LOCH ARKAIG - THE WOODLAND TRUST - March 2023 to February 2024

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:

2016 Woodland Trust acquire the Loch Arkaig ancient rainforest remnant and manage it in partnership with Arkaig Community Forest.
2017 A nest cam is installed on a refurbished Osprey nest. A young male Louis and a young female Aila take up residence and raise one male chick to fledging: Lachlan JH4.
2018 Louis & Aila return but a Pine Marten steals all their eggs.
2019 Louis & Aila return and raise two female chicks to fledging: Mallie JJ0 and Rannoch JJ2.
2020 Louis & Aila return and raise two male and one female chicks to fledging: Doddie JJ6; Vera JJ8 and Captain JJ7.
2021 Louis returns but sadly Aila doesn't. Louis takes up residence on a new nest with a new mate Dorcha and they raise two male chicks to fledging: Aspen LW3 and Alder LW4. This is designated Nest 2, no one takes up residence on Nest 1.
2022 Woodland Trust install a nest cam on Nest 2. Louis & Dorcha return and raise two female chicks to fledging: Willow LW5 and Sarafina LW6. Still no residents on Nest 1.
2022 season: Louis and Dorcha returned to Nest Two on 12th April, laid three eggs 24 and 27th April and 1st May.
The first chick hatched on 31st May, the second on Jubilee Day 2nd June and the third on 5th June but sadly passed away on 12th June.
The other two progressed rapidly and were ringed LW5 (eldest ) and LW6 (younger) on 12th July, and both gender assessed as female.
Willow (LW5) fledged 25th July and Sarafina (LW6) 31st July.
Last seen on the nest: Dorcha 18th August, Willow 28th August, Louis 8th September and Sarafina 9th September.

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

  • Geemeff said:

    Monday 19th June

    Yesterday we had Legendary Louis. Three years ago today another legend was born - our very own Mountain Queen.

    Aila had a brain fade, and occasioned this video. The chicks were aghast - one makes its feelings conspicuously known at the very end..

    https://youtu.be/g-T2vcO-j0s

    ——————————————————————————————————————————————

    That is such a good video. Blush  Aila, The Mountain Queen. #legend


    I wish Doddie would make an appearance on camera somewhere. I wonder if he’s up in Shetland again as there have been loads of daily sightings of Osprey there

    I keep hoping for Vera and Captain Tom to be sighted too. Pray

  • Glider said:
    Geemeff said:

    Monday 19th June

    Yesterday we had Legendary Louis. Three years ago today another legend was born - our very own Mountain Queen.

    Aila had a brain fade, and occasioned this video. The chicks were aghast - one makes its feelings conspicuously known at the very end..

    https://youtu.be/g-T2vcO-j0s

    ——————————————————————————————————————————————

    That is such a good video.    Aila, The Mountain Queen. #legend


    I wish Doddie would make an appearance on camera somewhere. I wonder if he’s up in Shetland again as there have been loads of daily sightings of Osprey there

    I keep hoping for Vera and Captain Tom to be sighted too. 

    Glad you liked it - I think Mountain Queen is my favourite of all my Classic Ospreys series.

    A sighting of any of the chicks would be a very special event! I thought we might see Doddie again, but none of those keen photographers have spotted any of our rings. Fingers crossed..

  • Nest One 14.47 Affric expected fish but LV0 had other ideas

      

  • A fish did arrive, but on Nest Two: Fish number three 19.24.22

  • 20.31 The Glare

    Dorcha  wants fish but Louis just settles down on a comfy bed of moss. She has to make do with an old fish tail, and isn't happy.

  • Daily summary Monday 19th June 2023

    Dreich sums up the weather - it was dreich overnight, it was dreich in the morning, and it stayed that way throughout the day - if it wasn't actually raining, it was damp and windy. But that didn't put Louis off, he raised the tally to 183 with three fish deliveries today, even if Dorcha passed on the second one, preferring to remain covering the chick from the elements. Louis also had a go at keeping the chick covered, with slightly less success than Dorcha, and later received a glare for resting on a bed of moss instead of bringing more fish. Aila didn't stand for that sort of thing, she let nothing get in her way, and three years ago the legend of the Mountain Queen was born. Over on Nest One, there was no sign of Prince, Affric received a fish from LV0 and would have liked a second but he clearly had other ideas, and she rejected his advances once again.

    George gave a warning that due to website maintenance the comments will be temporarily shutting down on the Woodland Trust page on Thursday. Other arrangements are being looked into and will be advised ASAP. The livestreams won't be affected and can be accessed directly through YouTube.

  • Tuesday 20th Nest Two

    05.35 Dorcha took note of some strange harsh calls, then a big grey bird did a flypast of the nest. Slowed down and zoomed but not easy to ID

      

  • 06.39.50  Fish number one: Louis brought a huge sea trout, called for fish count purposes a Silver Tourist, for breakfast

  • Nest One 08.13.47 LV0 delivers a fish for Affric  

     LV0

  • Nest One 12.13 ... but that early fish delivery to Affric doesn't further his cause, and he gets rejected again when he attempts mating

    .