It has been an intense few days. We've been working flat out on the live streaming, working and rehearsing with the BBC for Springwatch, and, if truth be known, been just a little apprehensive that the worst April weather on record had an effect on the three eggs. We shouldn't have worried.
On incubation day 40 (UK average for osprey is around 37), we could see the smallest of cracks developing in the first egg laid all the way back in mid April. By the time the Olympic torch had passed right outside our Cors Dyfi reserve at 09.50, the crack had become a little hole with bits of fragmented shell forming the rim. After that everything went bonkers!
The first chick (egg 1) took an eternity to hatch and by mid afternoon we thought we could see cracks appearing in egg 2. By early evening we were featured live on the first Springwatch episode of the 2012 series and as we listened to Iolo talking about urban foxes in Potters Bar, a tiny little beak, complete with egg tooth, was hammering its way out of the first egg. Here's a video of the sequence of events from that point to around 15 hours later, by which time both chicks had hatched and were gulping down their first ever meal..
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