OSPREY NEST SAWN DOWN
APOLICE investigation has been launched after someone “took a chainsaw” to an osprey nest platform at Brenig Lake – just one day after the first egg of the season had been laid.
Brenig Osprey Project partners discovered yesterday morning that, at around 9.30pm on Friday, someone intentionally felled the osprey platform at the Cerrigydrudion site between Conwy and Denbighshire.
The platform, along with the nest, was discovered floating in the lake below yesterday morning.
Confirming the incident on social media, the North Wales Wildlife Trust said: “Brenig Osprey Project partners woke up this morning to the worst possible news.
“Last night, at 21.42, someone took a chainsaw to the osprey nest and felled it – please, please be kind to staff this weekend as we work out how to respond to this horrific act of vandalism.
“If you have any information that can help us identify the individuals responsible please get in touch with the police.”
North Wales Police Rural Crime Team were at the scene yesterday.
In a statement they said: “We are sad to report that someone last night has intentionally felled the Osprey nest platform at Brenig Lake.
“These rare and highly protected birds only laid their first egg yesterday.
“We are on scene and will update when we can.”
The Llyn Brenig Osprey project began in 2013 with the first hatched ospreys verified in the area in more than 100 years in 2018.
The site is managed by Dwr Cymru Welsh Water and is only the fifth breeding site for the fish-eating birds in Wales.
The nest is occupied by a female, Blue 24, a bird that fledged from Rutland Water, and male osprey, HR7, who hails from Scotland.
The pair raised a single female chick in 2018, ringed Blue Z9 and called Luned, and in 2019 they successfully reared another chick, this time a male, ringed KA9 and called Roli.
Anyone with information about the act of vandalism is urged to contact North Wales Police quoting crime reference number 2059734.
In the wake of the incident, naturalist and broadcaster Iolo Williams tweeted: “If anyone knows anything about the morons behind this, please get in touch with North Wales Police. This cannot go unpunished. Unbelievable!!”