Have you seen the Goshawk chicks? (From Bournemouth Echo)

Have you seen the Goshawk chicks?

4:00pm Tuesday 29th June 2010 in

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IT takes courage to fly – even if you are a bird.

Or so it seems judging by the Date With Nature footage on this website which, thanks to a Carnyx Wild video camera, has being showing the early lives of a pair of New Forest goshawk chicks, from freshly-hatched egg to fledging and flying the nest.

Two of three chicks have survived so far and they have eaten well and grown fat and feathered.

One of the chicks, which hatched a little more than five weeks ago, made her first foray from the nest on June 16.

See the chicks in the nest - related links below

And over the weekend, the second decided it was time to take the leap of faith and defy gravity.

RSPB project officer Therasa Paul said: “One of the chicks flew out of the nest, came back after about five minutes, jumped around and then had another go “Meanwhile the other chick was looking on standing on one leg.

“The pair had been spending a lot of time perched on the edge of the nest looking out inquisitively and then moved onto some nearby branches of the tree so we knew they were getting eager to leave the nest.”

Although the chicks have started making short flights they will stay close to the nest, spending most of their time perching on nearby branches.

During the next few weeks they will gradually improve their flying skills and learn to hunt before moving away to find territories of their own.

This if the fourth year Carnyx Wild, the Forestry Commission, the National Park Authority and RSPB have screened live footage of the lives of goshawks.

Since 2001 numbers of goshawks in the New Forest have increased to 15 breeding pairs which demonstrates good forest management.

Conditions in the forest are great for goshawks, with oak and beech woodland for nesting, a good supply of food in the form of smaller birds, and seclusion.

Attention of the nestcam will soon switch to a pair of hobbies, which have already built a nest which has three eggs in it. They should hatch during July.