It was a perfect morning for residents and visitors– blue skies, warm sunshine, a moderate breeze.

It was a perfect morning for young ospreys with open spaces beckoning, thermals eddying up from the fellside and plenty of lift in the air.

At 10.00 at Whinlatter CCTV we had our clearest view of a chick yet, teetering right on the nest edge. Ah-ha, we thought, that looks like a bird that is screwing up its courage for a test drive but it doesn’t like the look of the drop. A quick calculation, assuming the eldest chick 7V was hatched on June 1^st, made her 52 days old. Looking back at the records, on average, chicks have fledged at just this time!

Then the chick backed into the foliage again and Dad came in with a large fish. After that there was a somewhat confusing time amongst the pine branches as we were not sure who had left the nest by the back door and who was eating, who was flapping and what wings and tails belonged to which bird. Suffice it to say we suddenly realised that there was a learner bird in the sky rather desperately making passes over the nest and trying to land using the accelerator and brake at the same time. More by luck than judgement it got its clutch under control at last and to the relief of all managed to park safely.

One having taken the leap means the others will not be far behind – as we saw at their ringing, they were in tip top plumage and condition for their age. It should be quite a spectacle over the next few weeks with Dad, Mum and three learner drivers careering round the skyways.