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
  • 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!

    I'm glad it's not just me - you're right something weird has happened in the last couple of days. makes posting things difficult, takes a long time. 

    And it's not even the first of the month..

     

  • This is the only thread affected in this way ... strange??

     

     2013 photos & vids here

    eff37 on Flickr

  • Amazing! Louis brings a fish in under ten minutes from leaving the nest! And it's not even his all-time record.

    04.37.12 Fish number two, small whole trout

    04.37.46 Louis departs. 34 second handover

    * 04.27.35 Louis departed after fish one, returned with fish two at 04.37.12 That is 9 minutes 37 seconds Nest to Nest time - amazing!

    04.37.58 Dorcha offers a bit of fish - the chicks aren’t interested, she tucks in

    04.38.13 C2 staggers over under the weight of a huge crop, and starts eating

  • Even stranger ... has reverted to normal presentation!

     

     2013 photos & vids here

    eff37 on Flickr

  • C2 has a nibble at poor little C3, and Dorcha deals with intruders

    14:29:47 C2 has a few pecks at the body of C3

    14.31.44 Dorcha starts alarm calling - however, the chicks don't pancake, in fact C2 rushes over to C1 and starts a fight

    14.33.01 An Osprey flies overhead - from Dorcha's furious reaction it's an intruder

    14.33.30 the intruder flies overhead again. Dorcha settles down when it's out of sight but remains wary.

  • WendyBartter said:

    This is the only thread affected in this way ... strange??

    Oh, is it? I haven't had a chance to check out any others. 

  • WendyBartter said:

    This is the only thread affected in this way ... strange??

    Oh, is it? I haven't had a chance to check out any others. 

    Folliwing this post, many of yesterdays post have been repeated in the strange format ... think it should be reported to RSPB tomorrow!

     

     2013 photos & vids here

    eff37 on Flickr

  • 17.48.52 Fish number three - headless AND body-less trout, just a tail-end, really. Louis has had the best of it before coming to the nest.

    Nevertheless, C2 immediately makes sure C1 is cowed and not competing for the scraps

    17.49.09 Louis leaves with Dorcha shouting at him. 17-second handover

  • Finally! C1 makes an attempt to stand up to C2. Doesn't last, but it's a start

    18.10.01 Chick1 finally makes an attempt at standing up to dominant C2

    18.11.55 Has another go

    18.13.40 Staring match and a bit of mild argy bargy.

    18.14.24 And C1 goes for it - it doesn't last long, C2 quickly subdues C1 but this is a promising start.

    C2 has a golfball crop while C1 has a concave chest.

    C1 needs to find its courage and demand a share of fish as Louis is bringing enough for everyone but it's all going to the dominant younger chick.

  • Daily summary Monday 17th June 2024

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    After yesterday's sadness at the loss of little Chick3, today was calmer all round, both for the family and for the watchers. Louis brought three fish to the nest, taking his tally to two hundred and ten. He put on a sprint between leaving the nest after delivering the first fish and returning with the second fish, and achieved a remarkable Nest to Nest time of 9 minutes 37 seconds. However, this doesn't beat his all-time N2N record of 5 minutes 23 seconds on 31st May 2020. The third fish was basically just a tail end, and as with the earlier fish, dominant C2 got most and wouldn't let submissive C1 have any. C1 is looking very hollow-cropped while C2 has the usual golfball - so it was heartening to see C1 suddenly decide to stand up to C2. Several attempts were made in quick succession, none lasted long and inevitably C2 soon subdued C1, but this bodes well for the future. There was discussion around the fate of the sad bundle of feathers that was C3, it's possible Dorcha will dispose of it in the forest as she's done before, or bury it within the nest vegetation, or it might even get eaten. C1 had the odd peck at it today, right before Dorcha had to deal with an intruder Osprey overflying the nest. No activity on Nest One, the weather was much more settled, and tonight's forecast is a dry night with light cloud and light winds.

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    Night cam switches on (day cam): Nest One 00.03.50 (02.54.38); Nest Two 23.19.46 (03.48.07)

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    Today’s videos, all Nest Two:

    https://youtu.be/rcFGjw9ggH8  Fish number one, very small whole BT, C1 gets none 04:27:10 

    https://youtu.be/IVqA6qiQegI Fish number two, small whole trout, arrives <10 mins Nest-to-Nest time!  04.37.12 

    https://youtu.be/vxpIhe93244 Chick1 pecks at Chick3's body, Dorcha deals with intruders 14:29:47

    https://youtu.be/sAFaD-IV1No  Fish number three, just a tail-end but C2 stops C1 getting any 17.48.52 

    https://youtu.be/UVmvmdGrrgo Chick1 finally makes an attempt at standing up to C2 18.10.01

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    Bonus watch (not for the faint-hearted) -  LizB talks about Ospreys eating their dead chicks. Warning: graphic content.

    https://youtu.be/ab052JeJ_5Q

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    Blast from the past, this day in previous years:

    https://youtu.be/I_GsmuqoYpk  N1 Little stirrer! Bob2 instigates a fight 2020

    https://youtu.be/kb2CDBYN45g N1 That tiddler won't feed four! 2020

    https://youtu.be/LETGGTIp7Rg  N1 Clown feet on show as the chicks wingercise 2020

    https://youtu.be/Z1uCptJNQOQ N1 Look closely - it's a deer 2020

    https://youtu.be/Dx2ivqwDc7k  N2 Dorcha protects the chicks from flying debris 2022

    https://youtu.be/JMnUa4lbLBg  N2 Bob2 pushes forward demanding a share of fish 2022

    https://youtu.be/A-ooBwiJ2bM N1 Affric rejects LV0 on Nest One again2023

    https://youtu.be/EPcA-_axV7c  N2 Stickgate! Chick reacts to another bashing 2023

    https://youtu.be/T0geg92yWd8  N1 LV0 teases Affric with a fish, makes her wait 2023