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

  • Nest One Late night mating attempt by Garry but still no fish for poor Affric 21.59

      

  • Daily summary Wednesday 12th July 2023

    Another dreich night, but Louis swung into action early and delivered two fish within about an hour of each other. The next fish had to wait til after noon due to intruder alerts - Liz B informed us there was an eagle around in hunting mode which was justifiably making our adults nervous. LY7 did some self-feeding, practised moving around while holding a fish, and some more wingercising including a bit of football with the egg. Affric and Garry turned up a few times on Nest One but Garry didn't bring any fish, although he did attempt a bit of late night mating before they both departed in opposite directions. Louis showed how a male Osprey in his prime looks after his family by equalling his season's record with five fish deliveries today, taking the tally to 257.
  • Wifi service interruption due tomorrow, Thursday between 10-11am. Please note - if it goes ahead the livestreams will go down. This is due to planned maintenance by the service provider.
  • Thursday 13th July - LY7 is 43 days old today.

    After a wet night, Louis brings breakfast at 08.35.05. Fish number one, headless trout

  • Nest One 08.39 Fish please says Affric but Garry has other ideas, as usual...

      

  • Ospreys and wildlife disturbances made it into the news this morning. here's the clip from BBC Breakfast 09.07

    The nest is in Aberfoyle, I understand, owned by Forestry and Land Scotland. A glimpse of the Darvic showed Blue 740. The item also featured on BBC News at 05.23. Shocking scenes of rubbish, more environmental awareness needs teaching, starting in pre-school.

  • Nest One Fish for Affric, as finally Garry delivers a meal 12.17.19. She remains on the nest to eat it.

     N1

  • Thursday 13th July  08.19 & 11.59

    LY7 kicks the egg and gets in a flap preparing for lift off

  • Thursday 13th July 15.19.55 Fish number two, whole flatfish. Dorcha grabs it and flies off with it immediately, returns it headless ten minutes later

  • Thursday 13th Nest One 18.50; Interesting sequence, I zoomed in to try to unpick the sequence, I got this -

    18.50.44 Affric departs in a hurry and another bird - is it an Osprey?  appears from top of screen at speed, and gives chase. They both fly towards the stick tree, one perches, the other flies off to the right, circles round, and disappears behind the knoll.