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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

  • 04/06/2023 11:47

    Sunday 4th June 2020

    05.01.50 Louis arrives with fish number one, headless BT. Dorcha grabs it immediately and starts eating, Bob sits up ready for breakfast but gets whacked when the tail slides under it and gets flipped around to face Louis! Then turns around the right way and starts begging. Louis waits until Dorcha starts feeding bob before departing at 05.03.53

  • 04/06/2023 11:59

    09.45 Affric and Prince turn up on Nest One!

  • 04/06/2023 12:07

    **Last year's Prelude to Sunset 2022 (timelapse) set to Bach**      

    Lovely relaxing reminder, thank you Geemeff!

     

     2013 photos & vids here

    eff37 on Flickr

  • 05/06/2023 08:04 in reply to WendyBartter

    WendyBartter said:

    **Last year's Prelude to Sunset 2022 (timelapse) set to Bach**      

    Lovely relaxing reminder, thank you Geemeff!

    Glad you liked it, Wendy - the scenery is so beautiful it's difficult not to just keep recording, and Bach often comes to mind when viewing the nest cam.

  • 05/06/2023 08:06

    Sunday 4th June was an eventful day on Nest One.  Affric & Prince arrived early and spent the morning bringing moss, nestorising and making the odd fumbled mating attempt, and they returned for an early supper with Prince bringing along a fresh pike, the second fish he's brought to the nest this season. In a dramatic end to the day, two unringed intruders showed up on the empty nest, possibly a male and female, and Affric made a solo appearance on the nest to get rid of an especially persistent one, and was repeatedly divebombed.

    Heavily edited clip of Affric & Prince's visit 09.45 - 12.10

  • 05/06/2023 08:07

    17.47.02 Prince brings Affric a pike on Nest One - this is so encouraging!

  • 05/06/2023 08:09

    18.32.30 Unringed intruders land, then return and divebomb Affric when she arrives and defends Nest One

  • 05/06/2023 08:12

    14.15.18 Second fish arrives on Nest Two - Louis also caught a pike. George says pike are known to lie in shallow water and bask, so the sunshine must have brought them within easy catching reach.

  • 05/06/2023 08:20

    Monday 5th June 2023

    Louis turns up with an early fish - night cam is still on when he approaches the nest, you can see him flying in from right to left at 03.52.07. Dorcha takes it immediately and eager bob sits up and goes 'skwee' loudly. And even during being fed - a real survivor, this one - very determined. Wonder how s/he would have fared as a number three? Also wonder how long the unviable egg will last before its broken or removed from the nest cup.

    Season's early record fish at 03.52.25 but not the all-time record fish which was delivered at 03.04.05 on 04/07/2020

  • 05/06/2023 14:10

    Louis delivers a second fish at 08.52.17. Bob has a golf ball crop from fish one! But still sits up ready for fish two and takes food like it’s starving.