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

  • CATCHUP since last night's disturbance

    Aila came down from the campost and stayed with Rannoch for a few minutes:

    Back up:

    Rannoch slept peacefully, punctuated by stretches etc:

    Down again!  This time she stayed longer and was very watchful:

    During one of the post-poop flaps she got her feet off the ground!

    Soon after the 4 o'clock buffer she lay down again, then later Mallie arrived (fish in the offing) and got her up:

    FISH !!!  Good portion pounced upon by Mallie:

    Another FISH !!!  This one was a shadow in the air and got caught up with nest material when Aila took it, so I haven't got a decent snap:

    Mallie had had enough:

    Rannoch got a good feed:

    Aila got some bites, then fed more to Rannoch, then Mallie returned for more:

    Aila ate the tailfin:

    They hung around, then Aila flew:

    At this point Mallie flew in a blur:

    Normal service resumed:

    Activity!

    Mini-leap:

    I did a vid just to show the stage that Rannoch's at:

    They all gathered and, during the unrequited wait, Rannoch pecked Aila again - totally unprovoked >:(

    For a long time the juvies preened and Aila kept looking towards Louis's tree.

    Mallie flew and returned, Aila flew and returned with a little turf:

    Mallie flew:

    Aila went to campost:

    Rannoch got a little height, momentarily:

    She can't sustain it yet:

    Back to resting:

    I'm turning off displays for a while, it saves energy and heat expulsion ;)

    Aila just turned up.

  • A lovely report and super 'snaps'. Thank you Scylla.
  • Aila's on the nest with the 2 juvies and seems to have been expecting a fish but she's stopped calling now.

    I'm going to log off for a while.
  • Chick on left intermittently calling for breakfast

    Whilst I was sorting the capture Aila flew but as she returned a few seconds ago the cheeking chick on the L pecked at her

    C WT Loch Arkaig

  • Looking at the WT chat, it looks like there has only been one fish so far today, at 04.28 which Mallie wasn't around to take having, as per the night before, roosted elsewhere. There has been a bit of intruder activity incluing Aila chasing another osprey at 09.58. Rannoch has not yet fledged, I think she is 51 days old today, so a bit of time left before the natural worryers amongst us (no names mentioned!) start to worry. Ian

    EDIT - As I was typing my post, Louis brought in a very nice fish. He however immediately flew off with it, maybe because the intruder is still around. WT chat think it was a pike, which is a first for Louis.

  •  I watched Louis's on 'n out with the big fish:

    Back again after a snack - it looks a different fish, just goes to show how our impression is manipulated by the cam:

    Rannoch claimed the fish but got muscled off it when she lost focus, then she felt the wind under her wings:

    Her feet did actually disappear:

  • Good morning, MARY, I saw you yesterday but not until you'd been long gone.  I'm so glad to see you back! :-*

    MaryGK said:
    looks "Bright & Breezy"

    Funnily enough, something brought that phrase to mind yesterday but I can't remember what it was :-/