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

Geemeff
01/03/2023 20:23

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

  • 23/06/2023 23:16

    19.44 Mumbrella: Dorcha does her best to shelter the huge chick from the rain

  • 23/06/2023 23:28

    21.34.12 Louis brings back the remains of fish number three

    21.44.25 - Dorcha feeds herself and the chick, and (eventually) swallows the tail!  With the tail half swallowed, she bends down to offer the bit sticking out of her mouth to the chick, then thought better of it and polished it off herself.

    The crop on that chick! Amazing size - the benefit of being a singleton, and having super fisher bird Louis for a dad.

  • 24/06/2023 01:49

    This day last year - Sunlight sonata: a slice of family life, with added Beethoven (2022 Classic Ospreys)

  • 24/06/2023 02:00

    Daily summary Friday 23rd June 2023

    A wet day today, with Dorcha doing her best mumbrella to shelter the huge chick, who earlier had done its best to decorate the camera but fortunately missed! Despite the weather, Louis delivered three fish, including a giant Silver Tourist, taking the tally to 194. He was busy today with both fishing and guard duties, chasing an unringed intruder who touched down on the nest right next to Dorcha and the chick. Consensus is the intruder was Prince. Minutes later over on Nest One, LV0 also flew off in a hurry chasing a distant intruder, was this also Prince? Affric seems to be more accepting of LV0, taking his fish and today allowing him more leeway than before, so perhaps Prince is seeking a new mate as well as a new nest. The intriguing saga continues.

  • 24/06/2023 12:21

    Saturday 24th June

    07.01.39 Fish number one arrives, a whole smallish BT, seized upon by Dorcha.

    07.02.25 Louis departs leaving mum and chick to their breakfast.

  • 24/06/2023 16:47 in reply to Geemeff

    Geemeff said:

    WendyBartter said:
    Another learning curve on here, had to google 'silver tourist' as had never come across that fish name before!

    Silver Tourist (ST) is angler slang, a collective description for big silvery fish which are either Salmon or Sea Trout which return from the sea to breed in freshwater. It's difficult to tell them apart so for fish stats at Loch Arkaig, they're called STs.

    Many thanks for that explanation Geemeff!

     

     2013 photos & vids here

    eff37 on Flickr

  • 25/06/2023 05:26

    Nest One Fish for Affric from LV0 10.10

     N1

  • 25/06/2023 05:27

    12.22.01

    Fish number two, whole large trout

  • 25/06/2023 05:29 in reply to Geemeff

    14.31.30 Big chick exercises its wings, gives a lovely waggly wing wave

  • 25/06/2023 05:37

    Nest One New pair Affric & Garry looking settled 14.26 - 14.42 (video in 5x quicktime due to length, otherwise unedited) .

    Blue LV0 now named Garry after his natal area of Loch Garry, following the same logic as naming Blue 152 after hers in Glen Affric

    Prince is still around, last seen yesterday Friday 23rd, but this pair is looking very comfortable together, will be interesting to see if they pair and return here next year. Fingers crossed...

     N1