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LOCH ARKAIG - THE WOODLAND TRUST - February 2024 - February 2025

Geemeff
12/02/2024 14:26

Welcome to Loch Arkaig Ospreys season 8

Will Louis and Dorcha return to Nest 2? White check mark

Will someone take up residence in Nest 1? Question

Will any of Louis' chicks with Aila and Dorcha be sighted? Question

2024 season:

Louis arrived on Thursday 28th March at 15.18.38

Dorcha arrived on Saturday 30th March at 14.21.27

They reunited on Saturday 30th March at 16.13.37

First egg laid on Sunday 14th March at 11.13.48  Congratulations!!

Second egg laid on Wednesday 17th March at 05.55.52

Dorcha is injured in an eagle attack on Friday 19th April at 11.08

Third egg laid on Saturday 20th April at 02.26.08 

.

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

Link to 2023 thread: 

https://community.rspb.org.uk/placestovisit/lochgartenospreys/f/loch-garten-ospreys/282446/loch-arkaig---the-woodland-trust---march-2023-to-february-2024

Brief history of the nests:

2016 Woodland Trust acquire the Loch Arkaig ancient Caledonian rainforest remnant and manage it in partnership with Arkaig Community Forest. An Osprey pair is seen.
2017 A nest cam is installed on a refurbished ancient Osprey nest. The old pair don't return but 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.
2023 Louis & Dorcha return, and raise one male chicks to fledging: Ludo LY7. No residents on Nest 1 but male Garry LV0 spent a lot of time flirting with Affric 152 despite her mate Prince still being around.
.
Louis is a father of eleven, six with Aila (2017-2020), and five with Dorcha (2021-)
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In hatch order 2017 - 2023:
2017 Lachlan (JH4)
2019 Mallie (JJ0), Rannoch (JJ2)
2020 Doddie (JJ6), Vera (JJ8), Captain (JJ7)
2021 Aspen (LW3), Alder (LW4)
2022 Willow (LW5), Sarafina (LW6)
2023 Ludo (LY7)
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Highlights:
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2023 Nest Two highlights https://youtu.be/frFhrnS7Vvo
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2023 Nest One highlights https://youtu.be/qpxRv2OIsFQ
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All captures in whatever format are copyright Woodland Trust - with many thanks for allowing captures from their nest cam livestreams.
Osprey cams funded by People's Postcode Lottery
  • 25/04/2024 23:15

    Daily summary Thursday 25th April 2024

    Today brought one fish delivery by Louis, one visit to Nest One by Garry LV0, and one Osprey intruder actually landing right next to Dorcha. This day in 2021 saw the first appearance of Affric 152 on Nest One, and this day last year saw the first appearance of Garry LV0 on Nest One, although he had visited chicks Willow LW5 & Sarafina LW6 on Nest Two in 2022. In another parallel, like today, Louis delivered only one fish this day last year.  Eggs, fish, intruders - the cycle of Osprey life goes on, and thanks to Woodland Trust having the genius idea to install nest cams and Postcode Lottery to fund them, we have an unparalleled window onto their world. The fish tally now stands at fifty seven, the weather was mild and set to continue tonight with a forecast of partly cloudy and light winds, and the time on day cam lengthens to around seventeen hours daily. 

    Night cam switchover (day cam): Nest One 22.00.19 (04.58.51); Nest Two 22.01.14 (05.08.40)

    .

    Today’s videos:

    https://youtu.be/0-quAK2Ju1Y  Nest One: Garry LV0 arrives 06.03.38

    https://youtu.be/55qUqUnU1RU Nest One: two songbirds visit 06.47.26

    https://youtu.be/EQN51E_PIO4 Unringed intruder Osprey seen off by Louis 12.22.29 (real-time with slo-mo repeat)

    https://youtu.be/1TGdaSB0t04 Female Chaffinch looks tiny perching next to Dorcha 17.46.55 (zoom)

    https://youtu.be/CfByDVecUB0 Very late first and only fish of the day, headless BT 18.39.41

    .

    Bonus video - a perennial favourite of George’s! Here’s Hoagy:

    https://youtu.be/o7ion4jHFIo

    .

    Blast from the past, this day in previous years:

    https://youtu.be/1_Sm9SEu0PI Ringed female stranger visits Nest One 2021 (slo-mo, zoom)

    https://youtu.be/F65FJe4xMHc Louis visits Nest One shortly after the ringed female 2021

    https://youtu.be/0swlIF7VWuM Woodpecker and Blue Tit visit Nest One 2021

    https://youtu.be/6frCvYMt4a0 Louis is too busy mating to notice Dorcha's new egg 2022

    https://youtu.be/OVCVE1wwydU Louis sees his egg and takes over incubation for the first time 2022

    https://youtu.be/15WD6z9hROg LV0 visits Nest One 2023 (zoom)

    https://youtu.be/XeU9A7t8Gl4 Fish number one and only 2023

  • 26/04/2024 23:17

    First fish of the day, a headless trout 

    06.22.30 When Louis arrives with breakfast, Dorcha wastes no time grabbing it and taking it away.

  • 26/04/2024 23:21

    Long distance chase on Nest One!

    09.58.21 Garry LV0 lands with a big clump of moss. He fiddles it into place and does some nest tidying, then starts watching something overhead

    10.00.46 Garry LV0 spots something and flies off in a hurry

    10.01.28 Alarm chips heard 10.01.50 Two Ospreys appear from the left at speed, chasing each other

    10.02.38 One lands on the pole tree, the other dive bombs. They fly off to the right and chase back and forth around the green tree belt above the right hand knoll before disappearing out of sight.

    Not sure if contact was made during the divebombing, but it looked like there might have been contact in the green tree belt. Hard to tell from this distance.

    Was the second Osprey Prince? Or a stranger? Not Louis, he'd only just left Nest Two and the timings are wrong for him to make it over to Nest One.

  • 26/04/2024 23:24

    A 13 second turnaround as fish number two arrives & departs!

    16.41.14 Louis delivers fish number two, a large headless trout.

    16.41.27 Dorcha grabs it and departs with it in a beak hold.

    Louis settles down to egg-sitting.

  • 26/04/2024 23:26

    Daily summary Friday 26th April 2024

    Louis delivered two fish to the nest today, both taken with alacrity by Dorcha, and the tally rises to fifty nine. The pair of them spent a quiet day taking turns at incubating the eggs, just a few minor intruder alert calls disturbed the peace occasionally. Over on Nest One, Garry LV0 turned up and kept returning with materials and doing nest prep. However he spotted something he didn't like and took off, and a merry chase ensued, with two Ospreys flying to and fro seen in the distance via the nest cam. Was the second Osprey Prince? It wan't Louis as he was too far away at that time. More reports from LizB and Chaddie about the Bunarkaig nest don't solve any mysteries as yet, but as the behaviour of that pair has changed, with one always on the nest now, it does appear as if there's an egg, or one due very soon. Therefore if Affric 152 continues to be absent from Nest One, that could indicate she's indeed the Bunarkaig female as suspected. However the words 'maybe', 'perhaps' and 'possibly' still need to be used in connection with that nest. After a mild day, tonight's forecast is light rain showers and light winds.

    Night cam switchover (day cam): Nest One 22.08.44 (04.36.54); Nest Two 22.26.49 (04.59.03)

     

    Today’s videos:

    https://youtu.be/mtVjxjF6LR0  Fish number one, headless trout 06.22.30

    https://youtu.be/r9ckJWn_V3I  Aerobatics as Garry LV0's involved in a chase 09.58.21

    https://youtu.be/G-DaqLc2tcE Fish number two, headless trout 16.41.14

    .

    Bonus watch - more fabulous footage of the Bunarkaig nest from Chaddie:

    https://youtu.be/3Ds4iVdXs58

    https://youtu.be/fkGjDtlJMMI

    .

    Blast from the past, this day in previous years:

    https://youtu.be/aDk_oSfFyJA  Aila lays egg number two 2019

    https://youtu.be/TR0ZAmEuEvU  Aila lays egg number two 2020

    https://youtu.be/A0Fql5tp3Zw  Dad's turn! Louis is finally on egg duty 2020

    https://youtu.be/YWOgNITPfXc  Ringed female Blue 152 visits again 2021

    https://youtu.be/OLoFrTuYE7M  Pre-season prep on Nest One - a brave man climbs up 2022

    https://youtu.be/OZBLR7uszwo  Very early breakfast but no more fish for Dorcha 2023

    https://youtu.be/JtvhETUmq2E  A male Chaffinch visits Nest One 2023

    https://youtu.be/kh92z7IRnCw  Three Ospreys fighting over Nest One 2023 (super slo-mo)

  • 27/04/2024 12:34

    Nest One 06.32.38 a little bird pops in, a Great Tit (Parus major), which perches for a minute before departing

  • 27/04/2024 12:43

    07.39.05 An Osprey flies into view from the left, Dorcha is on the nest screaming for fish. The Osprey flies across from left to right - it’s Louis with a fish

    07.39.18 Louis arrives with fish number one, a headless trout. Dorcha grabs it immediately

    07.39.49 She departs with it, still squeaking, as Louis settles on the eggs

  • 27/04/2024 19:54

    17.14.28 Fish number two, headless trout

    07.14.28 Louis flies in with fish number two, Dorcha was calling and ready for it

    17.15.05 Dorcha departs with the trout, leaving Louis to settle on the eggs

  • 27/04/2024 20:27

    19.54.48 Louis arrives, no fish, he only brought a stick. The nest looks too small for both of them to be on it at the same time, they crash into each other, or rather Louis tangles with Dorcha

    19.55.20 Louis stand on Dorcha's tail!

    19.55.37 She departs, he settles on the eggs

  • 27/04/2024 23:02

    Nest One Garry LV0 does nest prep then perches on Pole Tree (zoomed)   out of time sequence - sorry about that

    09.03.50 Garry LV0 flies in from the left with a clump of moss

    09.16.53 Departs, flies to Pole Tree and perches

    09.33.08 Leaves Pole Tree and flies off out of sight to the right