THE LOCH GARTEN GABFEST FOR MAY, 2017

Unknown said:

Odin was the best thing that ever happened to EJ. Very heavy hearted here.

Cirrus - I would have to agree. This is her 9th season with him and the pair have reared 17 juveniles that have migrated. The only barren year being 2015 and that was hardly his fault.

I am back from Wales and will go and see some ospreys tomorrow at LOTL and a few surrounding nests. It will be far more cheerful than taking abuse on a particular FB page for a post I made as an error of judgement on here at 7:47. I was only answering in response to Lmac. I did  it as an error of judgement and have said so but the parrots keep on chirping.

Keith, Enjoy your trip to LOTL, etc., and I look forward to your ensuing reports.  Fingers crossed that the good news you see will outnumber the bad.  I expect everyone is feeling upset and depressed about Odin, EJ and the chicks and hope that Odin returns safely.  Hope for a better tomorrow at LG, but we know it may again be grim.  Hang in there, Everyone, there is still good news elsewhere than at LG and we must try to hang on to that.

Good evening all. I find all your above discussions very interesting and in particular Keiths summary of EJs breeding life. I dont do FaceBook I know I miss out a lot of infomation! People seem to feel free to be nasty using a keyboard hiding behind a screen, but would not be so bold face to face :)

I have so much admiration for the beautiful ej I dont know what to add! Just heart breaking :(

Agree Gardenbirder, There is still good newes else where!

Keith enjoy your trip to Loch of the Lowes a happier situation there.

The roller coaster has crashed. Now to pick up the pieces.

Hi JUNE - I hope you do not mind me sending you a personal post.

Unfortunately things did not work out as we thought they might at the LG nest and certainly we did not expect this a few days past.

Picking up the pieces. I imagine that EJ could have a battle on her hands trying to keep hold of this nest. She may be able to settle with one of the males around but I also imagine there will be a few females along wanting to be Queen.

Odin - he has been a very successful male at the nest and maybe this will be the last we see of him or hear of him - time will tell as it has with Dai Dot.

Many ospreys in Scotland suffer this fate - A male osprey that Roy had tagged Yellow HA was involved in a dispute with another male at his nest. He had arrived late that year at his own nest and found another osprey had moved in. There was a fight and he flew off possibly injured. He never came back to his nest but lingered in trees for seven days before moving low along a river for a few more days before Roy got his last signal. A fisherman reported seeing an osprey in an ungainly manner. Roy presumed he was injured in the fight and limped away to recuperate and probably died. Fighting between male ospreys can be pretty furious and there have been cases of deaths.

It is possible Odin is recuperating just as Yellow HA did and may return to try and gain his nest or maybe the same fate as Yellow HA and presumably Dai Dot.

I know you like this pairing of EJ and Odin and like watching the season. For this and others that also do I am sorry the season has ended like this but unfortunately This is The Life of Ospreys.

I preferred yesterday to get out and watched the two at LOTL for a couple of hours - only 2 chicks as 1 egg failed to hatch and then went on to a nest along the River Earn near Crief where a female was sitting - just saw her head.

There has been much debate on the threads and other social media sites regarding Intervention or Non Intervention.

It is astonishing how many come out favourable of not intervening and letting nature take its place. These same people and organisations are quite happy to remove an osprey from its nest and put on a harness and aerial.

They are also quite happy to remove 24 chicks from nests in Scotland not much older than 40 days and ship them to Spain and Switzerland.

Is this intervention or do they use a different word when this happens. It has no benefit to Scottish Ospreys. Not sure what distress this causes the female looking after her brood and one is suddenly snatched away not by an intruding osprey but man.

In the case of LG over the past few days intervention to save the young ospreys would have been very difficult long term but I respect all those who watch and call for the intervention. Every person has a right to freely express what they believe in either way without abuse from others on the threads particular a few.