Monty the Osprey - a true story for children by Susan Gilbert

     Monty was an osprey. He was a clever, strong bird with dark feathers on his back and wings, white feathers on his front and dark stripes across his chestnut brown eyes. When he lifted his neck feathers into a crest at the back, he looked like an eagle in a fairy story. In spring and summer he lived in Wales, in a beautiful valley with hills, trees and green meadows and the River Dyfi flowed through the valley. 

Now, there are three things that all ospreys need and the most important of these three things is fish. Monty only ate fish, he didn’t like anything else. He was a very good fisher-bird, with long, strong legs and sharp, curved claws to grab a fish. He would dive feet first into the River Dyfi to catch trout, sometimes he even went right under water but he didn’t mind getting wet. He flew up from the river and with his powerful wings he could carry a fish almost as heavy as he was. Sometimes for a change Monty flew to the sea to catch different kinds of fish.

The second thing that ospreys need is a nest, and Monty had a good one. There was a high-up platform which some nice people had made for him when he was a young osprey and Monty had built his nest there. Every year the people watched the nest to make sure it was safe.  In April, Monty arrived from Africa, where he spent the winter, and he tidied his nest. He brought big branches and sticks to make the sides strong and plenty of moss and grass to make the centre comfy.

The third thing that every osprey needs is a mate. That’s why Monty made his nest look so comfy, he wanted it to be nice for his mate who was called Glesni.  They had  both been away in Africa and Monty came home first to make the nest ready. He made the nest look splendid, and he waited. He was a very tidy osprey. 

 Monty waited a long time, he was very patient, he knew he had made the nest really nice, but still Glesni didn’t arrive.  She had died in Africa, only Monty didn’t know that, which was very sad. She had been his mate for five years and they’d had lots of lovely chicks, so he really missed her. 

     Then one day, another osprey flew into the valley.  She was big and strong like all female ospreys are. She had bright yellow eyes and beautiful, soft feathers and her name was Telyn. She had just come from Africa and was looking for a nice place to stop, because it is a long way to fly and she was a bit tired.  She saw Monty’s nest and thought it looked so comfy.

Telyn

When she landed on the nest, Monty was surprised, because he didn’t know who she was.  But Telyn was friendly and Monty soon decided he liked her a lot. He brought her a gift, it was a nice trout which she enjoyed very much. Now Monty was no longer sad, he knew that Telyn would be his new mate.

But then another osprey arrived, her name was Blue. She already knew Monty and she wanted his nest for herself.  Blue was Telyn’s cousin and they had quite an argument, ospreys can be very loud.  They screeched and flew at each other, but Telyn soon won and Blue went off to look for a different nest.

Ten days later, after Monty had mated with Telyn and she had eaten plenty of fish, Telyn laid an egg.  She was quite surprised because she had never laid an egg before.  She looked at her egg and saw how pretty it was, a creamy colour with reddish brown freckles all over it.

Monty arrived with another tasty fish for her. He saw the egg and was very happy, he thought it was the most beautiful egg he’d ever seen. Soon there were three lovely eggs, then Telyn decided that she really should sit down on the eggs to keep them warm. Monty agreed and he brought her many more tasty fish to keep her happy.  

Ospreys are very clean birds so sometimes Telyn needed to fly off to have a wash or to go to the toilet. When Telyn left the nest, Monty quickly sat down on the eggs to keep them safe. He knew there were crows around, who might eat the eggs if they saw them. The crows were not bad birds, they were just hungry and eggs are very tasty, but Monty made sure they couldn’t taste his eggs. When Telyn came back to the nest, Monty sometimes didn’t want to get up, he was comfy and he loved his eggs. So Telyn gave him a push, then a shove and said eggs were her job, fishing was his job, so off he went to catch even more fish.

After Telyn had been sitting on the eggs for several weeks and Monty had brought her plenty of fish, and lots of nice soft grass to keep her comfy, she suddenly heard a sound that she’d never heard before. There was a little chirping noise coming from one of her eggs. She was very interested, she never knew that eggs could talk! She chirped back to her chatty egg. 

Inside the egg, the chick who had grown in there heard its mother’s voice. Now it wanted to get out, so it began pecking at the inside of the egg shell. At last it makes a tiny hole and the outside air came in. This made the chick peck even harder.  Soon there was a much bigger hole, then a crack and then the chick  tumbled out.

                                        Soon there were two chicks...
 

        Monty was very pleased with his new chick, he knew he had to keep it warm so he sat down with his feathers over the chick, that is called brooding. Telyn hadn’t had a chick before and she wasn’t sure what to do, so she sat down and copied Monty.  Soon there were two chicks, then three and Telyn had to do all the brooding but she quickly got the hang of it. Monty had to go and catch even more fish now that he had three chicks to feed, as well as Telyn.

But before the little chicks had a chance to grow there was a huge storm, called Storm Hector. The wind roared, the rain poured and Monty and Telyn did everything they could to keep their three tiny chicks safe and dry while the nest swayed and wobbled in the wind. Telyn was very brave and sat tight on top of the chicks to protect them even when the wind blew big branches from the edge of the nest on top of her. Although the wind was still strong, Monty managed to catch a fish for their breakfast and tidy up the branches.

A few weeks after Storm Hector, Monty had brought them all sorts of fish. As well as tasty trout and flat flounders he had caught munchy mullet, beautiful bass and even a rare fish called alys shad. The chicks had grown so much they were nearly as big as Monty. The people who watched the ospreys decided it was time to ring the chicks, so they’d know who they were, if they saw them again.

The people put up a long ladder and a man called Tony climbed up to the nest. He put the chicks in a big bag and took them down to the ground to be ringed. Telyn was very alarmed and the chicks didn’t understand what was happening, but Monty circled above the nest calling to them all to stay calm. He had seen this before, he knew his chicks would come to no harm.

After the chicks were put back safely into their nest with their new rings on, the people thought they should have names. The first chick they named Alys, after the alys shad which Monty had caught for her very first meal. Her sister was Helyg and their brother was Dinas.  Very soon all three chicks were learning to fly.  Dinas was the first to fledge and leave the nest, though he still came home for his food.

Now Monty was catching fish for five full grown ospreys, and the nest was very noisy as they all shouted and screeched at him to catch more and more. It just goes to show what a great fisher-bird he was!

Monty and Alys, with her fish

Soon they would all fly off for the winter, on their migration to Africa where it would be warmer than Wales and the fish were easy to catch. Telyn went first, she wanted some peace and quiet. Next Dinas went, he was keen to begin learning how to catch his own fish. Helyg went third, on her beautiful wings and Alys was left, she stayed with Monty for a bit longer, and he still brought her fish. She was his biggest chick and needed the most food before she went on the long journey.

After Alys had flown away, Monty had a few days’ rest before he was ready to fly away too. Although he had lost Glesni, he had his lovely new mate Telyn and they had made three beautiful new chicks together. It had been a wonderful year for Monty and for all the Dyfi ospreys.

And all the people who watched the ospreys were very happy too!

                                                            *

Photos from Dyfi Osprey Project Livestream 2018

 

h