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
Sunday 4th June 2020
05.01.50 Louis arrives with fish number one, headless BT. Dorcha grabs it immediately and starts eating, Bob sits up ready for breakfast but gets whacked when the tail slides under it and gets flipped around to face Louis! Then turns around the right way and starts begging. Louis waits until Dorcha starts feeding bob before departing at 05.03.53
09.45 Affric and Prince turn up on Nest One!
**Last year's Prelude to Sunset 2022 (timelapse) set to Bach**
Lovely relaxing reminder, thank you Geemeff!
2013 photos & vids here
eff37 on Flickr
WendyBartter said:
Glad you liked it, Wendy - the scenery is so beautiful it's difficult not to just keep recording, and Bach often comes to mind when viewing the nest cam.
Sunday 4th June was an eventful day on Nest One. Affric & Prince arrived early and spent the morning bringing moss, nestorising and making the odd fumbled mating attempt, and they returned for an early supper with Prince bringing along a fresh pike, the second fish he's brought to the nest this season. In a dramatic end to the day, two unringed intruders showed up on the empty nest, possibly a male and female, and Affric made a solo appearance on the nest to get rid of an especially persistent one, and was repeatedly divebombed.
Heavily edited clip of Affric & Prince's visit 09.45 - 12.10
17.47.02 Prince brings Affric a pike on Nest One - this is so encouraging!
18.32.30 Unringed intruders land, then return and divebomb Affric when she arrives and defends Nest One
14.15.18 Second fish arrives on Nest Two - Louis also caught a pike. George says pike are known to lie in shallow water and bask, so the sunshine must have brought them within easy catching reach.
Monday 5th June 2023
Louis turns up with an early fish - night cam is still on when he approaches the nest, you can see him flying in from right to left at 03.52.07. Dorcha takes it immediately and eager bob sits up and goes 'skwee' loudly. And even during being fed - a real survivor, this one - very determined. Wonder how s/he would have fared as a number three? Also wonder how long the unviable egg will last before its broken or removed from the nest cup.
Season's early record fish at 03.52.25 but not the all-time record fish which was delivered at 03.04.05 on 04/07/2020
Louis delivers a second fish at 08.52.17. Bob has a golf ball crop from fish one! But still sits up ready for fish two and takes food like it’s starving.