Today the chicks are seven weeks old. Or to be exact, Clarach is 50 days and Cerist 48 days old. When will they fly for the first time?

The Great Fledge Competition!

Rather you than me Sis...

The Dyfi ospreys are very late breeding this year, they bred at the extreme end of the 'window' before it became biologically too late to produce eggs. Consequently, Clarach and Cerist are just about to fledge in mid August while other ospreys in more 'normal' nests are thinking about their upcoming trips to Africa, having fledged several weeks ago.

We have made the decision to keep the Dyfi Osprey Project open for another month - including the Live Streaming. To help pay for this, the donations from the summer competitions will go towards the extra costs. And here is the last competition of the year:

The aim is simple enough - Guess the day and time (to the nearest minute) that the first sister will fledge. It doesn't matter which one fledges first. Put your entry on the Guess the Fledge competition post of Facebook. So, for example: August 18th at 10:35.

Definition of fledging: Clarach or Cerist leaves the confines of the nest in a controlled flight and either lands back on the nest or another location. In other words, a prolonged 'helicopter' flight does not constitute fledging.

Well, I'm not going until this rain stops..

To enter, just donate a minimum of £2 or more using the donate button on the Live Streaming page. Simples.

To help you guess a bit, here is a bar chart showing all the ages of Welsh chicks going back to 2005 that we know of. The blues are boys, reds are females.

(Thanks Heather for the info)

As you can see, the fledging window is well and truly open. We know also that Cerist and Clarach were well developed too when we ringed them last week, both weighing in at around the 1.7 Kg mark. Will this have an effect?

Competition open to all except Monty, Glesni and of course Clarach and Cerist.

The winner, the closest guess, will receive a very special prize. A photographic print of Glesni carrying seaweed to the nest earlier in the season taken by a local professional wildlife photographer. The print is A3 in size and is professionally mounted and framed. It really does look phenomenal. We will send the print worldwide.

Here's Janine with your prize, ready to send to you..

Good Luck!

I believe I can flyyyy....

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UPDATE: SUNDAY MORNING.... 18TH AUGUST.

CLARACH HAS FLEDGED!!

Thanks you to everyone that entered the competition, we'll sift through the answers later this afternoon. Here's the big moment..

UPDATE: Many congratulations to Henk Vennix from the Netherlands for winning ths competition. Henk was just an hour away from the correct time. Framed photograph on its way to you, Sir.

Many thanks to everyone that entered.