New Forest Goshawks have flown the nest (From Bournemouth Echo)

New Forest Goshawks have flown the nest

5:07pm Tuesday 23rd June 2009 in

• Skip social links
• Print
• Email
• Comments(0)

A PAIR of baby goshawk chicks that have had Daily Echo web regulars entranced in recent weeks have flown the nest.

Named Denny and Furzey in a competition by Echo reader Rowena Wynne from Christchurch, the fledglings are now thought to be spending most of their time perched on branches above the nest, returning only to feed.

The babies first left the nest on Sunday says the RSPB, which is filming the nest high in a pine tree in a secret location in the New Forest with partners Carnyx Wild, the Forestry Commission and the National Park Authority.

For the next week or so they will stay close to the nest and their parents while perfecting the flying skills that have earned their kind the title the phantoms of the forest.

Naomi White, of RSPB South East, said: “Denny and Furzey have started making tiny flights away from the nest. We can still hear them on the raptorcam, and they’ll pop back into shot now and then to feed.

“The young goshawks are staying close to the nest, but will branch further and further out as the days pass.

“Watching Denny actually take off from the nest after he’d finished eating was a real moment for me.

“Denny and Furzey have been a bit of a double act since hatching in May, but we are starting to see them separate. They’ve begun feeding at different times now, a sure sign of their impending maturity.

“Both are looking increasingly streamlined and stronger, and more like adults everyday. They have even started mantling their food, which is when they guard it with their wings to stop others pinching it.”