Loch Arkaig Ospreys season 7
Will Louis and Dorcha return to Nest 2?
Will someone take up residence in Nest 1?
Will any of Aila & Louis' chicks be seen (Doddie JJ6 is a good bet!)
Link to 2022 thread (season 6)
community.rspb.org.uk/.../1394415
2023 season highlights:
Louis returned on Sunday 2nd April at 12.26.54
Dorcha returned on Sunday 9th April 08.09.46
They reunited on Monday 10th April at 12.33.03
First egg laid Friday 21st April at 05.44.19
A Golden Eagle touched down on Saturday 22nd April at 11.50.56
Second egg laid Monday 24th April at 07.03.30
Third egg laid on Thursday 27th April at 07.35.39
Violent Owl strike sends an egg overboard 23rd May at 00.26.46
First chick hatches - and it's Egg3! 31st May at 13.08
Another Owl strike - Bob's unharmed. 6th June at 00.18.16
It's a boy! The chick is ringed LY7 on 9th July around 10am
Fledge! LY7 finds his wings and flies 19th July at 15.05.11
Hello Ludo! The voting results are in and LY7 is named Ludo! 19th July
Dorcha leaves on her travels - last seen on 17th August at 06.30.34
Louis was last seen on 24th August at 15.50.34
Ludo LY7 was last seen* on 25th August at 10.03.28 (*on the nest)
Ludo sighted in France 24th September! Still there 8th October
We wish all of them fair winds and fine fishing, and hope to see the adults safely back in 2024!
Brief history of the nests:
Link to Woodland Trust Osprey page: keeps coming up as blocked! Weird! copy and paste then join up:
https:// www woodlandtrust.org.uk/trees-woods-and-wildlife/osprey-cam/
community.rspb.org.uk/.../loch-arkaig---the-woodland-trust---march-2022-to-end-of-february-2023
Dorcha bringing her one and only fish on 18th August 2022 before departing and not being seen again
Louis incubating the eggs while Aila is seen flying with a fish in the misty distance on 9th May 2020.
All captures in whatever format are copyright Woodland Trust - with many thanks for allowing captures from their nest cam livestreams
Glider said:Oh and thanks Geemeff for all the history info on chicks born in Arkaig. Do you know what the two from 2017 died of, they were both over 3 weeks old?
The two 2017 chicks were just hatched - C2 was 3 days old, and C3 died on hatch day, shortly after emerging. I got confirmation from Liz Bracken as I posted I wasn't 100% of my dates for 2017.
It was a blessing as newbies Aila & Louis only paid attention to C1, Lachlan-to-be.
Louis turns up again today on Nest One, this time with a stick! Arrives 20.31.18, does some nestorising, departs 20.32.50
20.31.56 A close up look at the eggs - is that a pip? or just wishful thinking?!
(zoom)
3am look on night cam - no visible signs
A look on day cam - no change
04.51.36 - 04.51.41 is that tiny sound under the birdsong the chick chupping in the egg? Maybe wishful thinking!
04.49.26 Fish number one, headless trout, comes and goes - Dorcha's not interested, backed away from the fish and almost over balanced on the edge of the nest. Very odd behavour from that of the fast morning transfers we have seen recently. She busied herself with stick moving, Louis was on the nest for almost 3 minutes before eparting with the fish.
Mind you, she did have three fish yesterday. So is she still full, or is the egg calling to her?
Steve 'Statto' Quinn is the expert fish number cruncher for Woodland Trust. Here's his latest report - note the fish I just posted above beats the season's early record. Steve Quinn Fish Counter 27 minutes ago Sunday (28/5/23) brought week 7 since Louis and Dorcha were first seen together to a close. Louis brought 14 fish to the nest in week 7, (all brown trout), compared with 19 fish in 2022 and 11 in 2020. 2023 fish count is now c9% behind both 2022 and 2020. Previous fish counting years has brought our first flat fish on 6/5 and 29/6 (quite a gap), hopefully we will see one soon. c25% of the 113 fish brought to the nest this year (to week 7) have been whole. The remainder headless or less. A few more stats: Most popular delivery hour with 11 fish is both 5am to 5:59am and 6am to 6:59am. Earliest fish delivered - 04:51:01 - 10/05/2023 (this record broken today so will appear in next weeks report) Latest fish delivered - 21:44:28 - 25/05/2023 (a new record for week 7) Most fish deliveries in a day by Louis - 3 - Multiple days Most fish deliveries in a day by Dorcha - 1 - 10/04/2023 Most fish deliveries in a day by Louis and Dorcha - 2 - 10/04/2023 Fewest fish deliveries in a day - 1 - Multiple days Most fish deliveries in a week - 19 - Week 1 Fewest fish deliveries in a week - 11 - Week 3 Longest time between same day fish deliveries - 15h 23m 26s on 8/5/23 Shortest time between same day fish deliveries - 1h 1m 54s on 11/4/23
Happy birthday Doddie (yesterday 29th)
Arkaig Ospreys on BBC Radio 3: Essential Classics with Tom McKinney this morning. Someone, obviously a follower, responded to his request for eagle music, suggesting Ballet of the Unhatched Chicks from Pictures at an Exhibition by Mussorgsky. That wasn't played, but he did play that lovely piece of music called Soar, about Clarach the Welsh Osprey, by Seckou Keita and Catrin Finch on kora and harp respectively.
www.theguardian.com/.../catrin-finch-seckou-keita-soar-review-senegal-wales
Lovely to have our Ospreys on Radio 3. I tried to get them on Radio 4, last year I sent in a clip of the egg chupping before it hatched for Broadcasting House's slow radio spot, but Paddy went with something else instead. If I can get a good audio clip this yer, I'lll try again - it's a magical sound if you can get past the mic hiss.
Nest One looking magnificent at sunrise.