They grow so fast, here they are on 12 July ...
... just a week later and here they are with both parents looking almost as big as them! The youngsters have got the brown and white feathers on their bodies, the adults are a more uniform brown.
The second of the two have fledged today leaving an empty nest :-)
Just after fledging is quite a hazardous time, early flights can see them crash landing on the ground and if they land in vegetation they often can't take off again if it's too dense. The team at Rutland have already rescued a youngster that they saw land on the ground, fortunately they found him and returned him to his nest. Another went missing overnight and they feared it had been preyed on by a fox but the nest day it turned up looking muddy but otherwise none-the-worse. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that "mine" will make it. The team will keep me updated via their blog.
In just a few weeks time they'll be ready to migrate to West Africa with their parents. Good luck little ones!
