Archive for the ‘Diary 2009’ Category

High drama on the osprey nest

Monday, March 29th, 2010

High drama on the osprey nest over the last 48hrs here at Loch of the Lowes. No, its not the arrival of ‘our’ male unfortunately, but yet another intruder osprey ! A second female has been landing on the nest, and looking rather too comfortable on it. She is easy to recognise as she is very large ( at least the same size as our female) and very very dark in plumage, with a distictive black ‘cap’.

The resident female has been frantically mantling ( standard defensive behaviour) but all her anger seems not to be having much effect on the bold intruder. Do we have a serious rival for the nest? Can our female hold on to her nest without her mate to back her up? Only time will tell.

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Last update before Christmas

Sunday, December 20th, 2009

This will probably be the last update before Christmas to fill you in on what’s been happening. First off, the loch is frozen – you can check it out on our webcam – it looks amazing because snow has now fallen on the ice so its quite magical out there although very few birds this end of the loch due to the big freeze.

What has been spotted though is one of our resident water rails – very elusive birds – forced out of the reed beds to feed, dotting around the front of the centre for around 20 minutes so some mealworms have now been scattered on the ground to help it out should it return. Still got the odd Whooper hanging around on the loch although like I say they are fast swimmers and can make it from one end of the loch to the other in about 10 minutes when its not frozen solid!

The wee birds at the feeders are frantic in this weather with another (gigantic) brambling popping up and a solitary goldfinch appearing multiple times a day along with the usual suspects. Squirrel action is still good – the baby one popping up most days although it isn’t going to stay tiny for long the amount it’s been eating. After some advice from our SWT red squirrel officer, an antler (from a fallow deer) has been put in the feeding area, for the squirrels to knaw on, as a diet of just peanuts can lead to calcium deficiencies so this antler should provide some of the minerals etc missing from peanuts to help our baby grow.

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Beautiful frosty, Christmassy weather up here

Wednesday, December 16th, 2009

We have had some beautiful frosty, Christmassy weather up here – putting us all in the mood.

On the loch, we’ve been having regular sighting of Whooper swans with up to eight seen at one time from the hides, although its got to be said they are fast swimmers and can get around the loch a fair bit. The wigeon can be heard whistling away and every coot has about five wigeon surrounding it and mugging it of the pondweed which it has dived to the bottom of the loch to reach. The greylag geese numbers are starting to rise and sightings range from tens to hundreds clustering on the loch. We have also had a few sightings of the smallest duck in UK, a little gang of teal have been scooting around the reed beds with the regular tufties, goldeneye, grebes etc.

The viewing window is really busy – chaffinch numbers are hitting over a hundred and the tits, other finches, robins, dunnock and blackbird numbers are also rising. The squirrels are still out in force and there has been a baby squirrel visiting regularly for the last couple of weeks – nicknamed tiny Tim. He is really wee and we think we’ve even seen him cuddling up with his mum as on the feeding tray when one squirrel approaches another on the tray one will usually run away but these two were happily cuddled up and munching away.

Recent webcam action has been the loch by day which we have been trying to vary by zooming in and panning round the loch to try and give different views and at night we have a resident blue tit roosting in one of our nestboxes. So at around half past three we try and catch the little bird coming into roost before settling down for the night. The other camera is on our feeding area which by day is birds and squirrels and at night we have been putting our usual pine marten food out but also some extra nibbles for the fallow deer which seem to be visiting most nights.

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Really good sightings

Tuesday, November 17th, 2009

Just a wee update to let you know that we have had really good sightings of mixed flocks of fieldfare and redwing on the rowan trees at the front of the centre for a few days.  Such a good view in fact that we didn’t even have to leave the centre which was lucky cause the weather was awful.  On the same rowan we have also been seeing bullfinch which is very unusual for the lowes and there have also been a wee flock of long tailed tits in the trees behind the centre.

Also forgot to mention last time, the daily visits at the feeders by two jays which are quite tricky birds to see most of the time but are in and out all day on the peanut feeders.

One more bird was added to the loch this week although it is unlikely we will see it again – a water rail which had been found in a garage in Blairgowrie.  This small, wading bird was cared for until strong enough to be released and then brought to our reed beds – which already support water rail – to be re-homed.  The water rail is particularly elusive due to its lifestyle in the reeds therefore unlikely to be seen any time soon although we do have some particularly good footage of one which was forced out of the reeds to find food when the loch partially froze last winter.  There has also been a new bird on the loch in last few days – pintail duck.

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The Wildlife Diary is back

Thursday, October 29th, 2009

The Wildlife Diary is back because even though the ospreys are away to West Africa for the winter there is still a fair bit going on at the feeders and on the loch.

There is always a change over of species at the lowes as autumn turns into winter.  So far we have had the arrival of goldeneye with numbers up to 20 at a time and even more wigeon, up to 60 have been counted recently, both in their winter plumage, the wigeon are looking particularly good.  The great crested grebes which are here year round have also moulted into their winter look and there are still some tufted ducks left from the 200 that stayed for the summer.  A family of five Whooper swans have also been hanging around recently and there was also a sighting of what could have been a lesser snow goose although probably an escapee as opposed to a rare vagrant.

So at the feeders we’ve had the usual chaffinches, tits, siskins, robins, dunnocks, treecreepers, wrens and great spotted woodpeckers.  We have had our first goldfinch of the winter, a relatively common bird in gardens but not of woodland so that was quite exciting and another visitor from the north has also been showing up, brambling have been visiting our feeders and more have been seen so far this winter than all of last winter.

Red Squirrel at Loch of Lowes

Red Squirrel

We are also still receiving daily visits from our population of red squirrels usually seeing around three individuals throughout the day although their main foraging times are mornings and afternoons  as they go for a little sleep in the middle of the day so in the hope of spotting them its best to visit early or after lunchtime.  Most of the squirrels are looking pretty fat and glossy which is good but there is one little one with bald patches who looks a bit scrawny burying loads of nuts so hopefully he’ll remember where he’s buried them all for the winter.

Still quiet on the pine marten front although the cat sightings seem to have also ceased.  The natural food sources of pine martens such as berries are plentiful at this time of year so hopefully as the cold weather sets in and natural food declines they will be forced back to our supplementary feeding and once they start showing up again the pine marten evening will be up and running again.

Last bit of news, a juvenile sparrow-hawk flew into the one of the centre windows and quite badly bruised its wing so has been recuperating at the centre, eating lots of chicken from an unnamed supermarket and limping around the office – hopefully ready to release in a few days.

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Winter is coming

Friday, September 18th, 2009

It is getting a lot colder here and you can really feel winter coming.  We have discovered yet another feral cat hanging around the bird feeders which will be why our pine martens have not yet returned.  We have once again placed traps out in an effort to catch it and have baited them with fish cat food but having watched the cameras we are now aware that this in unlikely to catch the cat in question.  The cat was watched both last night and the night before eating the peanuts believe it or not.  Last night we put out large chunks of peanut butter for the fallow deer which are starting to come to the feeders and instead of them eating it, the feral cat did.  It spent at least two hours wandering around the tree eating the nuts off the ground and licking the peanut butter and even ironically enough sat on top of one of our traps cleaning itself.  At one point whilst the cat was sitting in the tree eating peanut butter a fallow deer came across and both stood inspecting each other with about a foot between their faces before they both went back to munching on the nuts.  We will try peanut butter as bait to see if we can finally catch this peanut loving cat and remove it so our pine martens will finally return.

We had also placed out apples for the deer and I discovered yesterday that the red squirrels have been taking them away up the trees.  Whilst I was setting one of the traps a red squirrel which was hanging about above me and becoming irritated with me being near its peanuts so it started shouting at me.  Yes squirrels actually do shout at you!  I spoke to it then carried about my business when an apple fell down from the tree missing me by only a few inches.  When I inspected the vicinity there was no one around and there are no apple trees at Loch of the Lowes, all the trees overhead were hazels or silver birches.  On looking at the apple I noticed bite marks created by a small mammal which has led me to the conclusion that the squirrel was trying to make a point that I was too close to its nuts and chucked an apple at me.  This type of event has occurred to the visitor centre manger as well but with grey squirrels.  The squirrels were throwing chestnuts at three dogs which were close to the tree but unfortunately enough for him he was also in the firing line.

As well as cheeky red squirrels we also have the mallard ducks which are becoming very sneaky.  The fence we constructed to keep them out of the feeding area has generally worked and there are usually no or only a few mallards which get inside the enclosure during the day.  The problem is that the ducks have gotten wise that although they get chased away during the day, there is no one watching them at night.  As soon as the shutters go down the mallards flock into the enclosure to get to the nuts and seeds.  I think we can safely say that animals are not stupid and they certainly have their own little personalities.

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A lot of osprey sightings?

Tuesday, August 25th, 2009

Our ospreys have still not been seen on the nest but there have been quite a lot of sightings of ospreys on the loch over the last week so it is uncertain whether or not ours are still around. Adult and juvenile ospreys have been spotted flying and fishing on the loch and on Friday, what appeared to be a very inexperienced juvenile, was watched trying to fish in front of the hides. Instead of diving down when it spotted a fish, it slowly glided down to the water then dived at the last minute. It did this on four occasions before finally giving up and moving on.

Although no ospreys have been seen on the nest we have seen a few other interesting sights. We have some nice footage here at the Loch of the Lowes from Friday of a juvenile woodpecker hanging upside down from one of the pine cones where it pecked away for a short time before another woodpecker came and chased it away. Also on Saturday a red squirrel was watched running around in the nest before scurrying off back down the tree. The red squirrels can also be watched from the viewing window burying their nuts preparing for the winter setting in.

We have a little shrew which has taken up residence between the female toilets and the store room and is regularly seen running through the grates hunting for food. Goldeneyes and pochards have also returned to the loch after travelling down from the north for the oncoming winter so the loch is getting busier than during the summer breeding months.

Volunteers and staff are currently in the process of upgrading an artificial otter holt in attempt to make it more suitable for otter use as it was regularly becoming flooded in the winter. When it is finished we are planning on fitting it with a camera so hopefully you will be able to see otters regularly running in and out of the holt.

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Left for their wintering grounds

Friday, August 14th, 2009

We have not seen the osprey chicks or the father since yesterday morning which is leading us to believe that they may have left for their wintering grounds in equatorial West Africa.  It will take them about a month to get to their wintering grounds and it will be a very dangerous journey for the juveniles who have a higher mortality rate during their first migration.

Even though our ospreys may have left I thought I would take this opportunity to tell you about a story I was given about an osprey and a great crested grebe at Blatherwycke Lake in Northamptonshire.  The osprey visited the lake in early August to hunt, but this day took an unexpected twist. The osprey dived into the water for a fish and came out with non other than a great crested grebe.  Understandably the grebe was not amused by its attack from the osprey and was squawking and flapping about desperate to get away, mottling several of its feathers in the process. The osprey quickly released the grebe which dived back under water in a desperate attempt to get away and the osprey went back to hunting for fish completely unperturbed by its catch. Whether the osprey mistook the submerged great crested grebe for a fish due to its streamlined body we will never know but I am sure the grebe will always be wary from now on when its dives under water when an osprey is overhead!

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The mother osprey has finally left

Monday, August 10th, 2009

It appears that the mother osprey has finally returned back to equatorial West Africa. We believe that she left last Wednesday (5 August) as she has not been seen by any member of staff here at the centre since then. This is normal for the mother to leave around three weeks after the chicks fledge as she is no longer required to feed or protect the young.

Some viewers have requested an easy way of identifying which juvenile is on the nest. We have come to distinguish them from their size and the markings on their head. The youngest chick appears to be the largest and the brown markings on its head are a lot more splayed than the older chick whose brown patch is more of a barred shaped. The youngest chick also spends the most time on the nest and makes the most noise which, combined with the size, suggests that it is likely to be a female but it is hard to be certain.

Now that it has been over three weeks since the chicks fledged they will be getting alot more adventurous when they fly, using thermals and soaring through the sky. In another two to three weeks, when they reach about 11 or 12 weeks old, they too will also be ready to migrate to Africa for their first experience of seeing and living in their wintering grounds. This is usually done during a period of good weather and can take about a month to get there. It is a very risky trip for juveniles as this is when the highest mortality of fledglings occurs as they are at risk of flying off course and finding themselves out in the sea. Because the oldest chick is now hunting for itself, it relies less heavily on dad and will probably leave a lot sooner than the youngest chick.

As well as deer and the wide variety of birds seen on the reserve we have also had the opportunity to see the otters swimming on the loch at around 4 pm on last Friday. It is always lovely watching them swim past the hides within a few feet of our budding wildlife watchers. The kingfishers are also starting to make an appearance on the loch now that the breeding season has past so there is always plenty to see here.

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Eventful week here with the ospreys

Monday, August 3rd, 2009

We have had a very eventful week here with the ospreys. Whilst out in the canoe on Thursday evening monitoring the reserve, we spotted what we thought was probably the male getting repeatedly attacked by a gull. The osprey did not even bat an eyelid at this aerial attack and continued staring into water surface looking for a tasty meal. When the attack got too much, the osprey retreated to find a quieter area to hunt. The osprey returned on several occasions and each time was met by an aerial attack from the same gull no matter how far away the gull was when the osprey made an appearance. At one point we heard the gull yelling from half way down the loch where it made a beeline straight to the top of the loch where the osprey had just appeared over the tree line so the gull appeared to be spending its whole time watching for the osprey’s return.

Friday was an even more eventful day but for the chicks this time. We have video footage of the ospreys fighting very aggressively on the nest. One of the juveniles was on its siblings back pecking it repeatedly and grabbing it by the neck, pulling it with all its might. The other juvenile finally gave in and flew off the nest leaving its sibling feeling very smug about its defeat. This is normal behaviour for ospreys as it is their way of saying ‘this is my nest so get off’. The juveniles also regularly fight over fish which has been brought in the nest so it is not uncommon to see them laying into one another.

We also have footage from Friday of one of our chicks getting dragged off the nest by the father. The father arrived at the nest with a fish which the juvenile appeared to try and take hold of but we think it may have grabbed hold of dad’s talons instead. The male took off with the juvenile still attached and dragged it over the edge of the nest. Thankfully the juvenile was not hurt and arrived back on the nest after several minutes. It must have been clinging onto the nest for dear life as when it returned it was clinging to a stick. The shock of falling out of the nest also seemed to make it forget how to open its talons as it acted like the stick was stuck to its foot before realisation dawned on it and it opened its talons and let it drop.

Juvenile osprey with fish © Neil MacDonaldAfter saying in the previous post that it is very rare for juveniles to hunt at this stage and before they leave for Africa, one of our juveniles did the unthinkable and was spotted catching a fish on Sunday. This would have been spectacular to see and a few lucky spectators also managed to take photos of this fantastic event. This photo of the juvenile with a fish was kindly sent in by Neil MacDonald who has also very generously let us post it on the web for everyone to see. Thank you again.

In other news, if you have noticed wire mesh on the cameras of the bird feeders, it is actually a pen to try and keep the mallard ducks out since they can no longer fly at the moment. This is because they are going through an eclipse where they moult all of their flight feathers at once. You may also notice at this time of year it appears that all the male ducks have gone. This is not the case. The males actually lose their breeding feathers and take on the colours of the females. The ducks have been secluded to try and encourage grass re-growth below our bird feeders because the ducks have not only eaten all the grass or pulled it out whilst looking for seeds, they have also exposed tree roots with their constant trampling. With any luck the grass will soon regenerate and the ducks will be discouraged from coming to the feeders.

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Our wee osprey family are doing brilliantly

Monday, July 27th, 2009

Our wee osprey family are doing brilliantly here at the Loch of the Lowes. The chicks are spending most of their time off the nest and flying around building up their wing muscles for their long trek to Africa whilst the father is actively fishing and making sure they are well fed. The mother will soon make her return trip back to Africa in around three weeks time now that both chicks have fledged and then the chicks will follow at the end of August along with the father.

The chicks have been spotted playing in the water, practicing their diving and figuring out how to take off from the loch. In the past chicks have also been seen coming out of the water with sticks as they practice their hunting technique. It is unusual for osprey chicks to start catching prey for themselves at this stage as they normally begin after they leave for their wintering grounds so they are still totally reliant upon the father to be fed.

We have a great number of birds visiting our feeders and we have as yet not had any reoccurrence of the parasite which is brilliant. If you were having lunch in the hides on Wednesday you would have also had the luck of spotting a pair of otters swimming by which is a brilliant sight when you are relaxing beside our peaceful loch.

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A brilliant time learning to fly

Monday, July 20th, 2009

Both of our osprey chicks have finally fledged and are having a brilliant time learning to fly. The second chick took its first flight on either Thursday night (16th) or early Friday morning. Unfortunately even though one member of staff waited patiently until late Thursday night, the osprey chick did not decide to leave the nest until later so we were unsuccessful in obtaining the footage of the first flight.

The oldest chick has had a few interesting landings over the last week. It was seen swaying precariously on top of the dead tree next to the nest trying its best to balance and at one point it landed on top of its sibling sitting on the nest, so the landings are still a bit messy but they are rapidly improving. Both the chicks are spending less time on the nest and appear to prefer to spend the night on a perch close by. They are still taking fish from the father and remain within close proximity of the nest, watching for their father’s return with fish so they can fill their bellies and then resume their flight, soaring over the loch and landing haphazardly on a perch. The chicks will spend the next month trying to perfect their flight ready for their 3,000 mile flight to their winter residence in equatorial West Africa.

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Our oldest chick has finally fledged

Monday, July 13th, 2009

I am absolutely thrilled to announce that our oldest chick has finally fledged. All the staff were perched on the edge of their seat on Sunday waiting for the chick to make its leap off the 60-foot drop to take its first flight into the sky after it spent the whole day flapping at the very edge of the nest building up its courage. It was not until 7.55pm that the chick finally took that leap into the air with very little hesitation and flew about for around 10 minutes before finally coming to rest on the tallest pine tree across from the hides. The chick did not return to the nest until 4.47am the following morning even though the male brought in a fish for the mother and youngster at 9.37pm. The chick landed perfectly on the nest and has since been enjoying soaring over the loch on numerous occasions taking in the sights of its beautiful home. The youngest chick should also be taking off in the nest few days as well to join its sibling in flight, building up their muscles before their long, arduous flight to equatorial West Africa where they will remain for about five years before they mature and return back to Scotland to start breeding.

Our birdfeeders have been replaced outside our viewing windows and all the birds are having a feast on the nuts and seeds left out for them. The pine martens have unfortunately still not returned but we are not giving up hope and continue to leave out food for them to entice them to the feeders.

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A big storm brewing yesterday

Monday, July 6th, 2009

We had quite a big storm brewing yesterday with thunder and lightning which cut off our web cameras on quite a few occasions. The chicks kept ducking every time they saw a flash of lightning or heard thunder and the mother did her best to try and keep the chicks covered to stop them getting soaked. One side of the visitor centre was flooded with the heavy downpour but the weather did brighten up later on and the ospreys finally got relief from the bad weather.

There has been plenty of fish brought in for the ospreys and the oldest chick has now started to feed itself. On Saturday the male presented the mother and chicks with a fish which the chicks then proceeded to fight over. The youngest chick was the first to grab the fish when the older one came over and grabbed the fish from the other end. A tug of war ensued with one chick using its beak to pull the fish and the other grabbing it with its talons. The battle ragged on for a few minutes and one chick was close to going over the edge of the nest when finally the oldest chick won the battle and took its prize for itself to eat. The mother attempted to gain access to the fish but the chick went for her and continued to eat the fish itself.

The chicks are due to fledge any day now. They have been practising hard and strengthening their wing muscles and it is just a matter of days before the oldest chick takes its first leap off the nest and into the sky. We are all waiting in anticipation to see how successful the first flight and landing attempt is and if it is a smoother one than last year’s chick.

A pair of otters was spotted swimming in front of the hide yesterday and an otter was also spotted the day before so they are becoming more of a regular sight here on the loch. Our bird feeders will be returned in a week’s time and we have not seen any more infected finches around the area so hopefully the parasite will have disappeared at last.

The pine marten evenings are still cancelled due to the absence of pine martens at the feeders but we will keep looking out for them and as soon as one is seen the pine marten evenings will recommence.

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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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