A NEW addition to a remote forest park’s growing osprey colony has delighted wildlife rangers.

The tenth year of its Osprey Partnership project has brought a late season surprise for the Forestry Commission after staff discovered a fifth nest in Kielder Forest, Northumberland, with the inhabiting pair raising a healthy chick.

The nest location makes it difficult to approach, but one of the parents is believed to be from Moffat, in Scotland.

Forestry Commission ecologist Tom Dearnley said, “The discovery of this nest is brilliant news for Kielder. They ‘re still a very rare species in England.”

This years’ chicks from the four pre-existing osprey nests in Kielder Water and Forest Park have now been successfully ringed.

Twelve eggs were laid on the four nests, but two failed to hatch and a further two perished, leaving eight young birds to be ringed.

A harmless process, it also enables other measurements, including weight, to be taken to help determine the sex of the chick, as females are typically heavier than males.

The birds can be seen by visiting Osprey Watch, at Northumbrian Water’s Kielder Waterside on weekends, and Wednesdays from 10.30am - 5.00pm, until Sunday August 19.