Sad news about the Osprey nest at Loch Garden

I believe RSPB asked Roy Dennis to advise what would be the best course of action, I think (but could be wrong) it was Roy who suggested switching off the camera. I don't recall if he made any comment about the surrounding trees. Perhaps someone with a better memory than me could remind us what steps Roy proposed and which ones were undertaken. Ian

I found this from a Blair J blog from last year;
'For the last few months osprey action hasn't been coming thick and fast, but on a recommendation we have removed the cameras on the nest as well as the grass growing inside. To our amazement it has seemed to work. Since the grass and cameras were removed (13/06/19), Ospreys have been seen everyday from our centre. '
But then Jess posted at the start of this year that she hoped the cameras would be switched back on for the season (then lock-down happened). I wasn't aware of anything Roy Dennis said (or whether he was the one who made the recommendation) although he did say this (one of his pod-casts), in the context of the relocation project to Poole;
'aiming to send a total of 60 young ospreys from the Highlands of Scotland to the south coast of England. It’s not that Scotland has ‘enough’ ospreys and can afford to pass some on: it’s more that a population at saturation point, as it is in Roy’s study area, means that birds have less chance of breeding.'

Thanks, everyone, for your comments and photos. I do remember Jess or someone saying they would try to get the camera up and running before the Ospreys returned but that they were unable to do that because of the disruption of building and setting up the new centre--and then we had lockdown! Does anyone know if they managed to clear the grass from the nest before lockdown? My guess is that probably did not happen either, and it was that action last year which seemed to make the Ospreys take notice of the nest.

Well done Starling! Thanks.

Starling said:

Hi all, I see discussions going on about the trees in the surrounding area of the nest.  I think this is the blog that mentioned Roy's suggestions.

Housekeeping

Thanks Starling, I was beginning to think that the involvement of Roy Dennis was a figment of my imagination. Ian

In my limited experience I don't think the Ospreys are put off too much by a camera.
I point to the Poole nest as an example.

CJ7 and LS7 came to the nest last summer and spent a lot of time on it.
Over the winter a nest cam was installed, and this year CJ7 returned to the nest and proceeded to make it her preferred des-res, seemingly totally oblivious to the camera.

The new camera this season at Llyn Clywedog does not seem thus far to have deterred Dylan & F5 doing what Dylan & Delyth have been doing for a few years.

Phew - thank goodness my thoughts were along the lines of those of other people .................. and not just 'a bit naff' coming from a non-expert ;-)!

There is no good reason why an osprey should select the Loch Garten nest. We now know that ospreys not only want a nest but they want a partner too. This is often achieved by evicting one member of a sitting couple just like Green 7B did with EJ back in 2003.

EJ made her way to Loch Garten and found Henry all on his own. However there had been a bitter war of succession to replace Ollie who failed to return in 2002.

Now Olive was still around and a male did pair up with her in 2002 but the match was not a success. Olive also paired with Henry but that was not a success either.

So the big difference was that the Loch Garten nest was still seen as a nest with partner.

What Loch Garten needs is a fish pond. Then the ospreys would come flooding back.