All four of the eggs at the Rutland Water osprey nest have hatched.

Eggcitement has been brewing for the last few weeks as Maya and her mate, 33, got ready to welcome their four chicks.

The first of the clutch hatched on Friday 12 May, the first of the eggs, laid 38 days ago on the Manton Bay nest at Rutland Water to Maya and 33, has hatched.

After almost a week of watching and waiting, yesterday, Thursday 18 May, the last of the four eggs on the Manton Bay nest hatched - much to the excitement of the Rutland Water Osprey team and local bird watchers alike.

Maya on the nest last weekend. Image credit: Rutland Osprey Project / Youtube.

The Rutland Osprey Project has been running since 1996, and this year the team are readying themselves for another successful clutch of eggs from returning Osprey, Maya. 

The preservation of Ospreys in the UK began much earlier though, when, in 1954, a pair of ospreys believed to be of Scandinavian origin, kick-started the slow recovery of the population of ospreys in the UK, having successfully raised chicks close to Loch Garten, Aviemore. 

However, it was predicted it could take over 100 years for ospreys to naturally repopulate central England.

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In 1996, a translocation project began, which involved moving osprey chicks from nests in Scotland and releasing them at Rutland Water with the aim to create a self-sustaining breeding population of ospreys in central England.

Thanks to this pioneering project started by Leicestershire and Rutland Wildlife Trust in partnership with Anglian Water, ospreys have made a triumphant return to England.

Now, residents can see Ospreys in Rutland from April, once they have undertaken their yearly flight back from West Africa. 

The Rutland Osprey Project now have Live Webcams set up so that curious locals can find out more and track to progress of the active nests in the area. View the webcams here.

Maya and her mate, who can be seen on these webcams, have been breeding in the same nest since 2015 and have successfully raised over 20 chicks during that time. 

Yesterday, the team caught shots of the whole family on the nest, sharing on social media that it was "wonderful to see all six of this year's Manton Bay residents all together".

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Follow on the Live Youtube channel for more updates.

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