DAILY UPDATE ~ Loch Garten nest ~ Monday, 24 August 2015

Safe journey Odin and a safe stay wherever you go See you, the Magnificent and EJ the Beautiful next year.

Thanks to everybody especially SCYLLA and MOFFER, not forgetting SHEILA and all at LG

My thanks and appreciation go to everyone who has shared the season with me this year, and the awesome LG staff and their magnificent camera work - but pride of place must go to the undisputed stars of the show, EJ the Beautiful and Odin the Magnificent.  Here's hoping they return in triumph for a successful season in 2016.

moffer said:

Mini intruders have taken over the nest. The most I could count at one time were 6!! Mostly Great Tits, but there was at least 1 Coal Tit and a female/juv Chaffinch too.

What a shame this occurred with the pixelly 'profile' view, but here it is anyway - I've been enjoying playing it in the background for the sounds, and imagining the pictures ;-)

EDIT - Dang!  What I meant to say was... I've done the video but if I didn't BIRDIE would be sure to cover it ;-)  Hiya Birdie, glad you made it here today :-*

I can't resist one last pic

A beautiful sunny evening at LG, and ENS with Odin's excellent final perch - and the cross, but not in the middle!

I am so sorry  CC to have missed you off my list.  I had your name in my notes, so there is no excuse.  And Oldshoremore too.  Woops, as I said, bad memory, but I felt that it was important to try to name all those who had valiantly contributed during the season.

A fitting finale, with your wee bird vid, Scylla.  Thank you, it is quite atmospheric of the forest.

Good evening everyone, I have just read the LG update with a tear in my eye seeing the photo of wonderful Odin nodding off, what a gorgeous boy he is.

Thanks again to you all, even though I haven't had the chance to type, you have kept me going with all the fabulous photos and updates, I will actually feel quite lost without you all. God speed EJ and Odin and safe return next season.

The summary for 2015 is now complete.  Amazing how it all turned out so different from we imagined. I guess 2016 will have surprises too. 

scylla said:

I've gone end-of-season-crazy:

But it's been a crazy season - 26 April :o

I have been asked by MC (aka my dear friend Scylla) to write a brief summary of the 2015 season, so here goes.

On Thursday,  April 2, we were all delighted to see EJ return to LG, with fish :) just before 5pm. She looked amazing. The season has started. She brought a few sticks in, tried to fill a hole in the nest that had been dug by a Pine Martin prior to her arrival. Cheeky thing was using the top of the nest as it's toilet! She watched and waited, as did we.

Monday April 6, Odin appears at 1.30am. Pitch black, but a full moon if I remember correctly. He got straight down to mating with EJ. We would have missed the whole event if it hadn't been for Scylla, CC, Heron and Badgie. I have to add Scylla's vid here, (we had no sound at that time)

Oh what joy, out tufty boy is back :)

Everything went according to plan, lots and lots of mating, nest building, pieces of fish, more mating.

Saturday April 18, at 3.49pm EJ laid her first egg.

Tuesday April 21 at 10am EJ lays her second egg.

Friday April 24 at 7.21pm the third egg is laid. Both EJ and Odin take turns incubating. Odin does love to sit and often EJ would have to push him off the eggs to get back there herself.

Now the trouble starts. A number of intruders have been around, but it starts to get serious. On Saturday April 25 we notice blood on Odin's leg. Confirmation follows the next day that Odin has a small gash on his leg. It really shows against the recent snowfall, but doesn't seem to bother him. Intrusions continue and Odin does his best to see them off. One persistent intruder keeps trying to and succeeding in landing on the nest.

Tuesday May 5. at 7.19 Odin delivers a large fish to the nest and races off to chase an intruder. We have heard that there are at least three male intruders around, One has just a BTO silver ring, one has a blue darvic ring, and one is unringed. Odin certainly has been working hard to keep the males away from the nest. Come nightfall, Odin has not returned.

Wednesday May 6, still no sign of Odin. Two male Ospreys have been attacking the nest. One has a blue darvic. EJ defends. The following day is the same. EJ hasn't eaten since Odin's last fish on Tuesday.

Friday May 8 and still no Odin :( We fear the worst. The unringed male intruder seems to have won the battle for the nest. He has an Orange streaky Chest, so we refer to him as OC. At about 2.30pm he brings EJ fish. She is very hungry, takes it and flies off. We hold our breath. OC looks at the eggs and leaves, only to return and start nest cupping. Two eggs are kicked out to the rim, but the third will not go. EJ returns with some fish and OC leaves. She finishes her meal and incubates the one remaining egg after trying to roll one of the others back in.

Saturday May 9, at 8.54am, OC smashes the remaining egg. EJ returns and removes something from the nest. I've never heard her make the noise that she did then. It was heart breaking, and I cried with her. She still sat in the cup on the broken shell. Now OC wasn't great at giving EJ fish. He would land with it and as she went to take it, he would fly off with it. EJ learned the "smash and grab" method. She got some fish that way.

Sunday May 10 and EJ has stopped brooding. She is spending more time away from the nest. Intruders are still a constant menace. In the afternoon after 3pm OC lands on an empty nest with a fish alarm calling. He leaves and another male lands briefly. At 5pm EJ follows this male to the nest and they mate. It's ODIN returned. Much joy, tears and disbelief followed (by us!) Odin was back. An eggshell was blown from the rim into the cup and EJ resumes brooding.

Monday May 11 was a red letter day. It was the longest DU thread ever and this is why. Battles on and off the nest continue. At just gone 5.30am Odin delivers a fish to EJ. The intruding males are still around and he flies off to give chase. In his absence OC tries to take control of the nest. At lunch time a new bird lands, it's a female trying to take the nest. EJ lands and so does OC. It was total mayhem for a while. EJ eventually pushes the female off. In all the carry on and the wind, the trapped egg on the rim is now free. EJ rolls it into the cup to replace the disintegrated shell that she has been brooding.

Thursday May 14 Odin reappears and stands his ground against OC who the VC has now named Fenrir, and the blue darvic male. Some sort of peace is restored. EJ is still incubating the egg from the rim. It's so sad to see her sitting there. Our hearts go out to her.

Wednesday May 20, finally EJ abandons the egg. Intruders continue to be a bother.

Sunday May 24 the nest cam is switched to the wider view as EJ and Odin are spending most of their time off the nest. We start to enjoy views of them on the "Love Tree" and the fish perch. The camera tree is great for getting close views of them. One distinct dead tree in the distance is a great lookout tree. We have never seen these views before so they are very much appreciated and enjoyed by us all.

Thursday May 28 Odin succeeds in getting the egg out of the cup. Later in the day while defending the nest yet again, he lands on it and it just crumples. It was already dried up.

Many intruders continue to bother the nest. Thursday June 4 a young male with a blue darvic number 65 makes himself at home until EJ sorts him out. A blog informs us that intruders are seen by them on a daily basis and there is another blue darvic bird around.

Tuesday June 23 after being seen briefly in the cam tree in the early morning, EJ goes missing, and is not seen for the rest of the day.

Wednesday June 24 still no sign of EJ. Odin brings home a blue darvic YA female. He delivers her a fish at just before 5.30pm and she remains on or around the nest with Odin for the rest of the day!

Thursday June 25 Blue YA is still there and Odin delivers her another fish! EJ returns at 9.35 and sees her off. This is the start of another battle day which gets crazy. An unringed male lands later in the day and Odin delivers a fish to an unknown female who takes advantage of the situation. She eats the fish on the nest and stays to defend it for an hour before leaving.

Life continues with intruders still bothering the nest. On July 16 a blue darvic CS9 was seen. On July 19 two different birds land briefly on the nest with Odin. July 25 a female bird lands briefly next to Odin who pushes her off.

Thursday July 30 two intruders turn up together, a male and a female. The male soon leaves when Odin appears but the female begs for food and is not so easily put off.

Thursday August 6 an unringed male (?) lands on the campost. He is stunning, quite the Odin lookalike, but he seems to beg for food from Odin. He returns the following morning and watches Odin skydancing. He only leaves when EJ lands on the nest. Most of the intruders are here in a separate thread with pics and videos.

Wednesday August 12. Odin delivers a fish to EJ (just before 6am) after skydancing with it. It was lovely to watch her. That's the last we saw of EJ this year as she flew off with her fish. Scylla's video is beautiful.

Friday August 21 Odin is seen for most of the day in windy conditions. At 3.05 he takes off and he leaves.

So another season is over :( I would like to thank each and every one of you for all the comments, pics and vids. It has been a very different year with many highs and lows, but in the end EJ and Odin prevailed.  Thank you VC for the lovely blogs and superb camera work. You turned this year from a  failure to a wonderful experience for us viewers.

I forgot to say what a nest builder Odin has become. Some huge sticks were brought in this year.