LOCH GARTEN June 2022

All quiet on the Osprey front. Mistle started gently food soliciting, then quiet, then stood up to reveal.........

,, what appeared to be a half eaten rainbow trout! No doubt Scylla will be able to get a much sharper image than me. All this happened about 5:45.  It was as stiff as a board. When was that delivered?

Afrer faffing around getting images 1 of them has come back to the nest and is incubating - can't tell which. 

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. 

  • I've had another look at "13.50 AXEL returns." and I'm pretty sure he didn't leave with a piece of fish as large, as the one he brought in at 14.01. How did he down whatever tail fin he took, AND catch another fish in eleven minutes. I am confused, but in awe if that's what he did!
    14.21 chicks are stuffed, and MISTL is eating.

    Birdie's DU Summaries 2018   https://www.imagicat.com/

  • She is having such a 'conversation' with the fish!

    Birdie's DU Summaries 2018   https://www.imagicat.com/

  • It's 1.73miles to the nearest point of the Spey from the nest, my guesstimate using GE. I saw a comment recently suggesting the river levels are low, so presumably fishing is easier.

    How fast would an osprey fly when in fishing mode, as opposed to migration?  Thirty miles per hour?  Less/more?  So how long would it take AXEL to fly 3.4 miles (1.7 each way) and grab a convenient fish.

    Birdie's DU Summaries 2018   https://www.imagicat.com/

  • 14.31 she appears to have finished the fish, picked up left overs and flossed her beak, and is now calling loudly for another fish.
    14.34 Still she finds bits to down, and continues to call loudly.
    14.36 MISTLE flies off. Chicks are lying quietly.
    14.37 She returns with a gentle chirrup and is quiet!

    14.43  MISTLE takes another flight

    14.45  and returns, and continues to demand fish!

    14.53  another flight, and returns

    14.54  with a stick.

    14.59  and off again, having called continually

    15.00  and back again

    15.06  after more calling, MISTLE is off again and returned in under a minute.

    Birdie's DU Summaries 2018   https://www.imagicat.com/

  • SheilaFE said:

    It's 1.73miles to the nearest point of the Spey from the nest, my guesstimate using GE. I saw a comment recently suggesting the river levels are low, so presumably fishing is easier.

    How fast would an osprey fly when in fishing mode, as opposed to migration?  Thirty miles per hour?  Less/more?  So how long would it take AXEL to fly 3.4 miles (1.7 each way) and grab a convenient fish.

    That is assuming he didn't get a fish from Garten or Mallachie. There are records of both Olly and Olive getting fish from both - more often Mallachie than Garten which is very peaty and fish difficult to see - but if I was an Osprey heading for the Spey I would fly over both - on the off-chance that a fish on Garten might per chance be very close to the surface - which we know happened from time to time - I think the record is 3 minutes from leaving the site to back with a fish - held by Olly and could only have been a chance fish from Garten.

    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. 

  • So eleven minutes is quite feasible?!! Thank you.
    It's raining, and MISTLE keeps reminding AXEL that she wants another fish, intermittently

    Birdie's DU Summaries 2018   https://www.imagicat.com/

  • A quick trawl back suggests not a lot has happened. Damp in the air rather than any rain, and none which would be useful to clear the screen is expected from Live Radar. But the wind has gusted a few times.

    Birdie's DU Summaries 2018   https://www.imagicat.com/

  • Thank you very much for all the reports 'n snaps!

    My internet was down for a short while :(((

    Some pics, all "enhanced" to varying degrees, some misjudged Grin

     After 10:00 Mistle had a half-hour preen on the near fence:

    The 13:23 fish - a hopeless cause:

    If only he had delivered from the right:

    I claim arrogantly - no way did Axel catch and eat this fish in 10 minutes, it has to be the same one he took away:

    Healthy-looking chick-poops:

  • I am happy to accept your interpretation of events, Scylla. I could barely see the portion of fish left by MISTLE, let alone what AXEL took away. I couldn't compare that with what he returned with eleven minute later, even if we have established it would be possible!
    So only ONE fish today. Really? We must have missed one

    Birdie's DU Summaries 2018   https://www.imagicat.com/

  • Oh dear such a shame we still have the poop smeared lens!! Well done all on getting any photos, videos or updates .

    Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.