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:

.

  • I think this is Aila crouched (as in, not quite sitting) in the nestcup for quite some time.  I'll do a check thru the whole day, but the cam is on constant buffer so I hope it hasn't been like that for too long :(

    EDIT 13:07 - It was Louis, as Aila just flew in and he mantled and has now flown - maybe he intended to mate but was carried off by the wind?  Now back for mating Slight smile

    The activity may have fixed the buffering, too :)))

  • Geez. It's the windy-est nest I watch!
    Not sure who this is, but it's always nice to snap an osp.

    (c) WT Arkaig

  • Today so far...

    Louis touched down @ 05:52, stayed less than 3 minutes, flew off not in the direction of "his" tree.

    No-one until 06:17, when Louis returned for a couple of minutes only.

    07:28 Louis arrived with half a fish, closely followed by Aila with her own fish !!!

    It turned out that an intruder was around, just seen flying over.

    Louis flew off with his fish:

    07:45 - Aila flew in, obviously to protect nest but no obvious threat was seen.  She still had some fish.

    Not long afterwards, they were both back again, both with their fish:

      

    After they left, Louis returned with a soft clump:

      

    Both returned again, 2 matings took place during that session:

    08:45-09:00 It's too windy!

    See how the wind is hampering their mating attempts (very rough cut):

    It even toppled over the receiver ;)

    Half-fish:

    Easy handover and takeaway:

    Definitely a successful mating:

    I hope you can see that "scaredy-cat" Aila is getting less timid - hope she will develop even further in time for any PM visit :o  And hope that her absence and the wind don't make for too much delay to eggs.

  • Since a day or two ago, all my snaps dragged-n-dropped are being downsized, whether I resize them or not.

    Testing an upload @ 600px using the clump delivery:

  • All I can say scylla....is persevere...PLEASE. Slight smile

    I agree...this RSPB forum has been hard work this year,,,and to my mind prob why it appears, to me, the number of postings to threads are down in number.

    Ever moving goalposts and..... yet....many of our main concerns still appear un-addressed Disappointed

    Current scene at Loch Arkaig....certainly reminds me of that feeling of a small boat on choppy waters. Smiley

  • By gum, it's windy a'top of the nest today.  Aila and Louis were both there when I checked in a couple of minutes ago, bracing against the wind.  Louis, as usual, had a half mantle.  I snipped a pic

    and came back to this

    Aila has been moving the odd stick around, but the nest is bouncing all over the place.  I hope the tree is well rooted and the cam well fixed!

    © The Woodland Trust Loch Arkaig OP

  • Yes, TRYING, I think we do have fewer posters/posts.

    (I'm now going to upload unresized snaps, blanking out the default sizes.)

    ................

    Going back a bit, Louis brought another FISH!

    Aila took it:

    Louis grabbed it back, turning it over in the process so that it appeared to change from black 'n shiny to beige 'n dusty ;)

    Then he let Aila have it back and she flew off with it - the only time we saw it clearly from the final handover:

    (In the RF box, before posting, the above snaps are alternately smallish and HUGE!  Despite all being the same size.)

  • Scylla:  your vid above where you wrote 07:45 - Aila flew in, obviously to protect nest but no obvious threat was seen.  She still had some fish.

    I thinks something flew left to right, but whether it was osprey size or not I am really not sure.

    16.48 Louis returned and attempted to mate.  Her tail was up, but I am not sure he managed to make contact

    Standing together on the right rim, looking out 

    © The Woodland Trust Loch Arkaig OP

  • SCYLLA noted:

    (In the RF box, before posting, the above snaps are alternately smallish and HUGE!  Despite all being the same size.)

    And that's exactly how they've come out.  Go figure !!!

  • SHEILA, thanks!  I did look for a flyer but obviously not well enough!

    I must say I'm encouraged by Aila's developing courage ;)

    Can't help feeling anxious about this couple, for more than one reason, so I'm trying to monitor both their behaviours.  (Poor English?  OK.)