Through a somewhat convoluted route, we are now in contact with the sturgeon farm where Rothes is currently located. Thanks to a string of e-mails from Tony to Nick to Yvette, word eventually got through to Dr Alan Jones of Sturgeon SCEA, who then e-mailed me and I just this minute phoned him in France to chat. Thank goodness his secretary spoke excellent English, is all I can say! Though I did just manage parlez vous Anglais - phew!
Anyway, when Dr Jones went on Google Earth, he was delighted to see that Rothes has decided to take a break on one of his sturgeon farms at St Fort sur Gironde. He told me that he is very honoured to have such a celebrity to stay. He spoke to his staff there, to see if they had actually seen Rothes but they haven't. She seems to be largely just roosting there, perhaps coming and going after the staff have gone home, hence no actual sightings. She is obviously fishing elsewhere in the vicinity, and Dr Jones confirmed that there are extensive wetlands on both sides of La Gironde river. He doesn't think it very likely that Rothes is eating his sturgeon as on that particular farm they only keep the females destined for caviar production and they weigh from about 5 to 15 Kgs! This would be an impossible challenge for her.
Dr Jones has now become a regular blogger to check if Rothes is still gracing his farm with her presence, and he wonders if it will become a regular stopping off point for more ospreys in the future. When Rothes does eventually leave the area, he told me he hopes the rest of her journey is completed safely and he hopes that she will come and visit them on her return in years to come. He's already pondering on introducing a new “Osprey” brand of caviar to mark the occasion! Needless to say, this is very welcome news indeed, to know that Rothes is welcome there and that the farm staff will be keeping an eye out for her during her stay with them. He has my contact number so he can keep me informed of any news.
I have checked the latest data this afternoon and Rothes is still in the same general area - her last fix was at 8am this morning. On checking the data, for some odd reason there are no fixes at all for yesterday (27th). I've spoken to a techi-colleague at HQ who tells me that sometimes there can be blips in the satellite transmission cycle, a loss of sychronicity or some such explanation, to be frank, he lost me a bit (sorry Nigel). Anyway, in short more data will be out there in the ether somewhere and will arrive at some point, so until then I shall not up-date the map. I'll try and take a look over the weekend, but otherwise it will be on Monday morning. Have a good weekend.
In summary: Rothes in France. No Odin since 22nd. No Garten since 8.30pm on 26th. No EJ since 8am 27th. Just Mallachie here now on her tod, oh plus the intruder juvenile who's still hanging about.