hatched out from the nest at Wigtown in 2004.

His mother is HD who in turn hatched out from Loch of the Lowes near Dunkeld in Perthshire.

Her mother is the record breaking 24 year old female still breeding at Loch of the Lowes, she laid her 56th egg this summer.

Hopefully after a year or two jn Africa, Blue LY will return and find a mate somewhere in south west Scotland and the dynasty can continue.

WWT Caerlaverock is open every day from 10am to 5pm so why not come down and enjoy a cream tea while watching the live images from the nest beamed onto the big screen.