STAFF AT Scottish Wildlife Trust’s Loch of the Lowes visitor centre near Dunkeld were delighted yesterday when the centre’s osprey chick took to the skies for the first time at 9.17 am.

The sole survivor from a brood of three, the eight-week-old youngster has been practising for the last week, flapping its wings and jumping in the air. Yesterday, as staff readied themselves for another busy day, the chick took its first tentative flight.

It took off and flew round the nest a couple of times with the mother, then tried to land back on the nest but judged it too low and ended up on a flimsy branch at the base of the nest. It stayed there for about 15 minutes and then half flew, half scrambled back up to the nest.

As time goes on the osprey chick’s confidence and ability will increase dramatically and since its first flight, it has flown round another couple of times and managed to land back safely on the nest.

One of three eggs laid by the female on Easter Monday, the other two chicks appeared to have mysteriously died at the end of May.

As Andrea Williams, SWT Perthshire reserves ranger said, “This year the fledging of this chick is extra special. Whenever there are fatalities in the nest you fear for the survival of the remaining offspring, so the successful first flight of this chick is really a triumph.

“Over the last week the chick showed signs of trying to fly so we knew if wouldn’t be long till it went on its first aeronautical adventure. For staff and volunteers it can be a strange feeling—delight that another osprey leaves the nest safely but also worry that the challenges of life will now be very real. Now all the chick has to do is master fishing before the 3000 mile journey back to Africa in August.”

From now on progress is rapid, with the young osprey learning to fish. Until it has mastered this, the chick is reliant on its parents for food. Gradually they become more independent and by the middle of August they will start their journey to Africa with many risks along the way.

Often victims of shootings, entanglement in fishing nets and more often starvation, over half of the young inexperienced birds die within the first year. After they leave, staff at the Loch of the Lowes will have to wait up to three years before they might catch another glimpse of the now adult chicks, as they head north. There is no guarantee they will return to their first home in Perthshire.