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
  • Louis arrives fishless and cops an earful from Dorcha:

    20.13.30 Finally! Louis arrives, but he is fishless! Dorcha can't believe it and tells him so, loudly

    20.15.30 Two minutes later, Dorcha is still giving him an ear bashing

    20.16.20 He’s doing some beak feaking - exactly what he did a few days ago - brought one fish, ate the second then came to the nest and cleaned off the evidence.

    20.16.40 She approaches him quite menacingly, peering at his beak and shouting

    20.19.27 He departs, Dorcha's voice ringing in his ears. His crop is quite rounded.

  • Daily summary Saturday 15th June 2024

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    No action on Nest One, and very little on Nest Two. Louis only brought one fish mid-morning, and wasn't seen again until suppertime when he caused consternation by arriving empty-taloned. Dorcha couldn't believe it and gave him a right earful while he cleaned bits of fish off his beak. He'd obviously eaten recently and had a nicely rounded crop which added fuel to Dorcha's ire. Earlier Dorcha had caused a bit of consternation herself when she arrived with an awkwardly shaped stick and proceeded to drag it through the huddle of chicks, although she quickly redeemed herself by being an excellent mumbrella and keeping her three big chicks warm and dry during a torrential downpour. As usual, chick2 got all the fish and beaked the other two to keep them away from the food, therefore it will be good if Louis arrives early tomorrow morning with a fish big enough that C1 & C3 get a share too. Statto Steve Q provided us with a thorough analysis of the fish stats to date - despite the odd blip, Louis' current total of two hundred and two fish is pretty much comparable with previous years. The weather was very unsettled today with a misty start turning into a rainy day and more of the same forecast for tonight.

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    Night cam switches on (day cam): Nest One 23.36.53 (02.58.59); Nest Two 23.10.58 (03.27.50)

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    Today’s videos:

    https://youtu.be/2hIydufKS3I Fish number one, headless trout, C2 gets it all 10.17.28

    https://youtu.be/FlvoO8n_ZAk  Dorcha: from menace with a stick to brilliant mumbrella 17.32

    https://youtu.be/OiKvZO7vkTU Louis finally arrives but he's fishless! Dorcha can't believe it  20.13.30

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    Bonus info - Steve Quinn’s fish stats for week 11:

    https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/trees-woods-and-wildlife/osprey-cam/?ht-comment-id=15060802

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    Blast from the past, this day in previous years:

    https://youtu.be/ntv71sF-N_s  N1 Simultaneous feeding - mum and dad each feed a bob! 2019

    https://youtu.be/1RzPgaEWMr0  N1 Limbo dancing 2020

    https://youtu.be/PvklkJGfZIc  N1 Home alone chicks amuse themselves 2020

    https://youtu.be/J8geReKxLxc  N1 Mumbrella Aila does her best to shelter the chicks 2020

    https://youtu.be/FJYbKk1hA-4  N1 A Jay visits the empty nest 2021

    https://youtu.be/tsAAz0z9Ac8  N2 Hooded Crow intrudes and perches on the nest 2022

    https://youtu.be/k6W6PKYMMYQ  N2 Chicks battle it out as soon as mum leaves 2022

    https://youtu.be/LTMLWBLOZnY  N1 LV0 just won't get the message 2023

    https://youtu.be/hFbYpDjHeyI  N1 Affric reaffirms her bond with Prince 2023

    https://youtu.be/yvMLAjhrNaA  N2 Hangry chick attacks Dorcha 2023 (quick-time)

  • Sad news, it looks like No 3 has finally succumbed to the aggression and lack of food. 

    I think the poor chick will have gone within an hour or 2.

    Richard B

  • Fish number one 05.06.42, small whole trout

    05.06.59 Louis departs, 17 second handover

    Dorcha blocks the view but chick3 is looking weak and showed no interest, looks like C1 & 2 are being fed. Feeding doesn’t take long, it’s a small fish.

  • RIP Chick Three.

    It's very sad news. Two days of cold and wet weather and no food has done for it.

    14.45 it's just about gone but sadly not yet. However, it is being left alone and not bullied which is some sort of mercy.

  • 05.52.19 Fish number two, headless large trout

    05.53.49 Louis departs, 30 second handover

    05.54.33 C3 gets some while C2 is occupied dominating C1 but is looking very weak. There was still a bit of hope at this time but later events proved otherwise.

  • I’m so sad to hear about wee C3.CryBroken heart

  • Fish number three

    09.40.52 Fish number three, headless large trout arrives.

    C2 starts beaking C1, C3 stays head down

    09.41.17 Louis departs, 25 second handover

    09.50 After some initial beaking, C1 gets an excellent share of the fish but C3 remained tucked down

  • Saves it from a life of torment ... it is so difficult to watch sibling aggression Disappointed relieved

  • Fish number four

    13.44.49 Fish number four arrives, it's a whopper headless trout.

    Too late for little chick3, alas. Looks like it has lost its battle to survive, it doesn't move. This morning’s rain after two days of cold and damp and no fish has been too much. Poor wee thing is still alive but only just. All we can do now is hope for a swift end.

    13.46.31 Louis departs and the family tuck in. C2 first, but C1 also getting a share.

    Sad as it is, with only two chicks to feed, C2 should hopefully settle down and both share the food without too much aggro.

    A great pity C3 couldn’t hang on for this phase to have ended. There is consolation in that it is now just fading away without being harassed, although Louis did accidentally stand on it during the handover.