Little fledged…late Thursday in Bird World

4 June 2026

Hello Everyone,

Life never happens as you plan it. It has been such a bittersweet 24 hours at the Llyn Clywedog nest in the Hafren Forest in Wales. Seren blue 5F is alive – she returned to her nest nearly 24 hours after something spooked her off. I know that people said they did not hear anything or see anything but, believe me, the hearing sensitivity of animals, including my Toby, is far superior to my own.

Seren is alive and home but Dylan seems bewildered. I got angry at someone who said he did not try to save his chicks. He did. As soon as the reservoir waters were calm (they had been very choppy and muddy), he brought a fish to the nest. His babies were crying. He tried. He is used to travelling great distances to get Brown Trout for his family as a treat but not for brooding and feeding. But he tried. They were already too weak and cold. The rescuers tried but a cherry picker could not get there in the dark. Everyone tried to save the babies. In the end, while it is so very sad, we have to thank everyone for their efforts.

Now the family has to heal. Dylan has been on and off the nest. He shared a trout with Seren earlier. Meanwhile she has stayed on the cam 2 perch. She has to be wondering what happened.

The forest around the nest:

Send them positive wishes. It is still a very teary and tragic moment. I am not criticising the removal of the chicks’ bodies. They had hoped to rescue them, and no one knew Seren would return. But sometimes we need to see the dead and say goodbye to understand what happened.

However, there are good things happening and I want to point out a couple of them.

The first one is congratulations to Jill, who has fledged two chicks from the Achieva Osprey platform in St Petersburg, Florida. More than a month ago, we wondered if Little would survive. Jack was not bringing in fish, and Jill started fishing herself, bringing in catfish around 1800 every evening. Then she upped that to two fishing trips, then three. She kept her babies alive, and Little thrived. Then Jack started helping. Between the two of them, those two chicks grew big and strong and today, Little fledged. What a wonderful, happy event – and she returned to the nest. The parents should continue to bring fish to the nest for Big and Little until they disperse.

Time of fledge 08:31:47 with a return at 11:02:30. Thank you ‘PB’ and Heidi.

Little did a lot of flapping and hovering before the flight. Look at those long legs. I always thought Little might be a female but now I wonder.

Congratulations. This is cause for a celebration! Perfect flight.

At the seaside nest of Bruce and Naha, Naha has not been well. Bruce – oh, this is amazing – took over the brooding and the feeding of their chicks while Naha recovered. Oh, if only all the males knew how to switch from just fishing to caregiving. Naha is improving. This is great news.

Iris almost pulled Clark off the nest. It has been difficult fishing and even Clark was missing for a time and we were worried but he is OK and came with a fish – which Iris grabbed (along with her mate)!

Here is the video from Cornell Bird Lab of the event: https://youtu.be/N5p4hAdyKgM?

Everything is going well at the Loch Arkaig 2 nest.

Geemeff’s Woodland Trust daily summary for Loch Arkaig Wednesday 3rd June 2026

Another day, another chick! Louis and Dorcha’s second chick hatched this morning around 06.21. It was difficult to give an exact time as Dorcha unhelpfully kept pushing the shell back over the chick, but eventually it was fully free and looking strong. The first chick showed its enterprising spirit by popping out from under mum’s shelter, begging for food loud and long, and then tucking itself back under Dorcha next to its hours-old sibling. Fish kept arriving, some bigger than others – Garry LV0 brought four fish for Aurora 536, including a mystery fish, taking the Nest One tally to ninety seven, and Louis brought three fish for Dorcha and the chicks, taking the Nest Two tally to one hundred and six. Dorcha fed both chicks, sometimes the morsels were too large and at one stage the chicks were trying to eat the pieces sticking out of each other’s mouths. But both were fed and kept warm despite the wet weather. It rained on and off today and more rain is forecast – light rain showers with an overnight low of 10°C, and thundery showers with a high of 15°C tomorrow.

Today’s videos:

https://youtu.be/FMnpIeDqGss N2 Welcome little Bob2 – second chick for Louis & Dorcha 06.21.54 

https://youtu.be/pN16ODcMxEM N1 Garry lands with a large second breakfast 08.41.01 

https://youtu.be/SE3r-lQxlrE N2 Dorcha blocks the view when feeding fish one 10.50.04 

https://youtu.be/HtGwdEC3zBM N2 Fish number two arrives 40 minutes after the first but Dorcha rejects it 11.42.49

https://youtu.be/XxLjuw6frPY N2 Dorcha goes flyabout leaving the bobs home alone 11.54.08

https://youtu.be/6FIZDF7mQfc N1 Aurora accepts the tiny fish remnant Garry brings 15.39.55

https://youtu.be/GrqehkcoXaw N1 Garry’s fourth fish is a decent size 18.45.49

https://youtu.be/XjFr1Wu965Y N2 Extended feeding session but Dorcha gives the chicks too large morsels 18.50.54

And for today, Louis has delivered his second fish of the day as I write this. https://youtu.be/wn2_3INajsY?

Geemeff will have more news for us but I will have this sent out before she posts so enjoy that last video addition.

Glacier Gardens is not suffering from a lack of fish – just a very deep egg cup. Hard to see but there is at least one little bobblehead there.

It has been a very emotional day and I have a headache. I am going to stop and enjoy the rest of the day with my family. I want to thank my daughter Jaine for being with us for lunch and to my dear friend Geemeff who phoned from London to give me the good news about Seren. Life goes on. Sometimes we just have to breathe and take the bittersweet with the wonderful and that is what today has been. Take care everyone. See you soon.

Thank you to everyone for their notes and their messages including Heidi, PB, and Geemeff today. I appreciate all of the posts on FB and the owners of the streaming cams that allow us to watch the challenging lives of our raptor families.