LOCH GARTEN UPDATES AND WEBCAM INFORMATION - 2021

SheilaFE said:

It's interesting that at five years old, Axel might be nesting for the first time.

You have a habit of making observations about such interesting and thought provoking issues!

I think RD  has for a number of years suggested that the Srathspey area had reached its 'carrying capacity (i.e. 1 area can only support a certain number of successful nests due to lack of resources, whether that be sufficient prey items, nesting trees etc, etc,). We know there is plenty of evidence that a 3 year old Osprey will return to Scotland and attempt to breed for the first time and also lots of evidence that males prefer to breed close the nest where they were hatched (as opposed to females who tend to move further from their natal site {nature's way to reduce the chance of inbreeding between closely related birds?}).... RD said he had evidence of 3, 4 , 5 and 6 year old birds, especially males, returning to Scotland to breed, but failing to breed because of the lack of 'vacancies' in their natal population. This, is another reason why, as I understand it, it was argued that Strathspey should be a rich source of birds to translocate to other parts of the UK, as especially male chicks, when they tried to return to breed at 3+ years old might not find a suitable nest for a number of years, whereas they may well breed at a much earlier age if they were translocated. I can't fault the logic in this argument. 

Mistle is finishing the fish, he seems to have quite a dark chest pattern.

Hi all, glad to be back, (I hope) I missed. last year throughCOVID, the first time I have not been at LG since1996.
Nice to see so many on the site, lots of old names quite a few I can put faces too, some near and some far far away.
I have been trying to get back on the community page for weeks but it kept kicking me off, if you manage to read this keep up the good work,if not I’ll try again later.

CRinger said:

SheilaFE said:

It's interesting that at five years old, Axel might be nesting for the first time.

You have a habit of making observations about such interesting and thought provoking issues!

I think RD  has for a number of years suggested that the Srathspey area had reached its 'carrying capacity (i.e. 1 area can only support a certain number of successful nests due to lack of resources, whether that be sufficient prey items, nesting trees etc, etc,). We know there is plenty of evidence that a 3 year old Osprey will return to Scotland and attempt to breed for the first time and also lots of evidence that males prefer to breed close the nest where they were hatched (as opposed to females who tend to move further from their natal site {nature's way to reduce the chance of inbreeding between closely related birds?}).... RD said he had evidence of 3, 4 , 5 and 6 year old birds, especially males, returning to Scotland to breed, but failing to breed because of the lack of 'vacancies' in their natal population. This, is another reason why, as I understand it, it was argued that Strathspey should be a rich source of birds to translocate to other parts of the UK, as especially male chicks, when they tried to return to breed at 3+ years old might not find a suitable nest for a number of years, whereas they may well breed at a much earlier age if they were translocated. I can't fault the logic in this argument. 

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It seems to me that this is also going to occur in the Rutland area where there seems to be a lot of returning male birds. 

I have also spoken to a few people who feel that some consideration should be given to using some of the male chicks for future translocations

I remember something about her nickname being "Easy Jane" for her receptive nature to a variety of males!

CRinger said:

vote on a name for the new female, ringed White EJ.

There's another new blog post - from Ewan, this time.

Still no mention of the ospreys!

What a great day on the nest, both have been around most of the day, doing things that ospreys do ! As I write she’s sitting on the old cam post surveying her surroundings.Thx regarding the names .. I see some folks are calling the Female Mistle and Male Axel are these now the official names?

ailie said:

I see some folks are calling the Female Mistle and Male Axel are these now the official names?

Some folks are but some folks aren't, AILIE - I've stuck with AX6 as there hasn't been a lot of feedback on it, but have used Mistle because (1) he who doth so much for us and therefore musteth be obeyed suggested it and it fits, and (2) it is popular with our residents  

The official names will come from the LG Centre.

ok .. I quite like Axel and of course Mistle .. thx Scylla