Two resident ospreys have made the return trip from Africa to Alyth to their purpose-built residential nesting platform close to SSEN Transmission’s Alyth substation.
The two ospreys, named Harry and Flora by pupils from nearby Meigle Primary School last year, returned after migrating south for the winter.
Female osprey Flora was spotted first in early April and was soon joined by male osprey Harry a few days later.
A special live osprey camera is up and running again for this year’s breeding season so avid bird-watchers can keep track of the famous Alyth residents.
Last year the live channel attracted over 2000 subscribers, as fans flocked to check on the progress of the ospreys.
In 2022 Harry and Flora reared three healthy chicks – named Rowan, Holly and Bonnie – who all successfully took flight from the nest to make the long journey south for the winter in September.
The Alyth substation team are hopeful for more chicks this year, which will take the number of osprey chicks successfully reared from the new platform to 17 since it was built in 2014.
As with previous years, the birds are carefully monitored by an on-site ornithologist throughout the nesting season to ensure any construction work doesn’t cause any disturbance to the ospreys.
The nesting platform was first created in 2014 as an alternative home for the ospreys ahead of the start of a programme of upgrade and reinforcement work to the transmission East Coast network, after the birds were spotted nesting at the top of one of SSEN Transmission’s 48-metre-high electricity towers which was scheduled for maintenance as part of the project.
SSEN Transmission Consents and Environment Manager Ewan Jelly said: “They are firm favourites with the teams here working on the Alyth substation project, and it’s a real joy seeing them return to the nest and take to the skies as they hunt for fish in the nearby rivers and lochs.”
The construction of the Alyth substation is part of a wider scheme to upgrade the East Coast Transmission network.
Once complete it will enable the connection of new renewable generation to the grid, helping to facilitate the transmission to net zero emissions.
The project at Alyth is on course to be completed by the end of 2023.
SSEN Transmission has made biodiversity commitments on all projects, introducing a policy of no-net-loss in biodiversity on all projects gaining consent from 2020, and biodiversity net gain on all new projects from 2025.
This means teams will leave the environment no worse than when they found it, and where possible making it even better, leaving a positive environmental legacy at all SSEN Transmission sites.
Initial studies and monitoring for the Alyth substation have highlighted a significant benefit in biodiversity around the site, with a current forecasted figure of an increase of 50%.