Good morning everyone. I hope you're all having a lovely Easter weekend and enjoying plenty of chocolate treats! We have certainly had a busy Easter here at the Osprey Centre. Indeed, as I made my way into work this morning, I passed a very tired looking rabbit carrying a decidedly empty looking basket. I stopped to have a word with the little creature (I'm fluent in Rabbit - night school classes, twice a week) and found out that it had actually spent a couple of days around the centre, delivering as many eggs as it possibly could. And what an amazing job it has done!
We have eggs everywhere it seems. Yesterday morning EJ decided to stand up and stretch her legs on the nest. To our delight we noticed that a third egg had been laid without us noticing! A quick check on the LG forum to get the word from our avid online followers confirmed the time of laying at around ten past nine (many thanks for your help again forum members - your meticulous vigilance is always appreciated). Having laid on Sunday evening and Wednesday afternoon, we were hoping for a third egg from EJ at some point this weekend yet she still managed to take us by surprise! Up to now, I've not managed to have my camera ready whenever EJ has stood up and revealed the three eggs, meaning I unfortunately don't have a pic for you. Here's one of EJ looking a bit angry instead!
Stay away from my eggs!
This will probably be the final egg for this season. Very occasionally, ospreys lay four in a clutch but generally three is the norm. Having laid, EJ will now spend the majority of her time on the nest, relying on Odin to supply her with fishy meals. At the moment he is delivering just one fish a day and this seems to be enough as EJ isn't expending too much energy. Odin has also been carrying on his ongoing battle with the resident crows who are persisting in hanging around the nest area. If you get the chance to visit the centre, you might be treated to some very exciting aerial chases.
The aforementioned bunny also appears to have left some eggs in our goldeneye nest box. Yesterday when I turned the camera on there was just a solitary, turquoise egg but later in the day we saw Gloria (I think that's her name but then, my Goldeneye isn't quite up to the level of my Rabbit) enter the box for a short while. When she left, there was a second egg and this morning, turning the camera on revealed a third.
Glorious goldeneye eggs!
Goldeneyes, unlike ospreys, will lay their entire clutch (sometimes as many as 13!) before they start incubating. This means the female, who by this point has been abandoned by her mate, is free to continue feeding regularly, adding an egg every day or so. It also means the ducklings will hatch at approximately the same time and can be safely led by Gloria down to the loch. We'll keep an eye on the developing goldeneye family over the next few days but hatching probably won't occur for at least a month. This is always a great spectacle as the ducklings fling themselves from the box in an apparent kamikaze leap of faith!
Now, I don't want to cast aspersions on the character of the Easter Bunny (I happen to think very highly of him or her) but somehow, the little thing managed to break into the Osprey Centre overnight on Friday! Having checked that there were no binoculars missing, we've decided to give it the benefit of the doubt, especially as it seemingly deposited a basket-full of chocolate eggs, plus a bundle of treasure maps coupled with fiendishly difficult (but brilliantly written) clues. All weekend, therefore, we've invited families and young detectives to decipher the clues and work out the secret password to claim some chocolatey treasure. So far, everyone has been successful and we've handed out loads and loads of eggs to scores of budding detectives! Some of our craftier visitors (crafty as in creative, not sneaky!) have also been decorating Easter Eggs and making cute little pine cone bunnies as part of our Egg-citing Easter Nature event.
The Harrald family testing their detective skills on our Easter Hunt
A selection of pine cone bunnies!
That's all from me for now folks. Happy Easter to you all!!