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

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 20 chicks during that time.

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Yesterday, on the 9th of May 2022, the team uploaded a video to Youtube showing movement in the nest, with Maya becoming very fidgety over her three eggs. Today, the second chick has hatched. Scroll to the top of the page to see the video.

Image courtesy of @rutlandospreys on Twitter

Twitter user @Jskdell tweeted in the early hours of Tuesday the 10th of May: "You get a peek at chick at 10.45 last night, a pip in egg 2 and at 4.13am you can see a hole in egg 2. Going to be an exciting day."

It looks as though the other two chicks will be appearing at any time, so keep your eyes on the webcam and Rutland Osprey Twitter for more updates.