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
Thanks for sharing Ian. Yes, we have to hope they'll be back next year. I'm reminded of Roy Dennis's observation about how crowded some areas are for osprey and one of the bases for the relocations. It would be interesting to understand more about nest distribution/population densities across the UK. Of course, given their number/longer history, osprey are more common in Scotland.
Just found Roy's quote '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'.
Dreich:
No ospreys to be seen but the cam operator has been doing some scanning. I think possibly a stonechat but....
Birdie's DU Summaries 2018 https://www.imagicat.com/
So far today and just for the record
13 May 2021
10.07 Camera went in search of osprey
11.47 Another panning of the area
What is the shiny box on a tree?
A good search of possible perches - nothing
11.50.04 Back to the nest
12.20.03 Another look around
12.25.23 Stonechat on conifer top - pic posted by Jane
12.26.33 View of the VC - with the Forward Hide where the volunteers (used to?) do 24/7 surveillance, forward and to the right of the VC among the trees
12.32 Back to the nest. Thanks camperson, that was a really good search of any possible perch, and some beautiful views of the landscape further away.
When they were scanning earlier I spotted a bright box. I wonder whether that might be some sort of cam for the capers? I'm sure it can't be a notice!