Loch of the Lowes Osprey Wildlife Diary

…30 days hath September, April, June and…yikes, the last day of July.

Faithful blog people noted a “crow/raven/blackbird” poked a hole into the third egg whilst I was away. The orb itself still has fine form. I cannot think that any contents were palatable. As noted yesterday, we have had a good number of jays about and still do this morn, it may have even been one of them. Many odes to the orb have been written.

Two larger fish were brought to the “table” yesterday; a huge perch and a blue trout. I have spoken in the centre of noting that once the juvies were able to fly, the the size of the fish seemed to be smaller than earlier on in the breeding season, thinking that the the parents were choosing to catch smaller fish for the inexperienced young to eat. As the juveniles continue to mature we shall see if this is in fact a change in the adult behaviour. Yesterday, both of the youngsters ate on the nest and flew off with their heavy partially eaten prey. One, found that the fish was a wee bit too heavy to comfortably fly. It returned with it a few moments later. Once more had been eaten it flew off with a lighter load. This is much like an adult would do when fish are caught too heavy to lift and fly just above the surface of the water and eat at the waters’ edge before flying off to a safer perch. Of course the juvies will soon be flying with fish and need to have the skills to do so.

If we have many visitors today I may not be able to respond as frequently as I would like. I will do so as soon as I am able.

Have a wondrous day on your own patch as well as this one! Rinchen

Warm and greyish this morn. Rain is forcast for later today.

The current questions are; “where is the female?”, “who caught the fish?” and “who is eating most of the fish?”

The answers lie in very careful and accurate, verifiable observation. I will  place here some personal comments. “Our” female is spending more time away from the nest; a gradual weaning of  the breeding season. This will continue to occur until one day (probably soon) she will wend her way south, having completed another fantastic episode of her life. And yes, she appears strong and is well able to look after her own needs. Perhaps a juvie caught a fish yesterday. As we have observed over the past fortnight the male deliveries to the nest are nearly instantaneous. We have also observed that the chicks are able to fly with objects (pine cones, sticks, and fish) and know that they are able to land in the loch and alight from it. They are also able to perch and even eat fish away from the nest, albeit it is surely easier to eat on the “table”. It is possible that there was a fish exchange away from the nest. Our views from the camera and hides are remeber very limited, selective and comprehensive. About an hour after the perch came in, another fish was delivered by “our” male. Both of the adults have made consecutive food drops in the past. Of course we have very talented and accompished osprey here. As someone who has recorded plenty of natural history and biometric data I suggest that further observation is required. The juvies will both be too soon, to many, fending for themselves. Both of the young are healthy, active and progressing at their own pace. As I noted yesterday in a response to a comment, I indicated that the siblings have been getting along famously since hatch date. Competion is healthy. Each individual has its’ own needs.

Let us experience and enjoy the activity provided by natural world. Rinchen

Good morning bloggers,

It’s another pleasant day here at Lowes and all seems well on the nest. There was a fish delivery just a short while ago and, yup you guessed it, greedy guts got in there first! Chick no.2 really needs to start growing up and fighting for itself, and mum needs to let it! Lady is due to leave by the end of next week and she seems to be on a mission to eat as much as possible to gain the strength she needs, which is a good sign she is ready to leave. Her progress would be better if she didn’t have all these intruders harassing her and the chicks, but a mother’s work is never done and she will defend her young and home to the very last.

We are all savouring these moments however, as we all know, this very well could be Lady’s last year and we will applaud her every little victory, the last being here final(?) migration.

Fiona

  Three interesting snippets of osprey behaviour from the last 24hrs.

 Firstly our lady had to fight off a very determined intruder yesterday, and unusually, shouting and posturing was not enough! She actually had to use her talons and beak to see the intruder at the nest off- for this  to happen is unusual. As well as other juvenile and curious birds at this time of year, there are also now ospreys starting to head south, who have either failed to breed, or bred very early, so there will be doubtless more such encou7nters.

 Secondly, we had a visit form dad at the nest yesterday afternoon, with a nice juicy pike- and unusually, there was no one there to receive it. Where were the hungry hordes?  He sat for a few minutes ( a nice chance to see him in detail as his recent visits have been so fleeting) and when no one else emerged to claim the prize, her quite rightly took off with it himself!

 Lastly a few of you noticed one of our chicks yesterday pick up at least two things from the water- a pine cone and a stick! Not quite a fish, but a good sign it is honing its skills in coordination, visual calculations and accuracy. Keep it up wee one!

 Lets hope today has as many equally exciting developments.

 Emma Rawling

 Perthshire Ranger

  What a defensive lot we have in our wee osprey family! This morning all three (mum and two chicks) were happily roosting in the trees opposite the hide- you may have seen me zooming in on them – from where they can survey their domain. They show little interest in the nest now (far too grown up for that obviously!) UNLESS someone else gets too close (in this case an intruder osprey). What a lightening fast reaction- all three of them appeared within seconds and began mantling (covering the nest with dropped wings and squawking) over the nest like it was still the most precious thing in the world to them.

 There has been a lot of discussion about our female osprey’s weight recently- we estimate she lost up to a third of her bodyweight during her dramatic illness. Rest assured she is slowly regaining weight (despite always favouring the chicks over herself with food) but we would not yet say she is back to ‘before-illness’ weight, and we would like to see her put more on before she attempts autumn migration. By the way, we judge a birds weight at the front over the chest- what is known as the ‘keel’ or breastbone, is where birds carry their fat reserves.

 Emma Rawling

 Perthhsire Ranger

Update 12:20pm: 2 redstarts and a great tit on the nest picking up the left-overs and multitude of insects present! 

What a lovely site this morning of our lady osprey and both chicks on the nest, feeding well, though there is undoubtedly some squabbling going on. You will notice that mum is ‘babying’ the smaller chick, feeding it though it is well able to feed itself by now- perhaps just to ensure it is getting its’ fair share!

Our female osprey has taken to spending most of her time (when not out fishing) sitting across from the nest on the other side of the bay. Can you blame her- she must be sick of the sight of it after three solid months stuck there with eggs and chicks! It is also vital that she gets herself fit again , as migration looms only a few short weeks away.Dad is working extremely hard, even though he’s seldom seen- blink and you’ll miss him during his lightening quick fish deliveries to the nest. He is flat out keeping up with the demand, and is doing a sterling job yet again- what a hero! For those of you able to visit us here at the Lowes, we can assure you that even though the nest may often now be empty, there is still plenty of osprey action on the loch. There is almost always at least one of the birds in sight of the hides, and often a lot of fishing action on the loch, both with our birds and others from the nearby area- all in all, agree to visit and see the ospreys for yourself!Emma RawlingPerthshire Ranger

It is feeling warm here already…air still a time of writing…

Having been here for two hours all feels “normal”, although I did hear a tawny owl and saw a young song thrush as I walked down to the Visitors Centre this morn.

Two juvies were feeding upon my arrival. Were there two fish delivered, I did see two tails? I am hopeful that this is what occurred, for it does seem that the smaller youngster is not eating as much as we would like. Perhaps having a more bold attitude has rewards, at least when it comes to fresh fish. Less squawking and more action may be our advice. The “greedy” one has flown off a couple of times with fish to eat over the past few days. I hope that perching and eating were well accomplished, for this is another essential skill. Eating at the table (nest) is a luxury for these birds for only a limited time. Perhaps if “greedy” does this more frequently and “our” intrepid male provides a double order the smaller juvie will have time and space to eat.

So, without sounding too much like a cheer leader today let us hope that larger fish or a more bold attitude is the order of the day.

Yes, Mom, continues to preside over the Loch in fine form.

I will continue to work on Cam 2. 

I started with the word “normal”. I wonder if we will experience something not so today…Rinchen

Warm and grey this morn…

I shall start with sending apologies to all for the lack of  live coverage. Late yesterday afternoon our technology let us down. None of the three of us last evening could do what is required to encourage our PC to talk to the internet. I believe that it is something that our head office has control.  We shall continue to work away.

Yesterday morning at my breakfast table overlooking Dunkeld and the broad rushing Tay river, the first bird of the day was an osprey peering into the water. They are often seen over the Tay valley, usually I see shreeching swift first thing. What is missing is the consistant piping of oystercatchers…

I am rambling to note that there are obvious wildlife changes already, albeit mid-summer. “Our” female osprey spends less time on the nest. Just last week she overviewed the bay and nest from a very predicatable perch. She does not frequent this tree as often these days. The juvies had a long bath yesterday, but still, oddly to me occasionally lie flat in the nest as if they have forgotten how to perch. Often, they soar ever higher and farther away from the Loch for longer and longer periods. The male continues to briefly provide his perch drops to the nest, and then is gone…I have witnessed “our” female tearing across the Loch after intruders lately. It is hard to believe that she was poorly when I watch now. She flies well and I am hopeful that she will successfully fly south. Of course we all are wondering when that will be. Personally I think that it may well be by the end of the month.

I have inserted some images for us all to visualise this morning. I hope that they are helpful until we can get our technology sorted. Best of wishes. Rinchen

Hi folks, sorry to again ahve to tell you that our osprey camera is down- it seems there is a problem with the internet service provider or router. We have tried everything we can think of to fix it tonight ( don’t these things always happen at 5pm on a  Friday!) but we may not be able to get it back up working until tommorrow ( Saturday) morning. Our apologies agian, and thankyou for your patience. Emma, Fiona and Rinchen.

  Another beautiful morning at Lowes with more sunshine and the happy sight of lady and her two youngsters on the nest, feeding happily. 

Those of you who have been worrying about the smaller chick getting enough food, will be glad to hear it had a breakfast fish all to itself this morning at the crack of dawn! Nature’s survival of the fittest’ rule can be harsh, but in this case the wee one is getting enough to get by at the moment. However, it is certain that the bigger chick will be at an advantage, with extra fat reserves to call upon if times are hard. This may be particularly pertinent come migration time in a few weeks- although there is a great deal of luck involved in surviving your first trip to Africa for a young osprey, having a good bodyweight to start with will certainly help.Many of you will have also noticed the amount of intruder activity around the nest over the last week or so. This is not surprising really, given the timing of other young ospreys in nearby nests also fledging, and their parents also frantically trying to keep up with the demands of teenage mouths! The ospreys alarm calls you are hearing are not too serious (unlike earlier in the season when there was a serious risk to chicks etc) but more of a symbolic protest at the neighbours getting too close.Emma RawlingPerthshire Ranger

5.30pm update- we are desperately trying to get the cameras back up, sorry folks!

  AT last we have some sunshine!!!! What a glorious morning with the loch and the whole world seeming fresh washed and plumped up with moisture. As the sun warms up, the steam is rising in the woods and all our wildlife is drying out!

 Our lady osprey is no exception- sitting proudly on the nest perch , preening and enjoying the feeling of sun on  her feathers. She must be starting to dream of Africa surely- warm winds, hot nights, big fish….

 The good, calm weather  will certainly help all our ospreys fishing and we hope the rate of deliveries goes up- time too out some real weight on for our wee family.

Emma Rawling

Perthshire Ranger

  What a morning!  Our lone chick on the nest is a picture of misery- bedraggled!  Their juvenile plumage is pretty waterproof ( though not as good as say a ducks) and they are pretty good at thermoregulation now, but you can’t help but feel sorry for it! At least the chicks got a good meal last night and this morning so they should be fine- like all of us they will just have to wait out the rain until sunny skies tomorrow!

 More news later today!

Emma Rawling

  5pm update:

Ok so I know I said we appreciated the rain, but this is getting ridiculous!  What a downpour- it makes you very grateful for the fact that this weather has arrived now and not back when our wee ones were downy and vulnerable, or even worse, when mum was ill and unable to protect them. As it is, the chicks  are soggy but undeterred! Both are sitting on the nest just now, being the epitome of ‘optimism’ where  the possibility of dinner being delivered is concerned. Emma

Update 2:54pm: Cameras should be back up and working now.

Update: Will our cams are still being worked on, I thought I’d update you on todays comings and goings. Both chicks have been on the nest, off the nest, on the nest, off the …you get the picture! Both currently back on the nest after some time sat in trees doing a bit of preening. Dad brought in a nice brown trout about lunchtime, which mum grabbed while she had the opportunity and flew off with it. She ate her fill and brought the rest back for the chicks to fight over. Both had a bite but seem peckish again, calling incessantly for dad to bring more lunch!
Off to work on the webcams again! Wish me luck!
Fiona

With the cameras back up and running after our wee power cut crisis overnight , we can only hope the birds show themselves on the nest early this morning to help you all with your withdrawal symptoms!

Both the chicks have certainly been very active over the last few days, constantly bouncing to and fro the nest on training flights, circling the loch, and even taking the odd run at the water- not seriously tryo9ng to catch anything yet, but probably practising judging distances, angles and speeds for successful strikes in the future.When they roost however, they are never far from the nest- most often in the trees opposite where they can be clearly seen from the hides- and always in easy reach if a parent with a fish does happen to appear on the nest.They are certainly vocal that’s for sure- this must surely be the nosiest time of the year on the nest!Emma Rawling

Perthshire ranger

Success…I think! Hope you can all access the cams now?!
Fiona

Update: Everything appears to working at this end now, but many of you don’t seem to be able to view anything. Has anyone got a picture? I may have to restart the system to try and fix the problem.
Fiona

Hi folks unfortunately the cameras went down last night, ( along with all the computers, lights and all!) due to a major power cut. the power came on again late last night, but I am stills trugggling to get everything relinked up this morning-  I will try to be as quick as possible. Our apologies Emma

The carryings on and dynamics amongst each individual becomes more and more pronounced. Mum tidies up alone on the nest,  juvie flies in, Mum flies off, and mimics same actions. At least a couple of behavioural actions here…And then there is the food situation, who catches, who sees the catch, who eats, who gives, who receives. Not satisfied, they squawk, full, they squawk, hungry or not. Pops remains aloof, was it fishing, guarding territory (and we do have a fair number of intruders and will continue to do so) or watching the golf? 

“Our” female remains an extremely devoted parent. The juvies are still her priority. I would like her to eat more, she appears tired. Let us not forget that on Friday she caught 4 fish in as many attempts and did catch two (one too large to lift) yesterday afternoon in front of juvies and us visitors. Breeding  is a massive task. I remain hopeful that the young will soon be less reliant on the parents in order for her to recover from this very stressfull four months.

Calm and warm here at present. We shall continue to marvel, whether overseas, overair, or at the Loch of the Lowes, Perthshire, Scotland. Rinchen