Balgavies Loch Ospreys

Technically no, I don't breed them.  They are parthogenic so they do that all by themselves - they are an all female species so no males needed to reproduce!  They change colour from light to dark depending on their temperature :)  

Thanks Amazing!

Just been reading up on mourning geckos  KT as know nothing about them ... 'no remaining males have been found!' - good thing that they aren't needed then!!  Also looked at egg images, aren't they so tiny??

Yup, the eggs are tiny but surprisingly resilient! Mourning geckos are very good at colonising new islands naturally and when the eggs were investigated they were frozen, soaked in salt water and various other things and they STILL hatched!  So all that is needed is a single egg on a branch to make it to a new island...

There have been males recorded though, only ever in captivity but they don't seem to have any purpose as they have never been recorded mating with the females as one theory was that by having occasional males it can mix up the genes a bit, it isn't even known if the males could fertilise the females eggs.  Though it is made a bit more complicated because some females never lay eggs and instead act more like a male would including performing mating behaviour on other females.

They are great, I love them.  My lot are in a 3 foot planted vivarium and they are so entertaining to watch!  

As we expected and discussed by myself and KatTai - SWT have confirmed there will be no tagging at this nest. I do not think they are ringed but will get a look once they fly - expect to be up for another visit in a week or so.

In the absence of Loch of the Lowes osprey chicks this year we had looked into the possibility of satellite tagged another young osprey from an SWT reserve in Angus. This is the same place Blue YD came from- this year the parents are doing well and have two chicks. However, the timings on this nest and the availability of the expert team to do the tagging unfortunately haven’t worked out. There is only a very small window of opportunity when the chicks are around 42 days old when they are the right size and temperament to ring and tag. If they are too old there is a chance they will try to fledge as the climber approaches instead of ‘playing dead’ and this introduces a risk of injury etc. We feel the bird’s welfare must always be paramount so have decided to not attempt this nest this year.

This sadly means a fallow winter season this year for our exciting satellite tagging project, but we have high hopes that the transmitter will be used here next year and continue to reveal more migration secrets of ospreys.

Thanks for that Keith, bit of a shame as it would have been really nice to follow them on migration but maybe next year!  I'm planning to head down there on Thursday so will see how they are doing then :D

Bit of a delay with this update!  Was at the loch on Thursday and one of the chicks has fledged and gave a nice fly-by!  She had a bit of difficulty landing back on the nest though, landing was aborted twice!  The other was practicing a lot so should be taking flight soon!

Thank You very much Kat Tai for keeping us up to date with what has been happening throughout the season.   Great news that one of the chicks has fledged.   Thanks for the brill photos too. 

Thank you KatTai, for your update and photographs. Really good news re the fledging.