Archive for June, 2009

Another beautiful weekend here

Tuesday, June 30th, 2009

It has been another beautiful weekend here at Loch of the Lowes. The chicks are spending a lot of time flapping their wings building up their muscles ready for their first flight. Because their wings are so large, when the chicks are flapping about there isn’t much room on the nest for the mother as well so she spends most of her time at the side or on the dead tree next to the nest shouting words of encouragement to the chicks. The oldest chick should be taking to the skies in the next week or so and the youngest one will soon be following suit.

The male has been bringing in lots of fish and excelled himself in his hunting skills on Thursday when he managed to catch five pike in the space of 20 minutes. There was definitely no shortage of fish on the loch that day and the male has proven that he really is an efficient and spectacular hunter.

We have some bad news about our bird feeders at our viewing window. Unfortunately they have all had to be removed for two weeks once again due to a couple of finches and a coal tit which was spotted with the parasite. The pine marten evenings will therefore be cancelled for the next few weeks and will resume back to normal when the first pine marten is spotted.

Another pure white fallow deer was watched feeding by the loch on Sunday and two young otter pups were sighted on the canal connecting Craiglush and Loch of the Lowes on Thursday. There is lots of wildlife to see here so why don’t you come down and see if you can spot one of the white fallow deer or even the otters on the loch!

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The oldest chick was attempting to feed itself

Thursday, June 25th, 2009

The ospreys are doing well and the chicks are growing up fast. The oldest chick was attempting to feed itself on Tuesday with a bit of rainbow trout fin but with little success. The chick could not fit the whole fin in its mouth and was struggling to try and grasp it with its talons to rip it into smaller pieces. It tried for about five minutes before eventually giving up and returning to the mother to be fed with the other chick. It just shows that its natural instincts are kicking in and it will soon be learning the way to feed properly.

The male seems to have started his own fast food delivery service if yesterday was anything to go by. He caught a fish in front of the hide then flew back to the nest and dropped it for the female whilst flying past. He barely even touched the nest and didn’t even stop to say hi before he flew off and caught another fish in front of the crannog for himself which he then left with to eat it on a perch close by. Even though he didn’t stop for a visit at least he had the best intentions for the chicks and fed them first. He has been bringing in fish frequently for his family and the chicks are growing big and strong.

An intruder was spotted by the female and chicks this morning which caused her to call in alarm but there was nothing to worry about. After both the mother and the chicks watched the intruder fly off they all settled back down on the nest and everything was once again calm.

We have a lot of new offspring around the loch including some baby woodpeckers which can be watched from our viewing window.

We have had another spotting of our mysterious creature on the loch but we still as yet have no idea what it could be. If you are ever visiting the Loch of the Lowes and see anything out of the ordinary on or around our loch then we would love to hear about it .

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The ospreys are looking great

Monday, June 22nd, 2009

The ospreys are looking great and have been getting lots of fish over the last few days. Today the male was observed diving in front of the hide on several occasions trying to catch his prey and succeeded in catching three small fish on separate diving attempts. He ate two of them himself and the other one was given to the mother and chicks.

The youngest chick was one month old on the 20 June and even though it is the younger osprey, it is the more dominant of the two and gets fed the most fish. The oldest chick is slowly beginning to build up its muscles ready for flight by stretching its wings and flapping them and this behaviour will be done a lot more often in the next few weeks when they will really be trying to get ready for their first flight. Let us hope that it is a smoother one than last year!

The 2008 chick left the nest and took to the skies for its first flight but unfortunately had not yet learned to land properly and ended up hanging upside down at the side of the nest for four minutes when it overshot the nest.  The mother returned to the nest and called to the chick several times, no doubt shouting some encouragement and reassurance for it to let go which it finally did and flew around the nest several times before plucking up the courage and landing safely on the nest. It was a bit of a hairy ride for the chick but it got through it and it did not put the chick off trying out its wings again!

Unfortunately we have yet to see any pine martens at our feeders but hopefully they will come back soon. Due to the feeders being away for a month we have not seen the pine martens in the area but now that the feeders are back we expect it to be just a matter of time before they return to feast on the nuts and treats left out for them on the food tray.  A beautiful white fallow deer was spotted grazing at the side of the loch today and we have a regular visit from a jay each morning at the bird feeders which is a beautiful bird to watch.  The red squirrels are still dashing around the centre and we have the privilege of being able to watch this year’s young birds at the feeders and see their progress as they grow up and take to the skies. The Loch of the Lowes really is a tranquil place to be just now to sit and watch the wildlife and relax in the beautiful sun.

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Chicks are growing up quickly

Monday, June 15th, 2009
The chicks are growing up quickly and their feathers are really coming through now so you can begin to see their patterns and colours.  The oldest chick is one month old today and has started eating things he shouldn’t be like the bedding and small sticks from the nest.  He was also observed coughing up a pellet of bark, moss and lichens which is a rare sight in ospreys.  Like other birds of prey, ospreys do occasionally bring up food pellets which consist of the indigestible material from their prey, in our ospreys case the bones and scales from fish, but it is very rare to see this happen and the pellets are generally very small.  It is therefore thought that the majority of the fish consumed by ospreys is passed through their gut and excreted.

Today we had an osprey intruder flying close to the nest alarming both the female and the chicks but the chicks instinctively ducked down in the nest and the mother guarded the nest until the intruder left them in peace.  Fish have still been brought in regularly to the nest and the male even brought in another eel on Friday making that two eels in a week.  Seeing a single eel being brought to the nest is rare enough for this pair but two in a week is brilliant.  Our chicks are still a bit unsteady and clumsy on their feet but they are healthy and are looking great.

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First eel catch of the season

Monday, June 8th, 2009

On Saturday our male brought in the first eel catch of the season. This is a very unusual event as they rarely catch eels so it was exciting to see the male bringing something different to the nest. The last time the male brought in an eel, in 2007, the male arrived at the nest with it held in only one set of talons so it was wriggling about excessively in attempt to free itself from the ospreys razor sharp grasp. Once released, the eel wrapped itself around all three chicks and the male struggled to keep it under control. In a last ditch attempt the male grabbed the eel by the tail with one set of his talons and grasped its head with the other then ripped the head off which killed the eel instantly and provided a great feast for the osprey family. The chicks have had the delight of experiencing eel for the first time and they are still doing great.

Our feeders are back out and the birds are coming back so hopefully we will not have another reoccurrence of the parasite infection and we can continue to view these spectacular birds at the viewing window.

We had an interesting sighting on the loch in the late hours of the evening when an unidentified animal was spotted fishing in the loch. We have as yet no idea what it could have been and it continues to be a mystery so if anybody sees something out the ordinary on the loch we would love to know.

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Brilliant week for the ospreys

Thursday, June 4th, 2009

It has been another brilliant week for the ospreys.  The sun has been shining and the weather has been spectacular even though it is getting a bit cooler now.  The week has been fairly uneventful apart from on Monday when one of the chicks managed to get itself stuck on its back and was unable to turn over.  It struggled for several hours to right itself and get back on its feet with very little success and the mother kept it sheltered for the sun throughout the whole ordeal.  Eventually, when the day got cooler, the mother sat on the chicks and manoeuvred the chick back onto its stomach where it could get back onto its feet and carry on as normal.

Both chicks are changing by the day.  Feathers are developing, mainly on the head of one of the chicks and are they are both looking very healthy.  The male has been seen hunting and catching fish in front of the hides on numerous occasions, which is spectacular viewing being able to watch this large, exquisite predator diving into the depths to latch onto to an unsuspecting fish below then flying off with his prey to feed his hungry family.  The fish are plentiful, the chicks are growing up fast and everything is wonderful here at the Loch of the Lowes.

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Our little chicks are growing up

Monday, June 1st, 2009

Our little chicks are growing up and have become little wild toddlers, learning to use their feet and move around the nest to the dismay of the mother. She has to continually come back and block the path of the chicks and force them back into the centre of the nest before they work their way over the edge. They are being typical kids, fighting each other until one backs down, usually the youngest, and goes into the submissive pose of lying down and not moving. The youngest one is fighting back and is becoming a lot more dominant, pushing itself into the front of the feeding queue to get the first dibs on food.

The male is bringing in lots of fish and both chicks and mother are being fed regularly. Although our chicks look a bit scraggy just now by next week we will be able to see their feathers emerging properly. The weather has been wonderful here and it is another scorching day, perfect for the chicks to get up to plenty of mischief. On Tuesday we had a very determined female osprey trying to take over the nest by continually swooping and trying to land on the nest but our female never lost sight of her and made sure she was unsuccessful in her attempts. We also had a bit of rivalry on Saturday when the male spotted another male fishing on the loch. As the intruder dived to catch a fish the male swooped in and stopped him then sent him on his way.

Our bird feeders are still away due to a sick greenfinch which appeared when we placed the feeders back outside but they will be replaced on Friday. Even though we do not have nuts out for the squirrels they know where we keep the food and have spent the last week making a hole in the lid and breaking into the bins to steel the nuts!

If you have ever wondered what the scratching noise on the osprey camera is then we recently found out. Our once fluffy microphone has now been stripped at the top and the fluff on the better-protected middle section is being removed by great tits to line their nests. We have a brilliant video of a great tit being caught in the act, stealing the microphone lining and there is a great twist at the end of the video which is sure to make you laugh. So if you are ever at the centre then be sure to watch our little clip before you leave to give you a wee smile for the day.

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