One of the iconic Glaslyn ospreys has laid her 50th egg at their special nesting site.

Rare osprey bird lays her 50th egg at North Wales nesting site

The magnificent bird has returned to Gwynedd from west Africa to breed every year since 2004

By  Eryl Crump

12:42, 17 APR 2019

UPDATED12:49, 17 APR 2019

The egg laid by the female osprey, known to members of the community-led wildlife charity, Bywyd Gwyllt Glaslyn Wildlife (BGGW) as Mrs G, was the second laid by the magnificent bird this season.

Staff at BGGW were delighted to spot the egg in the nest at Pont Croesor near Porthmadog just before midday on Tuesday.

GGW spokeswoman Rebecca Phase said: "We were delighted to see the female osprey known as Mrs G lay her second egg of the 2019 season on Tuesday morning. This marks the 50th egg Mrs G has laid in her lifetime."

This is Mrs G's 16th year of breeding and is the longest breeding osprey in Wales and has laid more eggs than any other osprey in England and Wales.

She was first discovered breeding at the nest in 2004 and to date has hatched 40 live chicks, 36 of which have successfully fledged the nest.

Six of her offspring are known to have bred in Britain and she is known to have 74 ‘grand chicks’.

"We now know two other chicks have returned this year, but are not yet known to be breeding.

"One of the recently returning chicks was hatched in 2015, the first year Mrs G bred with a new partner called Aran, when the original male failed to return from his winter migration," added Rebecca.

The ospreys spend every winter in West Africa and travel thousands of miles to return to the Glaslyn estuary every year to breed and raise their chicks.

Continued