LOCH ARKAIG (The Woodland Trust) - JULY 2019

Link to June 2019 thread (Following Karen's excellent example of providing useful links....)

On 1 July, chick 1 is 30 days old. Chick 2, from egg 3, is 27 days old. 

Apart from the sad failure-to-hatch of egg 2 , everything has been reasonably settled on the nest, and Louis is in the running for Mary's 'Fisherman of the Year Award'.

Link to webcam, courtesy of The Woodland Trust

  • Think I am right in saying that its Mallie with fish Rannoch not at all bothered but Aia protesting loudly

    Now it looks as if Rannoch is taking an interest as she creeps closer to her sister

    Mallie has managed to turn away with the fish

    C Loch Arkaig

  • Rannoch has the fish now Patily with Aila watching intently. Mallie seems to be more interested in flapping.

    Surprisingly there was no resistance when Rannoch took the fish from Mallie.

  • A snap from me to show I'm not slacking. Same fish as above I think

    (c) WT Loch Arkaig

  • scylla said:
    Mallie got up for a poop and is still up as I type, having a droop-sleep.

    ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

    Continuing...

    The disturbance of Rannoch's poop didn't shift her:

    Nor Aila's flapping:

    Nor Aila's pacing 'n pacing and relocation:

    But then Mallie decided she needed to lie down with sis:

    And Aila resumed her sheltering:

    Celebrating one minute of Aila tucked!

    Wakeups:

    And off she flew and left the JJs sleeping:

    Oops !!!

    A very early warning from distant Aila flattened Mallie mid-preen - Rannoch was already lying down, of course ;)

    Mallie semi-rose and crept forward to make another pancake:

    She stayed down and later Rannoch came over to snuggle:

    Mallie up 'n wingercising, got good height for a split second:

    Call of nature got Rannoch up 'n flapping:

    This was a one-leg landing !!! ;)

    Repeat already !!!

    Aila brought in 2 big sticks and a little (unsnapped) one:

    Rannoch had yet another poop and that brought on the usual flapping session, no significant air underneath her.

    Then Mallie showed how to do it:

    Aila brought in another stick, then Louis delivered the fine fish reported by TRYING (IIRC):

    Louis suddenly arrived, he was chirping and looking down over our side, then he flew:

    Lots of unsnapped activies... ... ...

    Mid-preen for both, they were at it for nearly 20 minutes!

    Rannoch had a flap and potter and sat down, Mallie did some more wingercising:

    And more !!!

    She's managing to stay up a bit longer:

    Half-FISH !!!

    This seemed "interested but not alarmed":

    Then Aila shot off and the JJs flattened:

    Now they're still down but dozy:

  • 16.00, Mallie is briefly on Robin's perch. Ian
  • 16.06, ish, Mallie is away, fledged. Ian
  • 16.13, its all happening, Louis brings in a fish. Rannoch has it. Ian

  • Thanks, IAN - I had just glanced sideways and noticed we were missing a JJ so popped in here to check. Well I'm blow'd, I'd've thought she'd've done more helicoptering before she managed that! :)))

    Must just finish what I'm doing and hope to have footage soon.
  • I've got a big buffer at a crucial moment, so will be a long time trying to get around it.