In the summer months try to spot ospreys hunting over the Solway. The reserve has a breeding pair that have returned every summer since 2006 and they've successfully reared six chicks to fledge to date. In 2012 our usual male osprey (ringed green AW) didn't make it back from Africa and our female found a new male (yellow 80). She laid 2 eggs but sadly 3 weeks into the incubation an intruder male arrived on the nest and the eggs were broken in the fracas. They are still around the area and we have had distant views of them out on the Solway catching fish and perching on drftwood to eat them. Soon they will be joined by other birds heading south and they will join them too in late August/September.
If you don't catch a glimpse of them hunting this season they will hopefully arrive at the begining of April next year. Keep an eye on our web pages for news of their return. Over the last 4 years the female has arrived between the 1st and 4th of April and then we will be able to watch them live on our webcam which is right on the nest.
One of our chicks which fledged in 2010 (blue HJ) was seen in July 2012 on the nest at Wigtown Bay further west on the Solway which is the nest at which his father (green AW) hatched out in 2004. He has returned to the ancestral home!
