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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

  • 28/07/2023 00:55

    Nest One Garry brings moss and takes it away again! 13.41

  • 28/07/2023 00:55

     Dorcha is intruded upon by Osprey and Hoodies 13.46 on.. I zoomed in as the intruder Osprey flew overhead, but can't make out who it is.

    13.46.11 An osprey appears top left of screen, followed by a second one. Dorcha arrives on the nest, clutching her fish from earlier, and the other osprey flies left.

    13.46.30 A third osprey appears at the top of the screen. Lots of alarm calls. One flies low over the nest and Dorcha mantles and alarm calls.

    13.46.53 Another osprey, ?LY7, moves from one branch to another in the Scots Pine tree, left of the central perch

    13.47 Territorial skydancing heard and Dorcha looks skywards

    13.53.37 A Hoodie pops up for an eye to eye standoff with Dorcha

    13.56.10 The Hoodie leaves, Dorcha keeps looking skywards for the invading Ospreys

    13.56.57 Dorcha leaves

  • 28/07/2023 00:55

    Fish number three, a headless trout, is a family affair

    15.23.28 Fish number three, headless trout. Looks very fresh and juicy, nice red colour flesh. Seized by Dorcha.

    15.23.57 Ludo arrives

    15.24.08 Louis departs, has to move backwards a bit to be able to take off, Dorcha feeds Ludo

  • 28/07/2023 00:55

    Fish number four, lively flatfish 19.19.39

    Dorcha grabs it from Louis

  • 28/07/2023 00:55

    Daily summary Thursday 27th July 2023

    No Affric again today, and only one visit to Nest One by Garry, who brought moss and inadvertently took it away again. There were plenty of other visitors to both nests including songbirds, a couple of intruder Ospreys and a gaggle of juvenile Hoodies who bumbled around for nearly an hour. Despite rain, Louis delivered four fish to the nest, taking the tally to 306, and Ludo carried on perfecting his flying and fish-opening skills but wasn't so independent that he refused mum Dorcha's offer to feed him.

  • 28/07/2023 14:32 in reply to Geemeff
    Geemeff said:
    They remain for nearly an hour, very entertaining so I speeded it up and set it to Rimsky-Korsakov, part of my Classic Ospreys series

    That worked extremely well Geemeff, very amusing!  Thank you

     

     2013 photos & vids here

    eff37 on Flickr

  • 28/07/2023 21:32

    Friday 28th  Fish number one, headless trout 05.36.55 Ludo nabs it.

  • 28/07/2023 21:33

    Dorcha sidles over and takes the fish from Ludo 06.13.15

  • 28/07/2023 21:35

    Great drama with Hoodies 06.19 All three family members involved

    https://youtu.be/QeGiIOmv2pk

  • 28/07/2023 21:35

    06.35 Despite the drama, Dorcha keeps hold of her fish and returns to the nest with it. Ludo's waiting, so she feeds him 

    https://youtu.be/k3_HUNGCrYI