First osprey chicks released into wild after over a century of extinction

One of the first osprey chicks to be released into the wild by the National Parks and Wildlife Service at the weekend as part of its five-year reintroduction programme. Picture: Valerie O'Sullivan/NPWS

The first osprey chicks have been released into the wild after being extinct from the country for more than a century and a half.

It follows a momentous first sighting of naturally-established breeding ospreys discovered last week at a nesting site in the North.