AX6 Axel and his lovely unringed partner Mistle are bonding well, and Mistle has been threatening to lay an egg - we await developments.
It seems that Mistle has been on the perch & nest all night:
IMAGICAT
She's being serenaded by a bird I can't identify
Unknown said:She's being serenaded by a bird I can't identify
I can't hear that, of course :((((((((
So sad.
Ian S said:Regarding the lack of good sized fish, could this be as a result of the location rather than the male being at fault? I know there have been many happy breeding years at LG but the reason I ask is that a couple of years ago (I can't remember which year) I got into a bit of a mild disagreement with another poster who reckoned that compared to other nest sites, LG was not good for fishing grounds. My view was that even the if LG itself couldn't be fished (the water being too cloudy I recall) there are plenty other fish sources relatively nearby e.g. Loch Insh, the fish farm, & the River Spey. The other poster seemed adamant that there was a lack of adequate fishing near enough to the nest to be practicable. I asked what would be the minimum distance from a nest that there needed to be good fish stocks for the nest to be viable but didn't get a reply. Any thoughts? Ian
Only 1 comment. To say the fishing grounds around LG are inadequate - this is the oldest site in the UK in almost continuous use since 1954 and the fishing possibilities enhanced by the fish farm that opened at Rothiemurches in 1975 and others since. Absolutely ridiculous! However, obviously competition with other Ospreys at these grounds has increased dramatically over the years which means the best fishers profit while it may take the poor fishers longer to catch - but there is still plenty to go round!
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.