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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

  • 13/06/2023 10:48

    Fish number two arrives at 06.56.48 but they're still full from the first fish, and Dorcha doesn't take it from Louis. There's also the remains of yesterday evening's late fish as well as the breakfast fish on the nest. Louis waits a while, the chick looks interested and starts to make a move just as Louis gets ready to depart but is too late and dad flies off with the fresh fish.

  • 13/06/2023 20:35 in reply to Geemeff

    Geemeff said:

    Monday 12th 18.15 The weather suddenly turned, and Dorcha was startled by a very loud clap of thunder and flew off, leaving the chick alone in a violent rainstorm with the wind howling and more thunder. This is the first proper rain the chick's encountered, fortunately Dorcha returned before too long and provided shelter. There was reports of a lightning strike just 3 kms from the nest, and Liz Bracken reported power outages.

    https://youtu.be/_FvG707X7z0

    What a dramatic video Geemeff. After Dorcha left, it sounded like she made human intruder calls, maybe that’s also a call when the bird is really scared?

    She seemed a bit distracted when she first returned to the nest and went to settle on the egg rather than her chick. Thank goodness it’s such a strong chick to withstand the wind and initial burst of rain, looked like hail.

  • 13/06/2023 20:38
    I really hope Prince returns and reunites with Affric. I remember his first visits as the handsome stranger.
  • 14/06/2023 00:01 in reply to Geemeff
    Geemeff said:

    Soldiering on as the lone ranger here...

    Geemeff, you are doing an amazing job giving us all these updates. I just wanted to let you know that all your hard work is very much appreciated, you're a star! Star2 Thank you Hugging

  • 14/06/2023 10:06 in reply to Geemeff

    I'm with Sandra Geemeff. Very much appreciate your efforts.

  • 14/06/2023 10:10
    But, found the storm video hard to take. It wasn't rain, it was hail.
  • 14/06/2023 11:12 in reply to Cirrus
    Unknown said:
    But, found the storm video hard to take. It wasn't rain, it was hail.

    I realised that afterwards, I was on a small screen and it looked like rain not hail. It was quite a ferocious event, chick seemed to take it in its stride. Some think it's female, we'll find out in just a couple of weeks.

    Pleased you're enjoying the updates and videos, sorry I don't have time to post photos but feel free to jump in. Will have to clone myself if we do have a resident pair on Nest One next year! it's looking good...

  • 14/06/2023 11:17

    13th June Nest One 11.10.30 LV0 and Affric on the nest - LV0 attempts mating and is rejected again

  • 14/06/2023 11:19

    13th June 14.58 This chick is a fast learner - two weeks old today, curious, adventurous, determined! Decides the cot rails need sorting out and has a go.

  • 14/06/2023 11:23

    13th June 15.45 Dorcha goes flyabout, the chick moves over to the edge which Dorcha's not expecting as she returns and crash-lands on the chick! No one's hurt, although the chick pancakes for a while. Dorcha looks bemused - how did that get there?