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
Birdies LG DU update.
It's been a relatively uneventful morning so far, fishless.
05.44.21 Mistle flew
05.45.36 Axel returned, moving sticks around, lifting them further to the rim
05.47.50 Pleased with his work he stands proud
More tidying, and nest-cupping
05.52.22 Axel flew – sun rising
05.55.17 A Great Tit explored the nest, flew, and reappeared on the right, briefly
06.14.32 Sun hits the trees
06.14.45 Mistle returns, spots a large branch and attempts to move it towards the back.
One end in the cup, the other up the far side of the nest.
06.20.22 Nearly sorted having eaten bits off
06.21.53 Still working on it on the near side now.
Satisfied she checked the nest cup
Had a spot of shut-eye
07.21.50 Her attention returns to the stick
07.22.04 Axel returns – they stand either side and each end of the stick! Mistle food solicits
07.24.26 Axel now tries to move the stick, which appeared shorter than it was, but it's a Y-shaped stick!
07.28.28 Axel flew – he stick remains mainly in the cup
07.42.42 Rather than move it, Mistle uses it as a convenient perch
07.42.30 Mistle went back to the stick/branch. It is rotten so I think before long it will be falling to pieces with beak and talons working on it
07.45.20 Mistle flew
07.46.48 Axel returns, standing on the branch as a perch
07.47.15 Axel flew over the back and dropped right
07.50.20 Mistle returns
07.55.15 Mistle is calling
08.22.50 Continues to call
08.34.00 Axel returns – fishless – Mistle continues to call
08.36.45 Mistle flew
08.37.07 Axel flew
09.06.48 Mistle returned and pottered
09.51.?? Something flew overhead which caught Mistle's attention
10.31.11 Mistle saw something above, and took off at 10.31.22
11.01.00 Mistle returned
11.40.15 She spent the last forty minutes just standing on our side of the nest, looking around and at the talons! She looked up, and possibly saw an intruder, or Axel and
Mistle flew.
12.16.32 Axel returned fishless. Looked around carefully. Preening.
It's been sunny, with high cloud rolling through. The wind seems to have got up a bit
12.48 Axel remains on the nest alone
No sign of an egg, no zooming or panning so far, and a view slightly out of focus
Time to go and pull some weeds
Birdie's DU Summaries 2018 https://www.imagicat.com/
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.
LOL done out of love for it, but not something I intend to keep up, just to let you know!
Catch-up
13.00.40 Axel flew
13.00.56 And returned. Flapping a bit, but not with intent.
13.02.02 Mistle arrived with another licheny stick, and Axel mantled with his back to her!
Mistle food solicits
13.06 They are keeping the odd eye above. Something flying thru but of no concern.
13.07.37 Axel flew and returned to mate – Success! And he flew off, and overhead as Mistle calls – I assume it isn't an intruder.
13.20.34 Mistle nest cups
13.38.30 Mistle calls off and on
13.42.00 More calling, and then flies ENS
Over an hour with an ENS
14.37.26 Mistle returns, looking up and around and calling – not mantling
14.47 Lots of calling
15.07.38 Cam moves, to the nestcam and back. Possibly trying to make Mistle in focus. It hasn't worked sadly, it is still slightly blurred
15.11.44 Mistle continues to call. Axel must have a fish, surely!
15.38.04 Mistle has been calling for over an hour. Has Axel got a fish, or is she telling him to go fishing!
I left a question on Live Chat asking whether Axel has a fish, or whether she was loudly, and perhaps politely, asking him to go fishing.
No fish so far today.
She's been kinda backing up, as if...
FISH !!! !!! !!!
scylla said:FISH !!! !!! !!!
She's flown with it and Axel is pottering.
I had been checking Chat to see if there'd been any response to SHEILA's query, but only she and MIKE were there.
BTW - re Daily Update - when I did the new thread on the first of the month I thought about it and decided that we'd give Axel and Mistle a chance to settle in and start DUs in June if all went well.
Mind you, there are so many more nests on cams to keep track of these days, I'm finding it very hard and am spending more time struggling with tech, trying to keep them all going, than reporting