We're really pleased to announce that the young Bearded vulture has successfully fledged. It has been sighted by the nature reserve wardens in flight, and doing fine. There was some concern last week following its first flight on wednesday (29th July) when it was unable to gain sufficient height to return to the nest. With each new attempt to fly it was losing altitude and the wardens were concerned (perhaps overly!!) that it might reach a point where it would get stuck in dense forest from where getting elevation would be difficult (for a bird built for soaring flight). This would have made it vulnerable to predators etc.
We did think this concern was a bit over the top given that this species survived for hundreds and probably thousands of years before mankind eliminated the alpine populations in the early 20th century! But it is certainly brilliant that the bird has shown its capacity to cope (!) and this successful fledging makes it very likely that we shall see the adults again - quite probably next year - for another attempt at a brood. Apparently the adults normally breed each year, and will feed this young one for a few more weeks before sending it away to find its own territory. Regards N&K
