Update - Loch Garten Nest from Sunday 21 April 2019

SheilaFE said:

Thank you Henry for your interesting post. I did wonder whether there might be a connection to LG by your name! Perhaps in this 'quiet' time after the excitement of Friday, you might be forgiven for speaking of Henry again! Please do!

There you go Henry - an offer you can't refuse............... remind us all about the year he arrived back covered in oil and the kicking of the eggs that weren't his? I hoped for a 15 page thread today - we may now get one!

LOL....

well one does love a challenge ! the dates are mostly correct.....please forgive me if times and dates are wrong....the story is my focus.....apart from when I go off on a tangent

The year was 2005, and the volunteers were freezing half to death in the forward hide cos if memory serves there was a thick blanket of snow on the ground. There was a good blowy snow storm about and the snow kpet blowing in the flaps of the forward hide...no glass on them. Our hours on shift broken by cups of tea and biscuits...rationing the chocolate ones and the ginger nuts cos they were everyones favourites....apart from CRinger he is the phantom custard creme eater! The ravens had taken up residence in the camera tree and the adjacent trees. Not one of them....ooooh no.....this is Garten after all.....there were 23 of them.....you can imagine the noise as they caw-cawwed into the mike !
Myself and my volunteer pal were in the hide.....CRinger had joined us for a natter...and I was by the big side window making a welcome cuppa for us all. As you have observed this last week....if the bird doesnt belong to the nest they are very jittery about landing....and faff about kind of playing truth or dare....pretending noone can see them...and taking round about routes bimbling here and there and eventually might put a talon on the nest and then dash off for half an hour or longer to recover from the trauma of putting a talon on a nest that isnt theirs.
In between secret choccy biscuits that CRinger and the vol didnt see me eat....and waiting for the kettle to boil....I caught movement from the corner of my eye....steady movement....low down purposeful flight.....
These were the days before DVDs....this was video time.....
In my mind I knew what was happening....the big camera in the camera tree was always pointing at the nest....
I shouted....."hit play"
CRinger was nearest.....and knowing what I meant hit the record button !
The bird was an osprey....
A beautiful female osprey....one of the biggest to have been seen in Garten...
She was beating her wings like marathon runners do....in the final sprint....pushing to the finish post...
She was only just above the trees....and was rising towards her goal.....

It was March 29th......funny what you remember...it was about 1830...and she'd made it

EJ was HOME....!

There were tears, hugs, jumping up and down....and a chorus of YES !

Our breeding female back meant that we would hopefully have a repeat of 2004 when 3 chicks were raised....#loveBaldrick....

But as normal EJ was early...would that work in her favour....many of the local lochs and ponds were still frozen and so a quick phonecall was made to the fish farm...and they went out and bashed through the ice so EJ could fish....you see...the ospreys arent just important to Garten....they are important to the entire Strath....people come to see the big birdies well they need somewhere to stay, restaurants to eat from....and want to do other stuff too....the ospreys are important to everybody ....i digress...!

We had to wait until about the 8th of April (forgive me if Im out by a few days it will not affect the story and the outcome)... when a male bird was heard over the nest displaying....the male display song is one of my favourite noises in the world....just is...goosebumps and all that........not the longest display....about a minute....not full volume....a bit weedy if Im honest...and he landed and mated with EJ straight away....you see it wasnt Henry...Henry had lost his ocre leg ring in 2003 and it had the letters HV on it......this male had an orange one with the letter VS on it....some on here called him OVS.....but to me his leg ring said VS so I call him that,,,,

EJ's ex-husband from a different nest....omg....we were about to have a repeat of the love triangle from 2004 ! Henry needed to get is a&%£ back quick so that VS didnt mate enough to promote EJ into producing eggs....! Every day we waited and waited and waited.....

The 12th came.....would I get a wonderful birthday present of my Henry coming back? I did my entire shift in the hide and then a shift in the centre.....followed by another shift in the hide.....and my Henry was nowhere to be seen....in my heart I began to wonder if he was actually still alive....his normal return date was 1st to 3rd of April....and at nearly 2 weeks late it was looking slim :-(

In the meantime EJ and VS were a loved up couple doing all of that kind of stuff....nesting....and yeah that....and looking good.....but VS only gave her sprats....our EJ was used to the whales that Henry delivered....

The BBC reported that on the 13th to the 20th there would be an horrendous storm blowing in the Bay of Biscay...some of the partners of the Strathspey nest were also missing...it wasn't just Henry....there were many conversations amoungst the volunteers and staff.....and questions from the visitors about it all....
All I remember is us all being VERY worried about the outcome of this storm on the population of Scottish Ospreys....

On the 15th April EJ crouched and laid an egg.....wonderful news! Henry's return had almost certainly failed which was so incredibly sad...but..another came on the 19th....and the 3rd on the 22nd.....! I was going to be a lovely season of happy families with EJ and VS both doing all the things they should do.....VS was then proven to be a bit rubbish at being a Dad and spent hours and hours away from the nest.....it fuelled the theory that he actually had another nest on the go aswell.....

Lets move forwards to the 25th April....it was a nice day....I remember detail like this dont worry I know I'm weird !!!! Anyhoo....the visiting day at the centre was over and the staff and vols were walking back down the path to our cars.....I heard it....way way off....peep...peeep peeep.....then about 30 seconds of nothing....the scots pines were being tooooo noisy....peeep peeeep peeeep......OMG....!

We looked at each other.....CRinger, me and the other vol.....we knew......

LOUD....peeep peeeeep peeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep !

By this point we were running for Britain.....doing the 3 minute mile.......

I had tears streaming down my face...we could see the male carrying a whopper fish....sky dancing like I've never seen an osprey skydance.....

PEEEEP PEEEEP PEEEEEP PEEEEEEEEEEP PEEEEEEP PEEEEEEEP

It went on for about 20 minutes....we threw open the doors of the visitor centre and just marvelled at it.....EJ was calling for food from the comfort of brooding the eggs.....VS was nowhere to be seen.....and incidently......was not seen at the nest for the remainder of the season......

It was HENRY....! Tears of joy were soon replaced with OMG worry.....
He was thin.....VERY thin....how had he had the energy to catch that fish and skydance? ......it was obvious he had actually had the most horrific migration. His breast bone was actually visible....and his silver leg ring that is meant to be a nice snug fit like a wedding ring.....hung loose and rattled....
So then I was crying and wanting to hug my big birdie.......it was very obvious he had been caught in that storm and had had to battle for his life. He also had this horrendous dark smudge all underneath his right wing....down his side....on his feet and legs.....and on his skinny belly.....
Seeing him against EJ made you realise how near to death he'd been, and tbh I have to admit that I wasnt entirely sure if we werent going to witness his demise and death at the nest given the state he was in....

Would he accept the eggs? EJ took the fish.....and Henry got down....and kicked the lot out.....now.....the theories are.....he's not raising those that arent his......AND the males instinct is driven to clear the nest of debris that has formed over the winter.....I'll let you decide !

Back to the oil......this wasn't the oil from a slick in the ocean....hed never have taken off again with his wings in that,.....not only that it wasnt the same colour as the stuff you see on guillemots....Henry had THICK BLACK greasy yucky pooey type mechanical oil on him....you know....like engine oil thats plastered under the bonnet of your car....
so....
theory 1 .... an oil rig.....Henry found one....and sought refuge....
theory 2 .... Henry had taken rest on a cargo ship....

Then....newspaper reports form a cargo ship saying that an osprey had taken refuge and sat with them in the sheltered parts of the deck as the storm raged.....they had been about 200 miles off the coast of France....our dear Lad had taken refuge....
EJ actually laid a 4th egg on the 26th....its really rare for females to lay 4 but EJ was known to do in 2002 when she was at the other nest with VS....

Did he kick the eggs to conserve his own energy so that he lived?
Did he kick the eggs cos he knew that eggs a porous and the oil may have been absorbed through the egg and damaged the chicks?
Did he know they werent his?
Was he just clearing out the nest?

All I cared about was our dear Henry and he was back....able to build himself up again...and able to come back in 2006...
EJ and Henry had such a strong bond they defended the nest and territory together for the rest of the season.

A sad reality was that the storm in the Bay of Biscay killed many returning ospreys that year which slowed the population increase for about 4 years....it has recoverecovered now tho

Some photos of him to follow

What a lovely story Henry. Such amazing memories of the birds that we all grow so attached to. Thank you

Thanks Henry. You never disappoint.

That was a lovely read Henry, really could picture the scene, thank you :)

This was Henry a week after he arrived....you can see the oils and how thin he is 

this on on the 15th you can see his crop bulging...and how skinny his legs and tummy are....just skin and bone

This is him after his return in 2004....dont like to say it but a bit "dumpy and fat" !!! Its Henry on the left xxx

He looked like this before he left at the end of 2005 and with all the dunks in the water to catch fish...his feathers were free of the oil

Then I worried that he was half poisoned with oil and would that affect his migration......but he came back ...#loveHenry

When you are a paid member of staff you say your prayers every night for volunteers like Henry and Les Carr.
I am still working on my book about my experiences there but will share a little more to assist Henry in alleviating the boredom.
I think it was 1998 and I was a volunteer with about 7 years volling experience at LG. That week, as usual, there were 6 of us who were inducted. There was me, a vol who I had come across before who I will call Geordie, a native of Newcastle-Upon-Tyne with an accent to match who now lived in Manchester, a young lady from France, a young lady from Oxford and a married couple. The Osprey Warden obviously put the married couple together as 1 team and asked Geordie if he spoke French. Most English people had great difficulty understanding Geordie's accent so I was not surprised when he answered in the negative. I was asked the same question and remembering with difficulty my O Level French responded 'un petit peu.' So I was paired with the young French lady and Gerordie with the young lady from Oxford.
The married couple set off on their Saturday 6 -10 shift and us others sat down to dinner. I recall the Oxford lady's main concern was that this was the first time the butler had been left in charge of her horses and she was worried he couldn't cope. She was also concerned that she had left her father in charge of arranging the venue for her upcoming marriage. He was trying to get Westminster Abbey, but he would try and get St. Paul's if this was not possible. Geordie was very concerned about how many windows he would find broken in hos Manchester flat when he returned to LG.
The French lady and I were scheduled for the 8 am shift on the Sunday with Geordie and the Oxford lady for the first overnight shift.
The French lady and I walked into the hide shortly before 8.Have you ever heard the phrase 'you could cut the atmosphere with a knife?' I felt it. The Oxford lady said she needed to talk to me outside. I was rather puzzled but followed her...........
She said that last night they had arrived at the forward hide (at that time a glorified garden shed) and Geordie and her had walked inside (in the middle of a forest about 2 km from the nearest habitation at that time) and he had locked the door and put the key in his pocket. He then unpacked his backpack and took out a bottle of pills and put them on the bench next to the open Osprey log. And then another. And another. And another. 7 bottles apparently. Then turned to her and uttered the immortal words to the Oxford lady concerned about her butler 'It's ok love, I am a paranoid schizophrenic, but I am ok as long as I remember to take all my pills.'
I said it was nothing to do with me - she must talk to the OW. She was due back on duty at 1pm. Strangely enough I never saw her again.

Evening folks! We are making our way towards 15 pages as CRinger had hoped for today. I'm loving the stories from Henry and CRinger, thank you so much,  but I recall we've 'discussed' in the past using this daily update for, well, daily updates and using the Loch Garten Gabfest (I think that was the suggested thread) for fascinating reminiscenses and other osprey related things? I hope no-one's offended by this suggestion.....and please do keep these memories coming!