Osprey swallows fish hook in nest with newborn chicks

An osprey is being closely monitored after swallowing a fish hook attached to a trout.

Telyn, a 13-year-old female breeding osprey at the Dyfi Osprey Project in mid Wales, ingested the hook which was likely caught by her current mate Idris.

There are just five pairs of the large fish-eating birds of prey in Wales, according to the conservation project which shares live streams of the ospreys and their three newborn chicks.

Dyfi Osprey Project shared footage showing Telyn ingesting the fishing tackle on Friday, but said there was little it could do other than keep a close eye on her behaviour.

"It's now three days since Telyn swallowed the fish hook which we believed to be the non-barbed variety.

"This could be crucial," the conservation group said on its Facebook page on Monday.

"We haven't seen Telyn honk anything up, but it may well have come out the other side," they added.

It had not seen any negative reactions in Telyn after 48 hours and her three chicks, roughly two weeks old, were unaffected.

The osprey population in the UK is slowly recovering after disappearing from the UK in 1916 as a result of persecution, habitat loss and egg collecting, according to Dyfi Osprey Project.

The birds are now protected by law and osprey projects across the UK support each other and share knowledge to gradually increase osprey numbers once again.