Loch Arkaig web cam: It will be switched back on next month, and should be found here
Here are "All the best bits from the Loch Arkaig Pine Forest osprey camera, Summer 2017, in 2.5 minutes", from the Woodland Trust.
Here is the RSPB Forum for the 2017 Season.
2008 A pair may have started nesting at Loch Arkaig
2013 Chick White KL(09) f, hatched 2009 Loch Arkaig, Inverness seen in Senegal, 2011 & 2012, 2016 by Rutland team and Chris Wood. 2013 is the likely first breeding year at Bassenthwaite of White KL(09) and unringed male
2015 No chicks
2016 No chicks
2017 The nesting platform used by the birds for more than ten years has been rebuilt almost from scratch as, with the birds adding new material every spring, it was beginning to sag under its own weight
Unringed m 10 April named Louis m arrived. Inconclusive whether same 10-yr male, but later concensus was that he was a first-time breeder
Unringed f 30 May new unringed female accepted by Louis
4 May 2017 WT named her Aila
10 May 17.20 Egg #1 Arrives with a grunt from Aila!
22.39 Owl on the nest. Spooked Aila who flew off. A slow start but the action is here.
13 May 19.26 Egg #2 - speckled
Egg #3
18 June First chick hatched
18 June 17.13 Second chick seen struggling out of shell
22 June Two chicks alive, just.
One chick survived, and was ringed 22 or 23 July. Blue JH4(17) m, Lachlan
At 35 days old it has a body mass of 1,305g and wingspan of 291mm.
9 August Lachlan fledges unexpectedly
The Loch is home to otters (three orphans were released in the late autumn 2017) Pine marten have been seen on the nest. WTE and Osprey breed. It's about time I tried to get back there!
Where is Loch Arkaig?
Birdie's DU Summaries 2018 https://www.imagicat.com/
I am devastated, can't think of anything more to say. Ian
Hazel b said: Sometimes Tiger your brevity perplexes me! Are you suggesting the LG eggs are transferred to LA? I'm confused!
Sometimes Tiger your brevity perplexes me!
Are you suggesting the LG eggs are transferred to LA? I'm confused!
Surely an idea worth exploring?
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I can see the concept. I just wanted to be sure of your precise intentions!
Personally IF it were to be approved I think it would be better to just use the LG eggs as the use of 'dummies' would necessitate a subsequent visit with the problems of disturbance. Speed seems to be of the essence.
Birdies LG DU update.
George Anderson has been posting to the WT chat page this morning (with a very well balanced report). I have mentioned this discussion on the WT chat page on the basis that George will see it. I am personally undecided on the merit of the suggestion (as a result of my lack of knowledge) but see no harm in alerting WT to this discussion. Ian
Speed does not matter at all. The speed part is getting the Loch Arkaig pair sitting again and that is not hard.
When the Loch Garten three are collected they can be kept in an incubator for a very long time. Maybe up until a few days before hatching.
Tiger Signature
This is George Anderson’s comment on the Woodland Trust chat page....I hope Mary Cheadle will approve of my poaching this, to post here.It definitely presents a balanced view... and I cannot fault what is said.Nature is nature,,,,and it can be raw to see at times.
Thank you for posting that Trying.
Thank you Trying I didn't thinkof the PM as a villian, I am just sad for Louis and Aila
I am sorry...but I personally cannot condone the thought of eggs being moved. It is what it is. It is not like the number of osprey in the UK is currently dwindling.
What next? When we have a plight like EJ finds herself in....do we provide food for her....
Where do you stop? What happened at Loch Arkaig last night wasn't man-made.
Nature is what it is.... Nature.
Hazel b said: Speed does not matter at all. The speed part is getting the Loch Arkaig pair sitting again and that is not hard. When the Loch Garten three are collected they can be kept in an incubator for a very long time. Maybe up until a few days before hatching.
A 'phone call to SNH this morning putting forward a 'hypothetical' potential application and whether this is likely to be approved (if PM defence at LA can be improved) would be my first act. If the answer was positive then 1 visit to the LA nest asap, preferably when the adults were not in sight, to both put dummy eggs in the nest and during the same visit strengthen PM defences, would be my plan.
If the adults assumed responsibility for the 'dummy' eggs, then second visit to replace them with the LG eggs at some stage in the future, assuming they are going to be abandoned.
As Tiger said - worth considering / exploring.
Some people think Ospreys are a matter of life and death. I don't like that attitude. I can assure them it is much more serious than that.
I have a feeling that is the view the 'authorities' will take too Trying.