Beautiful borders

Borders' ospreys flying high     

A record number of 18 osprey chicks were successfully reared in the Scottish Borders this season, 11 more than in the previous year.   

The 2008 osprey breeding season in the Borders drew to a close with eight resident pairs raising the record brood of youngsters, all of which are now on their first journey south to Africa for the winter.   

Thousands of visitors have enjoyed watching some of the birds on CCTV cameras at viewing centres near Peebles run by Forestry Commission Scotland, Kailzie Gardens and RSPB Scotland.   

 Osprey Centre Officer, Emma Rawling, said:

"We are so pleased that despite the wet summer we have the highest number of chicks ever born this year and this can only bode well for the species as a whole.  Every year we rely enormously on the goodwill and support of the local community to make the breeding and viewing season a success."
 

It is fitting that the tenth year of the Tweed Valley Osprey Project should see such a success; well earned reward for many years of hard work by the partnership organizations involved.   

The twin osprey watch centres at Glentress Forest and Kailzie Gardens will be open again from Easter 2009 and hopefully another bumper osprey year.

 

Walking tall in the Borders | The Tweed – recreation, romance and history