LOCH ARKAIG (c)The Woodland Trust - 04 April 2019...

The arrival of our couple, virtually together, was first snapped @ 19:12

©SANDRA !!!

©RICHARD G B


©SHEENA

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Yikes !!!  I thought I must have missed it but it's all there waiting for attention :)))

Thank you, everyone, for the super captures and info :)

I can't believe they arrived together - but they did! ;-D

Three matings altogether, only the first successful, IMHO.  They were on the nest nearly 13 minutes, this is cut down to 5 but no significant activity missing - you know how they like to stand and (males) mantle and (females) look a bit nonplussed ;)

 

UNCUT VERSION:

The first was the best ;)

He sat here for ages after his second nestcupping:

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  • Headless fish delivered by Louis. Ian

  • Does my bum look big in this?

    (c) Woodland Trust Loch Arkaig

  • First stick of the season at about 09.20, courtesy of Louis. Ian

    EDIT - successful mating not long after.

  • Thanks for your early morning post Scylla Thumbsup and everyone for pictures too

    Captured a few of himself about hour ago

    Hey ahmm mm,  It's me Louis , yes I am sticking around for a bit  Wink

    Mmmmm this nest needs Work!!!

  • Good morning - thank you for the reports so far :)

    My download dropped out after 3 hours :'(

    I do have Louis's first visit to the nest, which was around 06:00 - couldn't see what brought him in, he stayed about half an hour, nestcupping a bit and just being on watch:

     

    I'm recording the subsequent events on poor Lassie's screen, from rollback.

    EDIT

    Aila lands, half-fish arrives - glad to see that Louis ate - but not too much!  Good lad!

    He was looking down again - hope that doesn't mean someone is living there who will be a threat (u-know-who, or more likely a squirrel?):

    Another edit to follow.

    EDIT - Snaps from Louis's activities after fish delivery.

    After his second(?) nestcupping, he sat like this for 23 minutes !!!

    Yet another nestcupping:

    Up from under - maybe it's the Hooded Crow whom we saw quite a lot of last season, but can't tell for sure:

    If this was Louis chasing it, he was a bit slow starting out:

    Back again:

    Off again:

    I missed the stick delivery reported by IAN :o :o :o

    (All my catchups are in this post so's not to interfere with ongoings from others ;) )

  • After much deliberating, I believe this is Louis, enjoying the view in the sunshine!

    © The Woodland Trust Loch Arkaig OP

  • 14.51   He flew off

     14.53 and returned with a stick!

    He place it on the back rim, and flew off again

    14.55  ENS

    15.57 he came back and started moving bits around in the cup

    15.58  nest cupping

    15.00  Louis

    © The Woodland Trust Loch Arkaig OP

  • Here are my snaps from "a period" this morning (let's face it, I don't know what time of say it was).

    If I dupe anyone, it's because I haven't the energy to check them thru.

    First, a visit from the Hooded Crow - no real conflict:

      

    Louis loves to lie in the nestcup and I love to watch him :-*

       

    Stick:

    Another stick:

      

    Another lie-down - or should I say "drape":

    You couldn't tuck much tighter ;)

    Just look at him :o

    A different lie-down session from the previous:

  • I'm going to take a break - looking forward to reports of eggs and osplets later today ;)