This year Mouche (PR4, born in eastern Germany and translocated to Bellechasse in 2016) and her partner AM06 have raised three beautiful chicks in the French department of Moselle (pictured above). Dominique Lorentz was lucky to witness the first flight of their third chick on July 3 at 17h40, the second one having fledged a little earlier the same day (and the first one apparently the day before).

Each year the pair seem to breed a little earlier, as Dominique saw the male back on March 17 (joined by the female the next day), and David Meyer was able to read the rings and see a first mating on March 19. This is the fourth year that Mouche and her partner bred on the same nest, after having already fledged two chicks in 2022 and in 2021, but failed on their first attempt in 2020. They seem to be getting better with practice!

Regarding our other females which we know have also returned, Plume (F02, from 2017) and Rafale (F14, from 2018), both of whom were photographed in 2022 in north-eastern Bavaria, we have not had any news about them so far this year. We can only hope that they may be located by some camera-traps, when thousands of photos will be retrieved and examined after the birds have left.