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 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:
03.47.35 Fish number one, whole large trout. Season’s earliest - night cam is still on
Dorcha keeps shouting as she grabs it.
03.47.53 Louis departs - 18 second handover
Chicks politely queue up, no fighting
04.35.48 Fish number two, large headless trout
Louis remains and does a little nest tidying while Dorcha dishes up. He has blood on his right leg, probably fish blood, not an injury
04.39.33 Louis departs, Dorcha has carried on shouting the whole time
09.24.54 Fish number three, small trout
09.25.14 Louis departs, Dorcha carries on feeding, chicks are calm, no aggro
Nest One 07.21.01 Alittle bird flies in and perches on the centre perch, a second arrives from underneath the nest.
They don't stay long, then the second one returns and investigtes the vegetation on the right of the nest
07.22.42 The second one also departs
07.37.31 A Jay visits, hops around the branches on the left, then perches briefly.
Is this the same one who's visited a few times lately?
07.38.13 It departs, flying off to the left
I’m just catching up Geemeff. Dorcha did so well to stay in position after the tawny owl attack and didn’t even wake the chicks up. It’s always a worry that worse could happen.
Also “Aggro C2” I’m with you that it’ll be a female. Quite sad to see C1 (probably a male) has had its confidence knocked out of itself and no longer fights back. So glad that Louis is keeping the fish coming so C2 always has a full crop which is helping at some feeds.
Like you say though, C1 and C3 have big crops too, just not ginormous like C3’s!
Fish number three, small trout, chicks queue politely 09.24.54
N1 A pair of Redpolls (Carduelis Flammea) visit, is it the earlier pair returning? 13:49:02
N1 Garry LV0 pops in for a quick visit 15.14.22
N2 Fish number four, whole trout, C3 gets none 16.10.29