Here is the original post on RSPB about Ollie, written in 2004.

Super-Dad

In 1993, a tragedy struck the Loch Garten osprey nest. Our regular male Ollie, delivered a fish to the nest to his eagerly awaiting family. As soon as he landed on the nest we knew something was wrong, for entwined around the fish was fishing line.

As we looked on helplessly, one of the two chicks, only a few weeks old, immediately became entangled in the line. The female, seeing there was a problem, moved closer to her chick but herself became entangled in the line. 

After several attempts to detach herself, she took off, fortunately for the chick, taking the fishing line with her. Her sacrifice for her chick was greater than we could ever imagine. She never returned that day. We know she would never have abandoned her chicks at this stage, so we were left imagining the worst.

The loss of our female was a great shock to all at Loch Garten but this soon gave way to our greater concern for the chicks. We were left with a young male who, if the chicks were to survive, was now responsible not only for catching the fish but for taking over the female's role of feeding the fish to the chicks. Could he do it? 

If he did accept the challenge, would the chicks survive alone on the nest while he was away fishing? What would we do if he abandoned them? All we could do was wait and hope for a miracle.

A miracle came, the morning after the female's disappearance, Ollie appeared with a fish and for the first time since his arrival in 1990 at Loch Garten, we saw him remove small bits of fish and cautiously feed them to the chicks. Ollie in fact became an expert in chick-feeding and despite all the odds, both of the chicks survived and on the 21st of July the first chick fledged, followed soon after by the second chick. 

When Ollie returned in 1994 and met his new female, Olive, he continued this behaviour no doubt to the surprise and delight of Olive!

Since then, we have never believed that any male osprey could ever match the skills of Ollie and although in our eyes, Henry is a worthy successor, we have always known that there was something just that little bit more special about Ollie. That was until...

Friday 4 June and Henry has been impressing our visitors with his fishing skills all day. Fish number four is on its way in and once again, the fish is still alive! EJ is excitedly calling to him but Henry ignores her and begins to eat the head of the fish. 

Suddenly he stops and leans forward in the direction of the three little heads eagerly reaching towards him with mouths open. We all hold our breath... Could it be? Henry pulls back and continues to eat the fish himself...Just our imaginations! 

Then suddenly, again, Henry leans forward and this time... Yes! Sure enough, the oldest chick takes some fish from Henry. 

EJ looks on - surprised? Then again, the second chick takes some fish from Henry. After ten minutes of this, EJ assertively grabs the fish from him and continues the feeding.

So we are now left wondering, if Henry is already feeding his chicks in his first few days of being a father, what more is he capable of? To be honest, I think some of the ladies amongst the team are starting to get quite jealous of EJ!

Source: Jo McFarlane
8 June 2004

Lovely story thanks CC! Quite a few of the males feed their offspring (and their mates) now. Who knows when this trend began.....

Thanks CC.    That must have been harrowing watching that happen.   Well done Ollie.    So there is hope for the Belmont chicks then.

This is one of the very few pictures of Ollie

Thank you, CC and Tiger, very inspiring! Perhaps there should be an Osprey Hall of Fame.

Unknown said:

Just gone 9am and here's the scene - chicks aren't calling for food from dad so assume they've been fed. The page for the webcam gives some useful information about hatching dates (one chick died after hatching) and the fact that they found an adult bird dead nearby the nest (perhaps the mother) and are testing why it might have died

(c) Grand River Conservation Authority

Yes, there was a feeding around 8:30am.

The male is sheltering the chicks from rain right now. The times I checked in overnight, the chicks were alone on the nest.

Korky, did you read about the raccoon? Last year the chicks were predated by a raccoon that climbed up to the nest, so this year they put up a guard to prevent climbing.

Hi Pandy. Thanks - I didn't read about the raccoon but it sounds like the chicks might be protected from them now. But I do worry about owls - I see there are Great Horned Owls (amongst others) in Ontario whose prey is varied but includes other birds. I wonder at what stage/size the chicks would be too big for a GHO or any other kind of owl or any other kind of raptor come to that?

The chicks are home alone at present and it sounds like it's blowing a hoolie

Unknown said:

Hi Pandy. Thanks - I didn't read about the raccoon but it sounds like the chicks might be protected from them now. But I do worry about owls - I see there are Great Horned Owls (amongst others) in Ontario whose prey is varied but includes other birds. I wonder at what stage/size the chicks would be too big for a GHO or any other kind of owl or any other kind of raptor come to that?

The chicks are home alone at present and it sounds like it's blowing a hoolie

GHOs are mortal enemy of ospreys. A GHO can kill even an adult osprey. 

On the positve side, the male is an excellent fish provider. He brings 5-6 fish a day, and managed to get one late this morning despite difficult river conditions. The chicks are alert and active at feedings.

Watching the nest via YouTube (desktop view if you're on mobile), the live chat contains some useful information from experienced observers.

At least a good food supply has been in the chicks' favor so far.