THREE osprey chicks are almost ready for take-off after being ringed and checked by experts.

The six-week-old birds, the first to be born in Northumberland for at least 200 years, are thriving and are expected to take their first flights in the next few weeks.

A team of experts from the Forestry Commission paid an early morning visit to the remote nest in Kielder Water and Forest Park to measure the birds.

Wildlife ranger Paul Pickett climbed a tree to reach the nest, built on an artificial platform erected last year, before carefully lowering the birds to the ground in bags to enable rings to be fitted by ornithologist Martin Davison, aided by ecologist Tom Dearnley.

Each chick weighs about 1.7kg, and although their wings still have some growing to do, their feathers are now almost fully developed.

Mr Dearnley, from the Forestry Commission, said “You probably have to go back to the early 1700s for the last ospreys to be born in Northumberland.

“So to see three calmly sat on the grass without a care in the world was pretty mind-blowing.”