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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

  • 17/06/2023 01:33

    LV0 arrived unusually early, alone, on Nest One 05.44

  • 17/06/2023 01:34

    Nest One 09.54 He returned with a fish, and Affric got it

  • 17/06/2023 01:35

    Louis brought an early lunch. Fish number two arrived at 11.51.02

  • 17/06/2023 01:38

    14.15 Nest cam one: A keen-eyed WT forum chatter spotted this, even zoomed it's hard to see.

    Distant mating attempt on Pole Tree caught on camera. Affric and Prince? Or LV0?

  • 17/06/2023 01:41

    LV0 paid a third visit to Nest One at 15.10. This was a very fast visit, and he was alarm-chipping and sky-scanning throughout the brief visit.

  • 17/06/2023 01:52

    Fish number three arrived at 17.37.17, that was the last delivery of the day

  • 17/06/2023 01:54

    Daily summary Friday 16th June 2023

    The days are getting longer as the Solstice approaches, and in fact, the camera on Nest One didn't switch over last night. Perhaps taking advantage of the longer daylight, LV0 arrived very early with a stick and did a little nestorising. The nest is looking very cosy from all the recent nesting material deliveries made by LV0, who also gave Affric a fish there today and returned mantling in the afternoon. An interesting action took place on Pole Tree where one Osprey attempted to mate another Osprey. Was that Prince or LV0 trying their luck with Affric? Difficult to see much even zoomed in, well done forum chatter Bridie for spotting that. With both the chick and the weather being relatively calm, it was a quiet day for Dorcha on Nest Two, although Louis raised the chick's ire when bringing an unwieldy stick. Louis delivered three fish, all different species, taking the tally to 173.

    Here's the chick-and-stick incident:

  • 17/06/2023 18:34 in reply to Glider
    Glider said:
    Sandra P said:
    WendyBartter said:
    Geemeff said:
    Hangry chick attacks Dorcha

    That is one vicious little b, hope it grows out of it before big enough to inflict real damage to Mum!

    -------------------------------------------------

    Perhaps the heat was getting to the chick as well as it wanting fish? Wow, that is one feisty chick, I've never seen anything as prolonged as that before.

    Thanks for your vids and daily summaries, Geemeff!

    ———————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

    Yes, it’s incredible that a chick of that size would attack its mum like that. I don’t think it liked being knocked with the sticks! 

    I appreciate all you post here too Geemeff. I know how time consuming it is and you give us such a wonderful flavour of what’s going on, even throwing in a piece of music to entertain us!!   

    I think it was junior who entertained us - first decorating mum, and then, proving to be all for equal opportunities, decorating dad!

  • 18/06/2023 09:23

    Saturday 17th June

    Usual early breakfast arrived. Fish number one 04.19.15

  • 18/06/2023 09:24

    Saturday 17th June

    Nest One 09.39 Affric rejects LV0  again