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
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.
