RINGING THE CHICK
5 July 2025
A small ‘crack’ team of experienced climbers and licensed ringers agreed to ring the single chick on 5th July 2025 at 33 days of age. Although the chick has developed very quickly with no sibling rivalry for food and resources, it was considered perfect for ringing. As the team arrived on the farm the chick had just completed a meal and even the light drizzle moved away.
Photograph © Peter Jenkins
Much public interest in ospreys UK-wide has been generated through following ringed chicks from monitored nests. They are ringed at 4-5 weeks of age well before they fledge. Subsequent reports of ringed birds, most notably observed via nest-cams such as ours across the UK, often allows compilation of family histories at monitored nests, assessing daily activity and feedback from migration journeys and destinations. If the chick should eventually join the breeding population it can give information on where, when and how successful breeding might be as well as the bird’s ultimate longevity.
Subject to landowner approval and acquiring team members with appropriate licences from NRW (in Wales) and the BTO, the prospect of ringing chicks at Talybont has been a UVO aim to contribute to that national picture.
Photograph © Peter Jenkins
Arrangements had previously been made to temporarily close down the livestream cameras during the operation – this may have disappointed some viewers but it was done primarily to avoid placing undue pressure on the climber as he undertook his work. As expected, on reaching the nest the chick lay still on the nest as instructed by the alarm calls from its parents overhead, so it was an easy task to bag the bird up and gently lower to the ground where the ringers awaited its arrival. During the period the chick was grounded the climber unravelled the flapping cammo-tape from the cup-cam support and wiped down the camera lens to remove the offending chick poo.
The lead ringer with over 30 years of handling and ringing bird of prey chicks (mostly goshawk) oversaw the ringing and the taking of standard measurements as well as giving the bird a general check.
Photograph © Peter Jenkins
The standard configuration of leg rings (Wales and England) was applied :
Left leg – BTO metal ring with unique no. 1087333
Right leg – ‘Darvic’ ring blue with white lettering with unique inscription 9K5
Measurements taken :
Age : 33 days, based on hatch data supplied by Watchers
Wing (elbow to longest primary feather tip only) : 298 mms
Weight : 1595 gms
Assessing the gender of chicks at this age is difficult and not always reliable. However, based on data acquired at ringing, the critical weight above/below which indicates female/male is 1600 gms!! So, we are none the wiser! Time will hopefully tell, but we might make the suggestion that in view of this single chick not competing for food (no siblings) we might tentatively suggest that it’s a well-fed male.
The ringing operation went well with no welfare implications. The team were in the vicinity of the tree for 65 minutes, cameras were ‘down’ for 77 minutes and adult osprey were off the nest for 2 hours.
Acknowledgements – UVO wish to thank all those involved with approvals in advance of, the support team during, and those on the ground directly contributing to the ringing operation.