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/
Oh my what a disappointment for this nest, I’m now grateful that this cam will not load for me.
Oh no. This was such a happy nest too. I doubt she’d lay more now
Mike 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?
Tiger Signature
This is such a tragedy Aila and Louis such a lovely pair All involved at LA will be so gutted and poor Aila and Louis wil feel lost I wonder if they will build a frustration nest or try for more eggs
patily said: This is such a tragedy Aila and Louis such a lovely pair All involved at LA will be so gutted and poor Aila and Louis wil feel lost I wonder if they will build a frustration nest or try for more eggs
It is a bit late for a second clutch. They might adopt some eggs.
TRYING That must have been awful for you to watch
I had such high hopes for Aila and Louis this year, this is another upset.
Nature can be so harsh sometimes. What a tragedy, and such a shame Aila was spooked and left the eggs exposed. I suspect Pine marten wouldn't have had bravado to steal them if only she'd stayed on nest and mantled/flapped at it...
Can't imagine they will try for a second clutch... would be pretty rare after so long incubating the first lot, right?
Chocoholix shiny new 2018 Interactive Osprey & Chick Chart! (with clickable links!)
chocoholix said: Nature can be so harsh sometimes. What a tragedy, and such a shame Aila was spooked and left the eggs exposed. I suspect Pine marten wouldn't have had bravado to steal them if only she'd stayed on nest and mantled/flapped at it... Can't imagine they will try for a second clutch... would be pretty rare after so long incubating the first lot, right?
A bit late for another clutch of eggs but there there are three eggs at Loch Garten that desperately need fostering.
Hazel b said: Sometimes Tiger your brevity perplexes me! Are you suggesting the LG eggs are transferred to LA? I'm confused!
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Not sure exactly what the 'law' is here. From memory permission is required (?from SNH?) to remove a chick from a nest (e.g. those used to translocate to Rutland) and as they are a Schedule 1 species I have to assume that permission would also be needed to remove any eggs. Although the 'paperwork' usually takes weeks to go through the system I know that in very urgent cases the permission can be given within 24 hours of the request being made. In these specific (LG & LA) cases I would guess an application could be made 'pre-abandonment' of eggs at LG, that if this was to happen, then permission would be sought to remove and replace at LA. Permission I think might also be needed to put 'dummy' eggs in the LA nest to keep the pair at the nest.
The difficulty being that there would be an argument that the LG eggs, if taken to LA, might suffer the same PM fate. This might be countered by taking 'defensive' measures against PM at LA, assuming that the current measures can be improved.
The applicant would need to be someone with considerable experience in Osprey conservation I would think, which should add weight to the request. 1 man immediately springs to mind, who presumably is already aware of the LG situation and will soon know of the LA events.
I am 'with Tiger'. I also think it is worth 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.