FOUR Ospreys have made a flying return to Kielder nesting grounds for the first time this year.

The annual visitors have been spotted in the skies of Northumberland since their recolonisation in 2009, and four were spotted on the live webcam, set up by the Forestry Commission earlier this month.

It has already been an exciting year for osprey watchers at the Forestry Commission. On February 27, one female, known as 'White EB', was spotted 4,000 miles away at the Somone Lagoon, Senegal.

And as the clocks turned forward last weekend, the ospreys Mr and Mrs 'YA' were seen on camera at Nest 1A for the first time on Sunday, March 31. Not long after, both 'Yellow 37' and EB had arrived at Nest 2 on Monday, April 1.

To enable osprey nest camera streaming, a new communications mast was installed in the Kielder Forest earlier this year.

2019 will be the 11th year that ospreys have bred at Kielder Forest with a total of 58 youngsters hatched during that time.

For the past two years, newborns have been named after local locations, with Ospreys called Acomb and Bywell roaming the Kielder Forest. This year, the birds will be named using the letter C.