AN osprey chick has hatched at the Foulshaw Moss Nature Reserve - and two more are expected shortly.

This is the third clutch of chicks the osprey pair has produced after they successfully fledged three chicks last year.

Ospreys are loyal to their mate and the site where they nest, and staff from Cumbria Wildlife Trust were happy to see the same couple return again this year.

The ospreys have been really popular with local people and tourists, with hundreds of people visiting the nature reserve which lies just off the A590 near Witherslack.

A short walk from the car park along a boardwalk which runs over the restored peat bog takes visitors to a viewing platform where a beautiful panorama of the nature reserve can be enjoyed. On most days a telescope is available for visitors to see the osprey nest first hand.

Live footage from Cumbria Wildlife Trust’s web camera has also been really popular this year with people all over the world watching each significant moment, from return of the osprey pair from their wintering grounds in Africa or southern Europe, to the eggs being laid and attacks from other birds.

Simon Thomas, Reserve Officer for CWT, said: “Foulshaw Moss Nature Reserve is a good location to raise chicks, with a choice of fishing locations. The ospreys aren't just eating flatfish from the Kent Estuary, as I had assumed.

"The cameras are showing coarse fish and trout and small salmon, and I know they have been flying inland into both Cumbria and North Lancashire but we don’t know that much about where they are fishing. We would love to hear when and where people see them fishing.”

The ospreys begin their migration to Africa in the autumn and remarkably it is likely the female will leave first just after her young have fledged. The male will remain and continue to fish and feed the young until they are able to fend for themselves and then start his journey alone.

Young ospreys typically leave Britain a little while after their parents and migrate separately, an amazing feat of nature that sees them head to Africa without guidance.

Cumbria Wildlife Trust’s Foulshaw Moss Nature Reserve is open to visitors and free to enter, and can be found off the A590 near Witherslack. Live footage from the nest can be viewed at www.cumbriawildlifetrust.org.uk/osprey-cam