Relief as Lady’s chick makes progress on migration
BySandra Gray
Blue YZ: in a safer environment.
After keeping fans on tenterhooks, a young osprey chick has finally made it through a perilous desert trek.
Emotions at a Perthshire reserve were fraught after one of their former residents took a wrong turn on her migration.
Blue YZ, the 50th chick to fledge from the nest of the UK’s oldest breeding osprey, ended up 500km from the coast in a barren and rocky area, which could have had fatal consequences.
Fortunately, latest data has shown that the bird has crossed the El Djouf desert in Africa and is now heading towards Gambia.
Staff and volunteers at Loch of the Lowes breathed a sigh of relief as they pinpointed Blue YZ’s new location in a more hospitable environment. She has made it safely to an area with plenty of water and vegetation after flying 300km in one day.
More information is expected any day now and, if she continues on her current trajectory, the osprey should reach the coast by the end of the week.
She could cross paths with Blue YD, last year’s chick from Angus which has been on the Senegal coast for the last 12 months.
