Ospreys are a Borders success story

More than 100 osprey chick fledged in ten years

August 2010: Conservation experts in the Scottish Borders are celebrating that over the past ten years, more than a 100 osprey chicks have fledged nests in the River Tweed catchment area. There are now ten active breeding sites across the Borders producing chicks that are spreading their wings and nesting in other part of Scotland.

TOURISM BOOST: More than 10,000 visitors a year come to see the impressive birds in the Tweed valley

Part of the success of osprey numbers is down to the efforts of the  Tweed Valley Osprey Project, a partnership between Forestry Commission Scotland, RSPB Scotland and Kailzie Gardens.

Now 10,000 visitors a year come to see the birds
This initiative has helped safeguard ospreys and welcomes 10,000 visitors each year to see the magnificent birds at two viewing centres at Kailzie Gardens and Glentress Forest.

Diane Bennett, Osprey Officer for the project said: ‘Not only is it great news that osprey numbers are healthy in the Borders, I'm really pleased to see our birds are safely migrating to distant shores and returning to other parts of Scotland. Because we can identify some birds on camera through their Darvic rings, we know that one of our birds had nested this year in Glen Almond in Perthshire and reared a chick.

‘We also noticed one of our previous youngsters flying in to check a nesting site while the current family were out fishing. Another female nesting on the Commission's land has raised two chicks of her own. It is so good to know that some of our CCTV stars are rearing other chicks now.

‘The project is a conservation success and with all these visitors flocking to see them there are also positive spin-offs in terms of tourism for local business, so it is a winner all round.'