The first osprey chick of the season at a nature reserve has taken its maiden flight, 53 days after hatching from its egg.

The bird fledged early on Saturday morning at the Scottish Wildlife Trust's Loch of the Lowes reserve near Dunkeld.

The osprey, which has been given the ring number PT0, has been flying around the loch.

The second osprey chick is expected to take its maiden flight in the next few days.

Parent birds LM12 and LF15 have been breeding together at Loch of the Lowes since 2015 and have successfully raised 10 chicks in that time.

There are around 260 breeding pairs of ospreys each season in the UK, after the species were extinct in Britain for much of the 20th Century.

Reserve manager Rab Potter said: "It is great to see the chick take to the air, and it is always hard to believe that they are only a few weeks' old when they do begin to fly around the reserve.

"This moment is what the long hours our staff and volunteers spend protecting the nest in spring are all about so we're delighted that this season has been another successful one.

"Hopefully it won't be long until the second chick is airborne, and then it is really just a matter of time until our ospreys begin to leave the reserve and migrate south for the winter."