Watch live: Three eggs laid at Llyn Brenig Osprey Project

Stephen Price

For the eighth season, a pair of ospreys have laid eggs at their nest on the banks of Llyn Brenig.

The current pair are male osprey, ringed LJ2, and female osprey, ringed 372. This is their third season together and after chasing away a younger male early in the season, they have settled into life at Llyn Brenig.

The three eggs were laid on 21, 24 and 27 April – and dedicated volunteers from North Wales Wildlife Trust are monitoring them closely, keen to see how they get on.

Following a 3000-mile journey (including a week-long stopover in Madrid) the female osprey, ringed 372, arrived at the Llyn Brenig nest on Friday 3rd April.

She has come to begin her third breeding season on the banks of the lake.

372 is considered an interesting osprey, since she was born in Scotland in 2021 and was part of the translocation project to Poole Harbour.

Translocation projects move the youngest, most vulnerable chicks from their nests to new locations at about five weeks old, once they are able to feed themselves but crucially cannot yet catch their own fish.

They then fledge and stay around the new area for a further five weeks, getting to know the territory, with the hope being that they will return there to breed. Luckily for the Welsh public, 372 decided to make her way to north Wales instead.

LJ2, a stunning male osprey, arrived on 7 April.

LJ2 was born in Scotland in 2018 and he has been the breeding male at Llyn Brenig since 2021.

He is a smaller, slight but ferocious male, who is protective of his territory and, as we witnessed last year, more than ready to see off any male challengers trying to take over his nest.

The osprey is a spectacular fish-eating bird of prey, is incredibly rare because of its historical decline and low breeding numbers.

Ospreys have been seen around Llyn Brenig since 2015, with the first pair nesting and successfully raising a chick in 2018.

For anyone wishing to get a front seat view, it’s advised to visit Brenig Osprey Project between March and September.

At the end of March ospreys start arriving from migration; mating takes place during April; eggs are laid early May; eggs hatch early June; fledging takes place in mid-July; and migration happens at the end of August.

You can learn all about ospreys at the osprey exhibition in the visitor centre, and come along to the lookout on the banks of Llyn Brenig to meet the experts and view the nest through our binoculars and telescopes.

Or visitors can also book the hide, 150m from the nest, for their own personal audience and photoshoot with these magnificent birds. North Wales Wildlife Trust members receive a discount of £5 per session.

View the live cameras at Llyn Brenig here.

Read more about the history of ospreys at Llyn Brenig