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
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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:
WendyBartter said:Saves it from a life of torment ... it is so difficult to watch sibling aggression
Saves it from a life of torment ... it is so difficult to watch sibling aggression
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. Fly high little one
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
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.
RIP little chick three: 24th May - 16th June 2024
Night cam switches on (day cam): Nest One 23.42.37 (03.13.33); Nest Two 23.20.40 (03.51.29)
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
Bonus read - mortality in Osprey chicks (thanks Elaine)
https://www.ospreytrax.com/Papers/rettew%20thesis%20Osprey%20aggression.pdf.
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.