Loch of the Lowes Osprey Wildlife Diary

Wildlife diary 8th Sept

fiona, osprey HQ — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 09:25:25 +0000

Good morning one and all!

It’s another pretty grey day here this morning, but at least the rain has stopped…for now.
It seems there has been plenty of activity at the feeders last night, with the pine marten making several appearances, along with a number of hedgehogs and a mystery visitor which we’ll check back on the footage to see if it can be identified.
It looks like the pine marten has set up residence and is now appearing at the right times. We’re hoping he’s told his mates of the nightly feast, so keep an eye out for the return of the pine marten evenings!

Thank you to all of you who have responded with comments about the blog. We’ll air your views in the meeting today and hopefully any of the little issues we have can be sorted for next season.

Happy viewing!

Wildlife Diary 7 September 2010

Peter Ferns — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 09:07:41 +0000

Good Morning all.

Oh what a dreach (horrible) day it is!

High winds and driving rain, not great for wildlife watching but the birds will still be at the feeders but I would imagine all the wildfowl will be hiding in the reed beds on such a horrible day.

I did notice that no one mentioned the pine marten in their comments from last night, Steven is looking back over last nights recording, if he finds anything we will let you know.

Tomorrow Fiona and I will be attending a meeting about our blog and how we progress with it over the coming year. If any of you have any Ideas on what you would like to see on the blog please let me know. We will not be able to implement everything but I think it would be good to get your feedback on this.

Peter

Wildlife Diary 6 September 2010

Peter Ferns — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 09:41:59 +0000

Good morning all, This is Stephen From The loch of the lowes Visitor centre some of you might have heard about me others not. This is my first post on the blog And its great to see how much people care about our scottish wildlife and how much people like interacting with us on the blog and in the VC.

More exciting news here at LoL as a juvenile pine marten was again seen this morning stuffing its face with peanuts. Hopefully with some luck its here to stay and we MAY be able to start to hold some pine marten evenings up at the VC.

The weather has been very windy up here and there have been some nasty clouds approaching menacingly some of the leaves have started to fall from there trees Autumn is very much HERE…

I hope everyone has a excellent day and get those comments pouring in!

Stephen

Osprey Diary September 5, 2010

rboardman — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 08:52:36 +0000

Greying skies and a strengthening breeze are moving the loch about this day. I only had a brief view and noticed only a few waterfowl bobbing. Yesterday we enjoyed a new arrival of wigeon to accompany the many tufted duck, hundreds of Canada geese, great crested grebe and at least three coot. In the sound department (as many have commented), Canada geese, jays, crows and robins (both male and female), honk, screech, caw, and twitter.

When I arrived, a red squirrel tumbled uncontrolably down a high birch catching itself only a few metres from the ground, ungainly. There was a yellow moth flitting about the observation window. Still plenty of time to pollinate flowers.

It is not a still morning as would appear at first sight.

On the blog; good news and numerous views of pine martin. At evening and early day. Pine martin are active throughout the night prowling about large territory. Perhaps the visits here are the beginning and end of the nights’ rounds and the young one has found a secure place to rest nearby…We are a happy folk.

The trials of life surely press us. We are a happy folk here. Rinchen

Osprey Diary September 4, 2010

rboardman — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 09:31:12 +0000

The fog will burn off. It is quite warm this morn.

On Thursday morning I had the opportunity of going to the base of the tree which provides so much for ”our” osprey nest. I tagged along with some electronics people assessing our system of cameras and security. It was my first stroll over.

We walked through some old sessile oak, through reeds taller than ourselves, avoiding muck underfoot. It was not a long hike through the sweet scent of bog myrtle and overstepping wee clusters of sundew implanted in soft sphagnum. They were awaiting insects for lunch. And then the air opened up to us humans, into a small patch of magical Caledonia forest. Lush green on earth with orange trunks rising high and out above; Scots pine. Only a few hundred years ago Scotland was thus covered. It was a quiet glade below a nest that one could miss if not aware of its’ presence. Light, bright and full of space.

I searched for the remains of fish, for I knew that at least two had flown overboard, out of the nest this breeding season. I was only hopeful, in that I knew that fox or crows would have carried or eaten the free meal long ago. As the expression goes, “not a sausage”. In my search I located only three osprey feathers.

I also looked at an area by the canal that has had otter presence. There is a tall leaning pine which offers a cavity under its’ roots. Badger also could use these places for security. No activity to report. Perhaps the autumn and winter is the time that otter relocate here. Let us hope.

Habitat is crucial. Let us remember that. Rinchen

Wildlife Diary 3rd September

E Rawling, Perthshire Ranger SWT — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 08:43:12 +0000

The pine martin is back! At about ten to six this morning the same wee juvenile pine martin appeared on the feeders outside the VC. It stayed for about 10 minutes and stuffed itself with peanuts- we are going to have top start putting out a more mixed and suitable diet for it in the evenings-dried fruit, and some meat too. It appears to have a wee white spot on its left shoulder – individual markings on pine martins are very useful identifiers. Lets just hope this become a habitual visit!

This will be my last blog post, as it is unbelievably my last day at Lowes. Soon I will be joining you lovely folks on the ‘reader’ side of the blog community, which will be a great way of keeping in touch with my friends up here and the joys of the coming seasons on the loch.

I just wanted to say one last thank you to you all for all your kind comments and good wishes- they have been very much appreciated. All the staff here have found the blog an enormous morale boost and it has certainly helped us through some difficult times this season knowing there are so many of you out there who care! Thank you all and see on the blog- look our for “ex ranger Emma!”

Emma Rawling

Wildlife Diary 2nd September

E Rawling, Perthshire Ranger SWT — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 08:34:04 +0000

The staff at Lowes were so excited by the Pine Martin sighting on Wednesday morning, that some of us stayed up very late watching at the feeder window hoping…..no such luck last night! It brought back memories of all those long nights back in the spring doing osprey nest protection watch ( can that really only be five months ago?) when you get a previledge view of the nightime world of Loch of the lowes.

At night there is the errie call of the geese calling on the loch, and the quiet footfall of the deer in the woods. The tawny owls are quite vocal and the loch surface seem to buzz with daubentons bats scimming for insects. Lots of feild mice scrurry around the base of the feeders and our resident hedghog ( who lives under the VC) shuffled out to go about its business in the dark.

Alas, the only thing msising was a pine martin, but we hope it will return soon- keep your eyes peeled and be sure to let us know if you see it on camera!

Emma Rawling

Wildlife Diary 1st September

E Rawling, Perthshire Ranger SWT — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 09:18:48 +0000

Well folks, a new month brings new excitement here at Lowes. Congratulations and thanks to the eagle eyed webcam watchers who spotted early this morning, our first Pine Martin visitor for a long time, at our window feeders.

We used to have a resident family here at Lowes, but over the last year they have been consicuously absent, theories have ranged from feral cat competetion , to local clearfelling being the cause.

This pine matrtin which apeared this morning appears to be a juvenile, probably dispersing from its birth family at this time of year, looking for a teritory of its own- which is good news for us as it might decide to stay around!

There was great excitement in the office this morning as we rewound the overnight camera recording and watched the wee beastie filling itself up on peanuts- Fiona tells me its their tradtional favorite around here! lets hope we get return visit soon.

Emma Rawling, Perthshire Ranger

What

Wildlife Diary August 31st

E Rawling, Perthshire Ranger SWT — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 08:29:00 +0000

How can it be the end of August already? This morning is cold and msity here at Lowes, a real taste of autumn, but I’m sure the sunshine will soon burn through! Fionas’ delightful description yesterday gave you a good tate of the changing wildilfe here at the Lowes- it is perhaps the most beautiful times of year in the highlands.

We’ve had almost daily osprey sightings here at Lowes, of birds passing through, which is a nice reminder of how many birds are further north than us are breeding. Thankyou to those of you posting details of other ospreys on route in the UK- fascinating reading.

Excellent news this morning about one of our previous ospreys chicks born here at Lowes, which has been sighted in Dumfries andd Galloway. The female chick was hatched here in 2001 and is a daughter of our wonderful lady and her previous mate ‘Eric’. Isn’t it wonderful to think of her descendants out there helping repopulate new areas of Scotland!

Emma Rawling

Perthshire Ranger

Farewell from The Ranger Team 30th August

E Rawling, Perthshire Ranger SWT — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 13:15:13 +0000

As the ospreys fly south for the winter, so do some of our staff! As autumn steals in the conservation ranger team is winding down, and with another successful bird breeding season over, we can look to other wildlife and conservation work for the winter. Here at Lowes the good work goes on all autumn and winter, however, and we leave you in the very capable hands of the dedicated Visitor Centre staff: Peter, Fiona, Rinchen and Stephen and Charlotte.

As Rinchen mentioned yesterday, I (Emma) am leaving to begin a new post as Warden at Caerlaverock in Dumfries (on the Solway Firth) where winter is the busiest time with 25,000 migratory geese overwintering there. So I am sure to be busy, and there is even a pair of ospreys nearby to fulfil my ‘osprey addiction’. Don’t worry I will be keeping in very close touch with Lowes- it has entranced me too!I just wanted to say thank you all for the wonderful insights and great ‘company’ on the blog this season- I have genuinely enjoyed sharing so much osprey talk with like minded folks, and especially meeting a few of you in person too. Thank you all for your kind words and wishes.Many of you won’t be aware that during the season on the seven reserves I cover, I have been ably assisted by four fantastic volunteer rangers who have done everything from osprey watch shifts, to weeding and surveys on reserves, and helping run events and research. They are a wonderful team who have my eternal gratitude and thanks- Laura, Anna, Andrew and Mathew , you are absolute stars! So much of the hard work in conservation often goes on out of sight and unsung, and I’m sure you will join me in thanking them, and wishing them the very best in their future conservation careers.Emma Rawling Perthshire Ranger