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

Nest One 

00.23.52 Owl seen flying quickly from under the nest, disappears left

00.24.40 Barn Owl lands, perches on the centre perch

00.25.36 Owl departs

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Nest One Crazy times! Affric 152 and Garry LV0 have been on and off the nest today - Affric was divebombed by an Osprey carrying a fish - looks like it was the one-ringed stranger from a few days ago!

So maybe it is a female, and she fancies this nest?

Meantime, Chaddie has reported from Bunarkaig, two Ospreys very settled there but too far away to identify who they are.

15th April:

Chaddie's Bunarkaig updates, and three long-lens videos of that pair:

The Bunarkaig nest has been busy these last few days with a pair of Osprey, perhaps Prince and Affric but we dont know for sure, nesting, mating and generally in residence - at last!! And today the weather finally allowed me to get some images. Available on youtube as follows

Please forgive the image quality. These were taken across 700m of Bunarkaig Bay on 70x magnification with a spotting scope fitted with a Tactacam camera on 4x zoom with our kitchen window open to avoid any glass infringement. Trouble is that the merest puff of wind wobbles the scope at that magnification and every atmospheric condition is magnified, hence the fuzzy image variations as heat and rain and mist effects are magnified. 
I am a total novice at Youtube so hope this works. Most important, if anyone can positively identify these two birds please let us know. We have tried every which way to spot any leg rings but just cannot be sure - cant even see a flash of blue but we rarely see the legs due to the upward view angle. I will continue to try to get some better images as and when the awful weather we have been having improves (hopefully!!)

WTS George says:

For newcomers - the Bunarkaig nest is to the east of Loch Arkaig, off Woodland Trust/Arkaig Community Forest land. 

12.27 - 12.51 Interesting triangular encounter on Nest One - with a new player! Lightly edited version with slo-mo and zoom

Here's how it happened (buckle up - it's a bumpy ride!

One-ring divebombs or flies overhead eight separate times! So I think this is indeed a female - surely a male would have been more welcoming towards Affric? - who wants her off a nest she might very well fancy for herself. Wouldn't that be nice. 

12.27.19 Affric 152 flies into view, from right to left
12.27.21 Affric 152 lands
12.27.24 One-ringed Osprey carrying a fish flashes past over her - surely the one from 2nd & 4th April
12.27.35 Affric 152 leaves the nest flying towards the right, Garry LV0 flies from the knolls over towards her and drops some nesting material as he goes
12:32:28 Affric 152 returns and lands on the nest
12.32.30 One-ring flies over clutching the fish
12.32.44 Garry LV0's feet are just visible overhead
12.38.00 Affric 152 flies up to the perch
12.48.58 Garry LV0 comes into sight on the right, lands on Affric for an unsuccessful mating attempt
12.49.03 Garry LV0 flies off to the left
12:49:35 One-ring still with the fish divebombs Affric152. The intruder's silver BT0 ring is clearly visible
12.49.39 Affric 152 watches something overhead, acting defensively
12.49.43 One-ring and fish flies very low over Affric 152 on the left
12.49.50 A bird flies rapidly from left to right in front of the knolls
12.49.57 Garry LV0 flies in from the left as the other bird flies out of sight, and circles towards Affric 152
12.50.00 Garry LV0 lands on the nest next to her perch, defensive, mantling, giving warning calls
12.50.11 Garry LV0 departs left in a hurry
12.50.12 One-ring and fish storm in from the right directly over Affric 152
12.50.35 Affric 152 prepares for another onslaught
12.50.37 One-Ring and fish comes in again from the left (just eat that fish, for goodness sake!)
12.50.45 One-ring is seen overhead on the right a little distance from the nest, flies to the left out of sight
12.50.53 She must have circled back - appears from the right and divebombs Affric 152 again
12.50.58 Osprey appears on the left in the distance, flies out of sight to the right, watched by Affric 152
12.51.04 Affric 152 has had enough and departs flying to the left departs as a wingtip appears above her.

Dorcha doesn't take long to sort out Louis' awkward stick! 13.11.23

Nest One 

13.17.01 LV0 lands

13.18.49 A Hoodie lands on the centre perch, stays four seconds, LV0 looks at it and it departs.

13.21.45 LV0 departs

Louis delivers fish number one and only, a headless Brown Trout very late 15.23.40

Congratulations on the 2nd egg this morning 05.55  

There is so much going on between these two nests Geemeff, I don’t know how you keep track of it all, your updates/videos/photos and extra bonus videos for us to watch. Thank you.