LOCH GARTEN UPDATES AND WEBCAM INFORMATION - 2021

Apologies to all those who have heard this before. More apologies because I know before I write it that it will be a long post. Have mercy Moderator! It is quiet on the nest!
But I have been asked in a private message to tell the story again about how the male from the early 2000’s got his name – Henry. Its not a funny story, it’s a story of remarkable coincidence.
It was the start of a new season and no Ospreys had been seen on the nest. Neither the regular male or female had returned. The Osprey Warden that year was quite mad (and many say still is) and in addition to doing his normal duties volunteered to start work at 5 am to help ‘capper watch’.
In those days there was a capercaillie ‘lek’ (male display ground) very close to the Osprey nest. The cappers were an endangered species and in an effort to encourage people NOT to wander around the forests at dawn (when the cappers display) and stumbling across a lek and disturbing the birds – some of which may not return if disturbed and there-fore not breed that year – the centre was opened at 5 in the morning. The visitors were not there to see Ospreys – they were there to see cappers.
So on this fateful morning the visitors who managed to wake at 5 were privileged to see a male capper right under the Os-prey nest strutting his stuff and displaying. They were de-lighted! But more was to come. A second male appeared to do a rival display! And a few minutes later a third male cap-per! All in full view! The capper watchers were ecstatic! For many it made their birdwatching dreams come true. Many had never seen a male capper ‘live – in the flesh’. They were rare birds – less than 500 in the whole of Scotland.
But wait – it gets better – the female capper is extremely se-cretive. It finds a vantage point and then looks at all the males strutting their stuff and decides who is ‘king of the castle’. That morning we saw something we had never seen before - 2 female cappers decided that the best vantage point to view these males was from up high – so both landed in the Osprey nest! We had 2 females in the nest and 3 males under the Osprey nest tree! What an amazing morn-ing!
The cappers display takes place at and in the early hours just after dawn so the centre was closed for capperwatch at around 8. By then capper display time is done and dusted for the day. The OWwas on cloud 9 after what he had seen. He knew it was useless returning home and trying to sleep adter such an adrenaline rush, so he decided to stay on site until the ‘normal Osprey day’ started at 10 am.
From memory it was about 9.18 when he heard a rapid beat-ing of wings and then silence and saw the first Osprey of the season sitting on the nest. A female. The most monumental day in his ‘birdwatching’ life.
At the end of his shift he went home and started his blog for the day. At that time it was called the ‘Osprey Warden’s Dia-ry’. He decided to paraphrase Shakespeare’s Henry V’s solil-oquy before the Battle of Agincourt to try and capture his feelings – if I remember correctly he said something along the lines of:
Men in Scotland now abed will consider themselves accursed they were not here when they learn what happened here to-day.
I am pretty sure the OW’s bosses eyebrows were raised when he read this diary entry. It was, perhaps, a little OTT. But he still makes no aologies for its content.
Then….. I think maybe 4 days after this diary post went online a new Osprey landed on the nest. He had an Ochre leg ring on his leg – HV. The female accepted him quite quickly. The OWs boss insisted we chose a name for him. The OW said he had already chosen his own name. Because of the Shakespeare quote from Henry V published 4 days earlier. Serendipity. He just had to be Henry.
Apologies to people who knew this already. Hopefully new followers might find it of mild interest.

It is the first time I have heard the tale, many thanks.

What a sight that must have been seeing 5 "Cappers" on display. Being a southerner it is a bird I have never seen.

What an exciting morning, one to be remembered that is for sure, thank you.

Thank you CRinger for the wonderful memories. I think I started following the nest just a year or two before Henry arrived and that was possibly the first year I visited.

I hope you got a warm welcome to the centre from the team!

I think 0 rings

Female?

I can't see her breast! I would prefer to see how dark this bird's breast is, So I have to rely on a little known 'fact'. Most females I have seen always reminded me of Joan Collins lookalike shoulder pads. This Osprey to me has 'shoulder pads', not like a much sleeker looking male. My guess............. 70% female. I hope I don't offend more sensitive followers by asking 'her' to show us her breast.

'She' turned to the cam before she flew. Nice view of her breast. Now 90% convinced female.