Welcome to Loch Arkaig Ospreys season 8
Will Louis and Dorcha return to Nest 2?
Will someone take up residence in Nest 1?
Will any of Louis' chicks with Aila and Dorcha be sighted?
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
Welcome little bob - first chick hatches! Wednesday 22nd May at 06.16.45
Welcome little bob - second chick hatches - it's twins! Wednesday 22nd May at 22.26.15
Welcome little bob - third chick hatches! Friday 24th at 16.36.10
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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:
12.52.23 Louis is seen approaching the nest with a fish, but flies past instead.
12.52.38 Louis lands with fish number two, a nearly headless trout, think he's had had a nibble but most of the head's still there
12.53.13 Dorcha departs with it, Louis settles down to egg duty
Nest One
15.04.20 A little bird appears in the branches on the left, and hops up onto the nest.
It's a female Chaffinch, she stays for a few moments before departing to the right
Daily summary Sunday 12th May 2024
A quiet day with lots of rain. No activity bar a female Chaffinch on Nest One, looks like this avian des res might be waiting a bit longer for permanent residents. On the main nest, Louis brought two fish for Dorcha, taking his tally to ninety, and in the process finally breaking his noon to 1pm duck. Steve Q posted more of his impressive fish stats to end of Week Six, and posed the question is Week Seven the week we see our first different fish species? Dorcha was disturbed by loud claps of thunder today, the forecast tonight is for more of the same - thundery showers and light winds.
Night cam switchover (day cam): Nest One 22.52.38 (04.11.20); Nest Two 22.23.11 (04.05.20)
Today’s videos:
https://youtu.be/IR7bJxY7AsE N2 Fish number one, whole flapper trout 09.26.29
https://youtu.be/NjN9aGPsXME N2 Fish number two, slightly nibbled trout 12.52.38
https://youtu.be/0bNLIxCelsw N1 Female Chaffinch visits 15.04.20 (zoom)
Bonus watch - how tough are Ospreys? On Mother's Day across the pond, check out this female:
https://youtu.be/tziVm7AIHPY
Blast from the past, this day in previous years:
https://youtu.be/z40ADaprn9Y N1 Hoodie chases Aila wanting her fish 2020 (slo-mo)
https://youtu.be/BFfBZitcjv0 N1 Haven't you forgotten something? 2020
https://youtu.be/_rGpAZaTjmQ N1 Oops! Where's it gone? 2020
https://youtu.be/7fjub6AqXts N1 Stickgate! Louis lands a stick on top of Aila then perches on it! 2020
https://youtu.be/Ah7wghdmEsA N1 Look who's back bringing moss! 2021
https://youtu.be/x9ltb4rsX-w N1 The Stranger nestorises while Blue 152 calls for fish 2021
https://youtu.be/Kdo-dxeZv3Y N1 That technique needs work! Amusing mating incident 2021
https://youtu.be/Avbi8BbEvC4 N2 Intruder Osprey flyover 2023
https://youtu.be/bLMSoIgb1Yc N2 Another year, another stickgate!! 2023
05.05.48 Dorcha stands for a stretch as the sky pinkens in the early dawn. She unfolds those huge wings for a good stretch and shake before settling back down again.
In slo-mo to appreciate those magnificent wings
06.37.35 Fish number one, headless trout. Dorcha seizes it from Louis (zoomed)
06.38.23 Dorcha departs and Louis settles on the eggs
Please note, Nest One cam is down, probably from yesterday's lightning storm. It's the cam not just the livestream so no remote reboot is possible.
Jason at Wildlife Windows who installed the system, will be taking a look as soon as possible. Might need to switch to the back-up cam, will keep you posted.
It's a bit of a miracle it works at all - have a look at what it takes to give us a look at the Ospreys' private lives:
https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/trees-woods-and-wildlife/osprey-cam/behind-the-scenes/
Liz Bracken has just posted this:
I thought you might like to see this short video clip taken on my phone on Saturday which gives an osprey-eye view of the area around Loch Arkaig, Loch Lochy and Loch Linnhe.
It’s taken from the top of the hill behind the nest cams, Beinn Bhan (White Mountain) at 796m and shows how easy it is for the ospreys to fly between these three lochs and connecting rivers.
It was very windy up there so there’s a lot of wind noise on the clip. You might want to turn the sound down!
Hooray for Louis - he brings Dorcha a late fish supper
21.09.13 Fish number two, nice big headless trout
21.09.48 Dorcha departs with her dinner and Louis settles down to egg duties
Daily summary Monday 13th May 2024
Rain overnight and more rain today, and yesterday's storm is probably responsible for the loss of Nest Cam One. But Cam Two is working perfectly, and that's where all the action is with our resident pair, so the temporary loss of Cam One with no residents on that nest yet isn't serious. Apart from one or two minor alarms, it was a peaceful day for Dorcha and Louis - he brought two fish, raising his total to ninety two, and Dorcha had time to stretch her wings after long spells on egg duties. Another soggy night for Dorcha tonight, with a forecast of light rain and light winds for the Inver Mallie area. Recently we've had a good look at the nest area with the stunning drone footage, and today LizB treated us to more fabulous views with her Osprey-eye video clip of Loch Arkaig and the two neighbouring lochs, see tonight's bonus.
Night cam switchover (day cam): Nest One unknown (server out); Nest Two ? (04.08.54)
https://youtu.be/03Te8ZCOfEY N2 Dorcha shows off her huge wings 05.05.48 (slo-mo)
https://youtu.be/skQUk_joNAU N2 Early morning fish number one 06.37.35
https://youtu.be/DuuyciTJzIE N2 Late night fish number two, big headless trout 21.09.13
https://youtu.be/ULnmZa5llbQ N2 Dorcha’s almost invisible unlike the swarm of insects 22.32
Bonus watch - LizB’s Osprey-eye view of Loch Arkaig and surrounds:
https://youtu.be/aJ8Ih2bfiHA
https://youtu.be/YlOAPDKh6W8 N1 Aila's seen silhouetted in the distance 2020
https://youtu.be/pMiyJCRoAEQ N1 Sleepy Aila nods off 2020
https://youtu.be/PuDXOSzgDgg N1 Aila employs the kitchen sink approach to remove Louis 2020
https://youtu.be/qC_j3fiHG6o N1 Aila practises her head-bashing technique on Louis 2020
https://youtu.be/FSF6fiwMDvs N1 Slightly better mating attempt 2021
https://youtu.be/xcAoRU34zcg N2 Duh! Dorcha drops her breakfast 2022
https://youtu.be/b_Zd5jXoyQA N2 Louis makes an unorthodox exit 2022
https://youtu.be/ijUGBuvu1-o N2 Small fresh flapping fish for Dorcha 2023
No wonder Louis catches so many fish with all these nearby lochs to choose from!