Osprey TV set to spread its wings

A second osprey CCTV scheme is to start in Dumfries and Galloway

A CCTV scheme to watch nesting ospreys in Dumfries and Galloway has proved such a success it is set to expand.

Thousands of visitors have been attracted to a project in Wigtown which is now being extended to a nature reserve at Caerlaverock.

The new facility will allow the public to watch live and recorded footage of a pair of ospreys.

Scottish Natural Heritage said it was a sign the birds were colonising new parts of Scotland.

SNH spokesman Jonathan Warren said the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust reserve was seen as a perfect location for the new facility.

This will be another exciting wildlife viewing opportunity and will help put Dumfries and Galloway on the map for wildlife tourism Bill Coombes Forestry Commission

"Following the success of the Wigtown osprey viewing project we got together with WWT and Forestry Commission Scotland to look at doing something similar at Caerlaverock," he said.

"Increasingly Dumfries and Galloway is becoming a place to come and see wildlife so we hope that this latest wildlife watching project will also benefit the local economy."

The initiative has also been welcomed by both the WWT and FCS.

Traditional strongholds

"The other osprey viewing centres proved very popular and a great draw for tourists and provided positive spin-offs for the local economy," said Bill Coombes of the FCS.

"This will be another exciting wildlife viewing opportunity and will help put Dumfries and Galloway on the map for wildlife tourism."

SNH said it was a sign that ospreys were starting to move outside of their traditional strongholds in the central Highlands and Strathspey.

The breeding population in Scotland now numbers about 160 pairs.