49 Days to go.

Countdown to  1st March 


Yes it is only 49 days, that is just another 7 Thursdays until the great  EJ sweep will start on Thursday 1st March 2018 

Do I think that EJ is alive?  Yes I think she most likely is. 

Will she return to Loch Garten? I think that she will be unable to resist at least calling in to say hello. 

Will she stay to be  Queen of Loch Garten for another year? She may not do. In 2003  Olive gave up and flew away. 

Whatever will happen there is going to be great excitement. 

I have just checked and I have run the sweep since  2012. Although it is enormous fun it does take up a lot of time. So I would like to signal that I intend this to be my last year in running it. 

I am sure we can find a new person to run it for 2019. 

It is hard to believe that the time has gone so quickly. 

Meanwhile you can use Birdie Num Num's wonderful  Loch Garten Thread Archive  to peruse the history of this forum. 


  • May be a daft question but why do people think that Odin will not return? What will (has) happened to him?

  • He was last seen at the LG nest on 18th (I recall) May 2017 and not since, other than that nobody knows, Ian

  • The short answer is no one knows what happened. He was hounded off the nest after a series of attacks and not been seen again. He could have been injured and died or just deserted the area. The only certain thing is that he has not been seen since. There are many queries over the LG nest this coming season and only time will tell who returns or appears and then the outcome depends upon the birds defending the nest against other potential occupiers.

  • Mike, your answer was pretty comprehensive for a "short" one. I took the minimalist approach. Ian

  • Unknown said:

    May be a daft question but why do people think that Odin will not return? What will (has) happened to him?

    As people have said everything was fine until 1.20pm on Thursday 18th May 2017 when Odin chased the intruding osprey Cromarty (Blue PP7) away. Odin was not seen again. 

    Ospreys can fight to the death. 

    In any case Odin was not seen again. 

    People can draw their own conclusions as to what might have happened. 

    There were no reports of any injured ospreys being found or any dead ones. 

    I do believe that Cromarty was seen again but I cannot confirm that. 

    Can a bird be evicted from a nest and survive?  Yes they can. EJ's old mate Orange VS used to turn up year after year and get it together with EJ until Henry arrived and showed  VS the sky.   Both that 2005 and 2007 season were ruined by this. 

    In 2008 Henry did not return and Orange VS had EJ all to himself. 


    Here is the Loch Garten reaction when they realised they might have VS as the male osprey in residence. 2008 was a roller coaster season. 

  • Unknown said:

    The countdown clocks on ChloeB's and Tiger's site aren't working on my computer on either Safari or Firefox. They're all at '0'. Does that mean all the ospreys are back? :-))

    Any advice anyone? Maybe I've bookmarked an old version? thanks in advance

    Nowadays countdown clocks are pretty easy to make.  Just ask Google "Countdown to 1 March"  and you get https://days.to/until/1-march

    46  days

    By modifying the date you get all dates in 2018

    If you then want how long until   1 March 2019 you just add the year   https://days.to/1-march/2019

    411 days as it turns out. 


    and  345 days until   Christmas  https://days.to/until/christmas

  • Thanks Tiger. Let's hope we don't have to wait until Christmas to see any ospreys

  • Unknown said:

    May be a daft question but why do people think that Odin will not return? What will (has) happened to him?

    Not a daft question at all.  When he disappeared in May he had chicks, nest and (most of all) EJ to fight for.  I think if he had been able to fight for them he would have done so.  To disappear and stay away seemed so unlike him.

    Our herring gulls are red listed birds.  Think about that the next time you hear some flaming idiot calling for a cull of them.

  • Unknown said:
    Let's hope we don't have to wait until Christmas to see any ospreys

    Heaven forbid!

    Our herring gulls are red listed birds.  Think about that the next time you hear some flaming idiot calling for a cull of them.