On the 15th of March the 360 cam went live and an Osprey landed on the nest. It didn't take too long for a pair to begin bonding:
Male: BlueAX6 "Axel" - Ringed at a nest in Glen Affric on 1st July 2016, he was the only survivor of 3 eggs.
Female: Unringed "Mistle" - a very beautiful specimen, according to our long view.
(Unofficial names - LG will decide on names if deemed appropriate.)
This inexperienced couple is bonding well - Axel has been a good provider, they're both enthusiastic nestbuilders, the only element that requires more work is the mating technique.
EDIT 01 JUNE - Axel & Mistle deserted the nest in May, apparently spooked by intruders. As there has been very little activity since then, this thread will continue to the end of the 2021 season, unless dictated otherwise by ospreys.
Photo ©RSPB LochGarten
Cam info kindly provided by Peter @ Carnyx.tv:
There is an identical camera and microphone on this nest as the HD camera at Llyn Clywedog (Osprey). However the nest was struck by lightning. This took out the camera, the camera power supply and the WiFi link back to the centre. We managed to replace the power supply and Wifi but it was too late in the season to climb to the nest.
IMAGICAT
Les Carr said:Thanks CRinger and SheilaFE, I’m really surprised you were able to decipher my writing, I think it’s all a thing of the past now, the number of times I’ve written Odin flew in with a FIHS still makes me smile.
I always put the occasional spelling error down to your aboslutely genuine excitement!
You need to tell that story on here about - was it a ?Goosander? that you saw disappear beneath the surface of the Spey one evening and the cause? I am sure you remember it.
Some people think Ospreys are a matter of life and death. I don't like that attitude. I can assure them it is much more serious than that.
Les Carr
Mike B said:MC. I hope you've found that the picture is now OK?
I posted "We're mended" @ 06:05, Mike, but it got lost above the fish vid.
Birdie's DU Summaries 2018 https://www.imagicat.com/
henry w said:Absolutely CRinger, Les is part of the furniture up at Garten... we've had MANY a chuckle over the years.... The stories I've heard in the FH and chalets... I should write a book !!!
Henry please don't include in the book the episode about the sheep in the farmer's field filing a petition at the Inverness Sheriff's court that Les's snoring from the chalet kept them awake at night.
SheilaFE said:How wonderful to hear the tales and stories of the old days as volunteers. It sounds such fun, alongside the serious task of recording the every move of the ospreys. Who is on the nest, when eggs were turned, fish brought in and what species, intruders (feathered variety, hopefully) seen or heard, eggs cracking, chicks hatching, juveniles fledging. Oh what joy!
I remember well re-reading a one and a half page entry in the volunteers log (when I was analysing the data in 1999 for my thesis, about an incident on the nest 1 day in the early 1990's). It wasn't about the Ospreys - it was about the 20 minute appearance of a wryneck ojn the nest tree shortly after dawn. Word got out and the next day there were about 100 people in the VC as soon as it opened - not looking for Ospreys - but looking to see if the wryneck would put in a re-appearance.
I say 're-read' because I was there when it was written by my partner volunteer, I was rather humbled as he was at least 20 years younger than me and realised the importance of the sighting. I had never heard of a wryneck, but got a good view of it and he made me identify it from the excellent field guide we had in the FH. There was something quite surreal looking at data in 1999 that I had entered in the log as a volunteer 6, 7 and 8 years arlier.
Sadly it was not seen again on my watch.