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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

  • 24/07/2023 03:13

    A good long look at lovely Ludo 19.06 (zoom)

  • 24/07/2023 03:15

    Nest One Many little birds visit 19.26

  • 24/07/2023 03:21

    Fish number two, whole trout 21.37.59. Dorcha grabs it and goes with it held in her beak, does a mid-air transfer.

    No sign of Ludo but there's a spectacular sunset in the cam view.

  • 24/07/2023 03:32

    21.40 Dorcha returns with fish two and feeds Ludo

  • 24/07/2023 03:37

    A look at Ludo away from the nest from a mile away across the loch! Thanks to Liz Bracken and her long lens.

    Liz says: A short video clip of LY7/Ludo perched in a tree well away from the nest tree this morning, then flying off. He's in the centre of the frame. Dorcha is perched nearby in the dead tree watching over him, up and to the left. She flew off after him, shortly after he left, but I'm afraid I pressed the wrong button on the camera remote so stopped it recording too soon! This is taken from the other side of the loch so is highly zoomed and it was a bit too windy this morning for decent footage, but hopefully it'll give an idea of the nearby surroundings. Best seen full screen on a laptop

  • 24/07/2023 03:38
    Daily summary Sunday 23rd July 2023

    After a quiet night with a gentle breeze and two empty nests, things hotted up this morning when Dorcha returned to Nest Two and was harassed by Hoodies. There were alarms throughout the day and the wind picked up as well making fishing difficult, so Garry only brought a single fish for Affric on Nest One, and Louis only delivered two fish to Nest Two, taking the tally to 293. Moss featured - Ludo practised his flying skills and did a helicopter clutching some moss but when Louis brought a clump of moss to the nest, Ludo mistook it for fish, grabbed his leg, and wasn't happy on discovering his mistake. Expect more of this behaviour as he goes into hyperphagia preparing for migration!
  • 24/07/2023 21:59

    Monday 24th July

    Blast from the past - on this day in 2020, Vera (JJ8) and Captain (JJ7) fledged within a couple of hours of each other. They followed big brother Doddie (JJ6), who'd fledged on the 18th.

    I did a composite video of all three fledging and returning, part of my Classic Ospreys series, set to Vivaldi's Four Seasons. It's called 'The Four Ospreys - Summer', the fourth Osprey being Aila who was on the nest when Captain returned with a bit of a crash landing.

  • 24/07/2023 22:03

    Breakfast arrives 04.38.41 Fish number one, whole trout

    04.38.54 Dorcha arrives, grabs the fish, Louis departs

    04.39.59 Dorcha departs with the fish

    No sign of Ludo

      

  • 24/07/2023 22:04

    Nest Two is empty at 07.33, several little bird invade.

    Lots of small bird action, starts with around 6 coal tits, then gradually great tit and willow warbler appear, at 07:47:09 a GS woodpecker calls very close to the nest and spooks the small birds, then a wren appears, and two willow warblers having a squabble

  • 25/07/2023 00:50

    Nest One  Garry coy-mantles to Affric 10.57