Link to May 2023 thread
Asha is the proud parent of 3 eggs, the father of which being dubious but probably URM - now called Brodie - as we hardly saw NN2 (for whom we wish all the best elsewhere) be accepted by Asha. Brodie had a lot of trouble fending off intruders which has made him a bit flaky in the fish catching and delivery department. Poor old Asha didn't eat for over 2 days last week. The main intruder was KL5, who seems to have stopped hanging around so much now, which is good as we approach hatch date and the need for fish will ramp up.
A scylla-super-snap of the happy parents-to-be
Also, courtesy of scylla, here are the laying dates;
25 April - egg 1
28 April - egg 2
01 May - egg 3
02 June
According to me, we didn't see Brodie until 08:0t6, when he brought in a stick (she said with a sneer). It won't even photograph well:
Asha shot off for a break.
EDIT - I'm packing up, SYAL.
IMAGICAT
Another beautiful day at LG. Asha is panting all the time.
13.24 she was looking around, and got up.
14.05 she stood up, calling.... Brodie landed with a fish. It looked as tho he had eaten the head before bringing it in.
Asha was soon away with it, and Brodie very carefully stepped into the cup to incubate.
14.14 Asha was found on the PTZ cam on a perch with her fish
On PTZ
14.27 Asha flew from her perch... cam paused on the perch, then looked around her. Cam checked out other perches so there was a lack of story... back to the main cam
On main cam
14.25.37 Brodie got up, and chipped, but looked as tho he was going to settle. He looked around again, another brief call and he flew off, which was presumably why Asha flew from the fish perch.
14.27.22 Asha returned, with her fish, and continued to eat for a while.
14.38.52 she was down to the tail, and picking up fallen bits.
14.38.48 is stands astride the eggs, checking, turning, looking around and finally
14.41.16 she is settled.
15.26 some rear end preening, showing of her tail feathers, then under her wings.
15.27 She stands up, looks around and preens her breast feathers. Perhaps it is warm under there.
15.27.57 a wing stretch, following by a stretch of both, or was it to gain balance in the wind.
15.29 lots of checking beneath her, with her back inconveniently towards us. She gets caught with the smaller twig coming from the large stock lying across the front
15.30 and settled at last.
15.51.43 Asha is up again, away from the cup. Looks around, gets focus a couple of times, and kept looking back at the cup. Is there movement in there?
15.52.52 she gingerly makes her way to 'our' side of the rim, and steps down to the cup, and back to settling on the eggs.
and there she is now 16.16.
It's going to be extremely difficult to see any hatchings this season!. It will only be their reactions which let us know.
Did Brodie fly off in defence again?
Birdie's DU Summaries 2018 https://www.imagicat.com/
18.20 and another sprat-end. Oh well, better than nothing and a 2 fish day
(c) RSPB Loch Garten
Thank you very much, SHEILA, for your super round-up.
SheilaFE said:Brodie landed with a fish
There was no improvement on the PTZ:
Asha got closer to the cam than usual so this had to be done:
We tried
Leftover fish. Nice to see the green grass:
SheilaFE said:Did Brodie fly off in defence again?
Probably, and certainly a bit after 19:00 - this was his second chase about to commence, then both he and Asha landed and he flew off again - but no sight of intruder:
20:20 changeover - I was doodling on this one, I know it didn't warrant a fancy frame:
A fuzzy torpedo zipped by between the nest and the cam:
How the heck to these things fly?!
She's alert:
It looked as tho Brodie had to chase off an intruder first thing:
Then he returned and changeover took place:
G'night all, SYAL.
I had to check the main cam before packing up - and we got a sighting of (a bit of) all 3 eggs at changeover.
My opinion is that we'll be lucky to get even one hatch this season - what with Brodie being new, intruders, and the weather. I hope that opinion clears the way for 100% success
The wide angle PTZ has been stuck on the old nest tree
Back on the nest cam
16.56 Asha started to call
16.57 Brodie arrives with a headless fish
16.58 Asha flies off with it, no attempt to feed a chick. Brodie is soon down on the eggs. Nothing untoward in his reaction, so no chick yet.
The PTZ remained on the old nest trunk.