‘LG Blogger’s Round Britain Tour’ of Osprey reserves and associated Osprey habitats.

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‘LG Blogger’s Round Britain Tour’ of Osprey reserves and associated Osprey habitats.

Summary.

This is written in MS Word as a precaution (technical tip). I decided to make this a new thread, as disjointed blogs on different threads would be too difficult to follow. I shall put ‘signposts’ to here on relevant threads to draw attention to the additions that will follow over the next few days.

The last visits that I paid to LG were in the 1960’s as a young graduate, keen hill-walker and climber. My recollection of LG then, is not very clear, but I recall the pioneering spirit of those involved and the nest itself being easy to view. I remember being struck by the idea that Osprey could exist on an exclusive diet of raw fish.

I set off from Surrey, just south of London on the 15^th June 2010. Apart from LG, other sites were first time visits. I shall expand my comments on the locations in later blogs.

15^th. Rutland Water, to get an idea of the layout of the South Shore locations and to meet the staff at the Lyndon Centre.

16^th. RW Lyndon Centre and the hides which have excellent views of the nest.

17^th. Kielder Forest, Cumbria. Monitor only in the castle exhibition and shop. The RSPB man a viewpoint with a telescope, but only at weekends. The nest was invisible to me in the distance.

Tweed Valley, near Peebles, has two locations, the Kailzie Gardens (pronounced ‘caillie’ rhymes with daily!), and a small exhibition with a monitor of the nest, at Glentress, which is just outside Peebles.

18^th to 21^st am, with relatives celebrating my cousin’s golden wedding in Fife and Edinburgh.

21^st am left for Dundee, visited Carnoustie, had lunch at the pub, ‘19^th Hole’, I said,”I have not been in for a while”, “41 years, or so”, then to my old bed-sit, by the sea at West Haven.

I had heard about, Piperdam, near Foulis on the Coupar Angus road out of Dundee, it is called ‘The Osprey Centre’, but I discovered that the ospreys left there seven years ago, much to their disappointment the fishing centre manager told me. I strongly suspect the quad biking, among other activites being responsible.

Alan, I bet you are sitting up and taking notice, :o), you have probably guessed where I was off to next…..along the back road to Loch of the Lowes….yes, on the 21^st June, of all days, that could easily have been Lady’s last day. Nobody had expected what was about to happen, just after 6.15pm, when she took off, to the water’s edge. I had arrived just after 4pm, just behind the BBC satellite truck and they set about writing the script, for the news item, which was about to change, little did they know. So events took a dramatic turn for the better. More of that later, in a subsequent blog. I watched the news item in the hotel in Birnam and after that the place was buzzing.

22^nd I returned to LotL and watched Lady on their superb HD monitor. The staff use the joystick to demonstrate the points being discussed and we were watching Lady close up, noting how ill she looked, but, enough of that, now that she has improved a lot.

Then, Pitlochry and some of my old haunts, including the fish ladder at the hydro power station, which was only ticking over at 5% of capacity, as water stocks were being conserved.

Then to Loch Morlich and a spot of summer skiing in my kilt, only joking, but some people were doing just that, the remains of the big freeze still being enjoyed by some. On the way I had checked where the Rothiemurchus Fish Farm was, it was where I thought it was, but the new road system makes it feel much closer to Aviemore.

Since I prefer back roads, I passed the LG turning, after closing time on my way to Nethy Bridge Hotel, where I intended to stay four days, subsequently extended, because of the good weather.

To be continued…..