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

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? X

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

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 May at 16.36.10

Sad death of little chick three Sunday 16th June at approx 19.02

Louis disappears, last seen Wednesday 26th June 11.22.56

Louis returns but is clearly not well Saturday 29th June 08.26.37

Decision made to place the two surviving chicks in a translocation programme Sunday 30th June

Licensed raptor team collects the chicks Monday 1st July 10.15

Chicks 1&2 arrive at Pego-Oliva marsh, Spain and ringed Yellow 1JW (C1) & 1JR (C2) Thursday 11th July

Sadly, 1JR (C2) started having seizures and succumbed to a heart condition Tuesday 23rd July

FLEDGE! The surviving chick 1JW (C1) found his wings and flew Thursday 25th July 3pm

Dorcha last seen on camera (Nest One) 11.19.43 Saturday 27th July

Louis  last seen on camera (Nest Two) 13.31.18 Tuesday 30th July

1JW (C1) last seen at Pego-Oliva marsh (Spain) on Tuesday 10th September

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Link to February 2024 - May 2024 thread:

loch-arkaig---the-woodland-trust---february-2024---may-2024

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 & Alder LW4. This is designated Nest 2, no one takes up residence on Nest1.
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.
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Louis is a father of thirteen, six with Aila (2017-2020), and seven 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)
2024 males 1JR, 1JW (Spain)
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Highlights:
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2023 Nest Two highlights 
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2023 Nest One highlights 
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All captures in whatever format are copyright Woodland Trust - with many thanks for allowing captures from their nest cam livestreams.
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Osprey cams funded by People's Postcode Lottery
  • Fish number three, nice big trout, C1 & C3 manage to get some 13.41.26

    13.41.26 Fish number three, a nice big trout arrives

    Aggro chick2 immediately rushes over to peck the other chicks and warn them off, then goes over to Dorcha for feeding

    13.41.36 Louis departs C3 moves in under Dorcha’s body trying for a mouthful - aggro chick goes ballistic, Dorcha takes the food away.

    13.46 Aggro chick2 is so busy beaking chick1 that C3 is managing to get some food

  • A pair of Red Polls visit Nest One

    14.17.42 A pair of cute redpolls, you can just see their red caps. They might be lesser redpolls?

    One perches briefly then leaves, the other one potters around and seems to find something tasty on the nest floor

    14.19.15 the second one departs too

  •  14.36.26 A Great Spotted Woodpecker flies in and perches on the centre perch

    It stays a few moments, departs, and returns, or maybe it's a second one, and also perches for a few moments before flying off.

    (zoomed)

  •  N1 A Great Spotted Woodpecker flies in and perches 14.36.26

  •   N2 Fish number four, small lively trout,in the face of C2's aggression, C1&3 try self-feeding 17.03.23

  •   N1 A Jay perches on the high perch then investigates the branches 18.54.02

  • 19.21.43  N2 Fish number five, a huge headless trout arrives, but C3 wants it all and determindly pecks the other two into submission 

    Eventually even C2 is stuffed, and the other two get a good feed.

  • 20.53.47 Fish number six, teeny tiny tiddler trout - no aggro, too small? C2 is either stuffed from the previous five fish or isn't interested in this tiny fish. 

    It doesn't last long. Despite all today's aggro, C1 and C3 both have bulging crops, just not as big as the one C2 has - amazed she can stand up without over-balancing!

  • Daily summary Wednesday 12th June 2024

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    Nest One was visted by several birds, none of them Ospreys. Perhaps that's just as well as the action on Nest Two was fast and furious - emphasis on the furious! Chick2 was extremely aggressive throughout the day, indulging in attacking and resource-guarding whether there was fish around or not. Chick1 was cowed into submission most of the time but chick3 is much better at standing up for itself. Louis made up for yesterday's slow-fish day by delivering six fish today, so despite the aggression all three chicks ended the day with full crops. C2 undoubtedly had the biggest. This takes his tally to one hundred and ninety two. Dorcha ignored all the argy bargy and just filled whichever beak presented itself, but the watchers weren't so easily able to ignore the aggression and a lively debate ensued, with gender speculation a popular topic, plus warnings for sensitive viewers to take a break from nest cam watching for a little while. The weather was settled, with plenty of daylight hours - as of filing this at 00.45, Nest One is still on day cam - and tonight's forecast is partly cloudy and light winds.

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    Night cam switches on (day cam): Nest One? (03.15.31); Nest Two 23.41.47 (03.43.31)

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    Today’s videos:

    https://youtu.be/8w78Uy5FtFA  N2 Fish number one, small whole trout, fighting breaks out after it's finished 05.54.41

    https://youtu.be/X670uBiI8vg  N2 Fish number two, whole trout, C2 attacks the others to get all the food 11.33.09

     https://youtu.be/1OrPesmMXjQ  N2 Fish number three, nice big trout, C1 & C3 manage to get some 13.41.26

    https://youtu.be/hhe82fYjd5Q  N1 A pair of Redpolls visit 14.17.42 (zoom)

    https://youtu.be/CsCA1C-82eU N1 A Great Spotted Woodpecker flies in and perches 14.36.26

    https://youtu.be/U4IDlGc-h7s  N2 Fish number four, small lively trout, c1&3 try self-feeding 17.03.23

    https://youtu.be/phiEEDCwf_A  N1 A Jay perches on the high perch then investigates the branches 18.54.02

    https://youtu.be/6-jk8QhKxbI  N2 Fish number five, huge headless trout, but C2 wants it all 19.21.43

    https://youtu.be/EHxbN2gHg0A   N2 Fish number six, teeny tiny tiddler trout - no aggro, too small? 20.53.47

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    Blast from the past, this day in previous years:

    https://youtu.be/t5fExtS-g24  N1 Louis is in charge and causes chaos 2020

    https://youtu.be/5v3mXd8jiP0  N1 Middle chick syndrome? Bob2 pecks mum 2020

    https://youtu.be/CJZtoG43aOQ  N1 A Jay (Garrulus glandarius) pays a visit 2021

    https://youtu.be/jvf9PX74Ltk  N2 Three chicks home alone: size difference is striking 2022

    https://youtu.be/VtqM02uMCck  N2 Careful with that ax, Eugenie 2022

    https://youtu.be/0x2UY3d9nEs  N2 OMG littlest chick is in big trouble 2022

    https://youtu.be/ZKENudlj1gI  N2 RIP little bob3 15.44 - 19.22 (full version, edited, zoomed)*

    2022 https://youtu.be/3Tb7ULBiY-w  N2 Are the parents reacting to the loss of their chick? 2022

    https://youtu.be/kkV6jT1ddEA N2 Mum keeps watch as chick wanders by the edge 2023

    https://youtu.be/XC_XytW-0IA  N1 LV0 yo-yos on and off 2023

    https://youtu.be/_FvG707X7z0  N2 Bob's all alone in a violent rainstorm 2023

    https://youtu.be/gYHA-fUukN0  N1 LV0 won't give Affric his fish and departs with it 2023

    *Sensitive content, some may not wish to watch

  • OWL ATTACK

    01:46:12 Tawny Owl attacks. WT forumite Beverley describes it: "This caught Dorcha sound asleep. It knocked her sideways, but she immediately righted herself and surveyed the chicks (I presume to ensure they were unharmed). In fact, the chicks didn’t even stir. there was no sign that they heard anything, and they continued sleeping. After a few wary moments, Dorcha settled back down on the chicks and rests."

    Video in real time repeated in super slo-mo.