9K5 makes the leap…

Hot on the heels of the last News piece, chick 9K5 safely fledged and made its maiden flight this afternoon (22nd July 2025). At 50 days old this falls early within the expected age of fledging of 49 – 59 days. A single, well-fed chick (assumed to be male) was bang on target.

At 12:24pm today after a short period of wing-exercise on the nest 9K5 dropped just a matter of 2 metres onto a convenient perch within the nest tree. After almost 5 hours contemplating his next move, it appeared to respond to male Syfaddan bringing a fish onto the nest above. That, and some hunger no doubt, were the stimuli to launch into his maiden flight – viewpoint watchers reported it flew expertly around 3-4 fields chaperoned by both parents before returning to the nest area. Not to the nest itself, but to the National Grid pole perch some 40 metres away.

It is likely to be another 4-6 weeks before the family leave the Usk Valley to embark singly on their southbound migration. Clogwyn is likely to go first as she will feel her work is done, to be followed independently by Syfaddan and 9K5 when they feel ready ….. so the camera and viewpoint watchers will have plenty of activity to note until early September.