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
    • WendyBartter said:

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

  • I’m so sad to hear about wee C3

    It is very sad, I really thought it would make it. Even just this morning, it got a few bites of fish, but the past two days of unseasonal weather for June, unrelenting cold and damp, plus aggro from C2 and no fish, was just too much.

    After it ate this morning there was a downpour and it was mainly left uncovered, a good partion was sticking out from under Dorcha. 

    Steve Quinn, our statto, has worked out that averaged out it got a decent share right up to three weeks old. But circumstances did for it. It was three weeks and three days old today. 

    RIP little one, fly high.. 

  • I thought C3 would make it too Geemeff. It had developed strategies to get fed. At this age of over 3 weeks when you have watched it grow and seen its wee personality develop, it just hurts more. The cruel weather has taken many chicks this year.
     Broken heartCry Fly high little one Purple heart

  • Nest One

    14.03.50 A little songbird visits, flying in from the left. It perches for a little while then pootles around the nest checking for any tasty grubs

    14.11.28 It departs flying to the right

  • RIP Little bob3: the last day of Chick Three 05.54 - 19.02

    Warning - sensitive people might want to skip this one

    This is a record of the littlest chick's last day.

    S/he did get some fish but was weak after two days of cold wet weather, no fish, and stress from aggression by the middle chick.

    The chick was caught out in pouring rain and too weak to crawl under mum, or get out of the way of a huge fish delivery, and although four fish were delivered, it was too late for the little one who finally succumbed at 19.02.

  • 21.29.27 Fish number five, whopper trout.

    Chick2 immediately moves in as Dorcha grabs it and Louis departs, and shuts out C1.

  • Chick1 has a cunning plan..

    21.40.45 Chick2 is gobbling away, and C1 is off to one side.

    21.43.01 C2 moves in and actually uses it's wing to block C2 and get some food.

    This is a very successful move resulting in an almost exclusive feed for C1 while C2 watches.

    The dead body of poor little C3 is right in the feeding area, unnoticed by the chicks and Dorcha.

    It will be interesting to see how it is disposed of.

    RIP little C3, your sad passing means almost certain success for both of the other two chicks.

  • Daily summary Sunday 16th June 2024

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    Sadly, there's only one story today - the death of little bob3 at 24 days old. The youngest chick succumbed to weather, lack of food, and stress from aggression by the middle chick. Although s/he did get some fish today, it was too little too late and two days of cold wet weather plus being left uncovered in a downpour this morning when too weak to crawl under mum was too much for the chick to overcome. It will be interesting to see how the other two chicks react to having one less competitor, but it looks like chick1 is already working out strategies to prevent chick2 getting all the food. Louis brought five fish to the nest today, taking his tally to two hundred and seven. No activity on Nest One except for a little songbird who pootled around for a few minutes. It was very dreich today but tonight's forecast of partly cloudy with light winds and 9°C temperatures is slightly better. 

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    RIP little chick three: 24th May - 16th June 2024

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    Night cam switches on (day cam): Nest One 23.42.37 (03.13.33); Nest Two  23.20.40 (03.51.29)

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    Today’s videos:

    https://youtu.be/kT2dGq0-2zs N2 Fish number, one small whole trout - C3 is looking weak  05.06.42

    https://youtu.be/hlazHmk6Q64  N2 Fish number two, headless large trout - C3 gets a few bites 05.52.19 

    https://youtu.be/boDKXOe820U N2 Fish number three, headless large trout - C1 gets a good feed, C3 doesn't move 09.40.52

    https://youtu.be/n7QT7THpK3M N2 Fish number four, whopper headless trout - has C3 lost its fight? 13.44.49 

    https://youtu.be/zW4F9G1h224 N1 A little songbird visits 14.03.50 (zoom)

    https://youtu.be/zN-GUwN08iM  N2 RIP Little bob3: the last day of Chick Three 05.54 - 19.02

    https://youtu.be/ElWA0SIE6yM N2 Fish number five, whopper trout. C2 immediately moves in 21.29.27 

    https://youtu.be/dCQU4Mrm4F0 N2  N2 Chick1 has a cunning plan to thwart C2 21.40.45

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    Bonus read - mortality in Osprey chicks (thanks Elaine)

    https://www.ospreytrax.com/Papers/rettew%20thesis%20Osprey%20aggression.pdf

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    Blast from the past, this day in previous years:

    https://youtu.be/j-HqamLScX0 N1 Little pecker! Smaller bob self-feeds 2019

    https://youtu.be/lBL0ZY0zLz0  N1 Aila does acrobatics - then bashes the bobs! 2019

    https://youtu.be/zkzuLYbE89k  N1 Super dad Louis feeds his chicks on Father's Day 2019

    https://youtu.be/-Ep_ilklVuU  N1 Chick3 unwisely has a go at Chick1 2020

    https://youtu.be/KeHg7Lno7oM  N2 Louis & Dorcha share a fish tail 2022

    https://youtu.be/L0pZJ2eOy10  N2 Two week-old younger chick tries self-feeding 2022

    https://youtu.be/MqQJ4H1VJdc  N2 Despite atrocious weather, wonderbird Louis brings fish 2022

    https://youtu.be/BUyPxmdAnHo  N1 LV0 arrives unusually early 2023

    https://youtu.be/tSvC6FgxQoQ  N2 Chick disliked being swiped by Louis' stick 2023

    https://youtu.be/zyP2_vlmHpo  N1 Affric receives a fish from LV0 2023

  • Fish number one, tiddler trout

    04:27:10 Breakfast snack arrives, the first fish of the day is a very small whole BT

    04.27.35 Louis departs. C2 goes over to C1 who turns away and tucks down

    04.31.11 C1 has crept to the feeding area, waited patiently, and gets a mouthful

  • Something odd has happened to the layout of the pages, I can neither 'like' nor 'reply' to any post!  Gone back to your OP to use reply box underneath!

     

     2013 photos & vids here

    eff37 on Flickr

  • Just seems to be this thread. Wendy? The like and reply are set out differently but I can still do both? I replied okay on Linda's garden thread and Odds and Sods?

    Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.