A PAIR of breeding ospreys have returned to South Cumbria sparking hopes they will have chicks for the eighth year running.

Blue 35 and White YW, the two ospreys who successfully raised and fledged two chicks last year, returned to Foulshaw Moss Nature Reserve, near Witherslack, South Cumbria on Friday.

Ospreys migrate to West Africa and the Iberian Peninsula during winter. Satellite tracking has shown them flying up to 430 km in just one day.

Paul Waterhouse, reserves officer for Cumbria Wildlife Trust, who looks after Foulshaw Moss Nature Reserve, said: “We’ve been waiting with eager anticipation for the return of Blue 35 and White YW and it’s great to see them safely return to Cumbria. We look forward to what we hope will be yet another successful breeding season. Last summer two osprey chicks fledged, bringing the breeding pair’s total to an amazing 18 chicks so far since 2014! Let’s hope for an equally successful season this year!”

Last year, the Foulshaw ospreys were a social media sensation and the number of people following the views of the live osprey webcam doubling over the previous year.

Paul said: “We were overwhelmed at the level of support we got for our osprey cam, from all over the country, indeed the world! People wrote to us, sent donations and even sent us their osprey poetry, inspired by watching these wonderful birds of prey at close quarters. We were touched at how this wonderful wildlife spectacle, that we’re so lucky to witness here in Cumbria, brought comfort to so many people at a difficult time and we hope everyone will continue to watch it this season as well.”

This year, the webcam is back up-and-running and for the first time, it now includes sound so you can hear the birds calling to each other as they bring fish back to the nest.

You can watch the ospreys at: https://www.cumbriawildlifetrust.org.uk/wildlife/cams/osprey-cam