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:
04.47.10 Fish number one, small trout. Chick1 is tucked down, C2 is in the middle ready for the fish
04.47.24 Louis departs, C1 stays down but slowly moves around under Dorcha
04.49.41 C1 self-feeds, takes a nibble and gets a morsel
09.30.47 Dorcha ramps up the fish calls and C2 immediately moves in to push C1 away towards the front nest edge
09.30.53 Fish number two, whole med trout, still flapping
09.31.06 Louis departs. C1 sneaks to the other side of Dorcha so her body is blocking C2's sight but C1 isn’t able to get any more than the odd mouthful as Dorcha is naturally concentrating on dominant C2
10.50.06 Fish number three, large headless trout
Dorcha grabs it but keeps calling
C2 immediately warns off C1, who crouches low in submission
10.52.10 C2 pecks strongly and repeatedly at the body of C3 while Dorcha stands over the fish and keeps calling.
Louis is over to the left next to his oldest chick C1 who is tucked down avoiding dominant younger sibling C2
10.53.17 Louis departs. C2 leaves the body and goes over to beg fish from Dorcha, stopping to check if C1 is still tucked down.
Finally! Chick1 gets a decent feed.
11.11.54 C1 sneaks round the far side of Dorcha who is feeding off fish three. Dominant C2 has a massive crop and has moved away towards the back of the nest near the remains of C3
C1's strategy work and results in getting an exclusive feed for several minutes
C2 goes over to C3 again then pecks at bits of vegetation. C2 has noted C1 is feeding but doesn't bother to move the submissive chick away from the food.
C1 carries on eating
11.50.26 Garry LV0 flies in and stays for an hour, does a bit of nest-scraping and rearranging sticks, but mainly stands quietly looking around
13.06.41 Garry departs, flying eastwards (right) out ofsight
13.07.58 Garry returns with some nesting material, and repeats his nest-scraping and re-arranging
13.30.20 Gary departs, flying westwards towards the solar panels
13.47.43 C1 sits up on the right and starts fish calling, huge crop visible
13.48.22 C2 gets up, even bigger crop visible, and C1 lunges forward for a quick peck. C2 naturally retaliates and starts beaking C1, meanwhile Dorcha has started fish calling
13.48.52 Fish number four, small whole trout. C2 doesn’t even stop grabbing the back of C1’s neck
13.49.00 Dorcha starts alarm chipping, C1 &2 don’t react, C2 carries on attacking
13.49.19 Dorcha starts up, beak open, wings out
13.49.24 Louis flies off in a hurray, Dorcha and C2 keep looking upwards, C1 is head down
13.50.00 C2 carries on attacking C1 while Dorcha starts on the fish
13.51.35 C2 waddles over to Dorcha and starts getting fed while C1 stays head down on the right hand side
This is weird as you said Wendy, it’s like certain posts are caught in a time loop and keep repeating over and over, starting with my comment about poor wee C3. I couldn’t reply to the latest comment and had to come back to the opening post to say this. I can’t “like” some posts either.Thank you Geemeff for persevering with the nest news when the layout has become so strange.
Aw, since I’m now at June 1st, I’ve just reread the comments about DIsco Diva when everything was happy, light hearted and going well. Things can change so quickly. Rooting for C1
20.54.59 Fish number five, headless trout. Dorcha grabs it and starts dishing up after she has a bit first
20.55.24 Louis departs
C1 appears round the nest edge side, away from C2 who’s busy gobbling, and manages to attract Dorcha’s attention and get a few mouthfuls.
22.41.54 Fish number six, snack-size trout.
A late delivery but still nearly an hour off his latest ever delivery (23.30.55 on 29th June 2020)
22.42.20 Louis departs The little fish disappears quickly, shared by Dorcha and C2 - but C1 gets nothing
Daily summary Tuesday 18th June 2024
Today was all about fish and the situation between submissive older chick C1 and dominant younger chick C2. Louis brought six fish to the nest including a late night snack-sized one, taking his tally to two hundred and sixteen. C1 is learning some strategies to deal with C2 including the odd lunge at its sibling then beating a hasty retreat to tuck down and await the swift retaliation, but the most successful one is waiting when fish arrives then sidling round the side of Dorcha and getting some mouthfuls from her - in one case, getting a ten minute exclusive feed from her while C2 was resting its bloated crop. C1 even took a cheeky nibble which is very encouraging - the sooner C1 starts self-feeding confidently, the better. As today ends, both chicks have full crops. On the anniversary of Dorcha removing the sad remains of 2022's Bob3, body disposal was a topic of discussion on the forum as it was observed that dominant C2 attacked the body of C3 several times with some vigour. Was it just attacking, or attempting to feed? Will the body gradually be subsumed into the nest or will Dorcha remove it? Meantime, it is still clearly visible. In other news, Garry LV0 visited Nest One and stayed for over an hour, bringing nesting materials and doing some nest-scraping. What this means in terms of gaining residents remains to be seen, his visits are infrequent enough to assume he's nesting somewhere in the area with a mate, but with Garry, nothing is certain. The weather was settled and set to continue tonight with a clear sky and light winds, and sunshine tomorrow.
Night cam switches on (day cam): Nest One 00.20.14 (03.16.26); Nest Two 23.34.57 (03.45.34)
Today’s videos:
https://youtu.be/WZyXxYRAsfo N2 Fish number one, C1 self-feeds 04.47.10
https://youtu.be/bB9Dwon2I3o N2 Fish number two, C2 attacks C1 09.30.47
https://youtu.be/Wxu_Vl1wvlw N2 Fish number three, C2 seems to have prevented C1 eating.. 10.50.06
https://youtu.be/tZeYWxBU94U N2 ..But cunning C1 waits, and gets an exclusive feed 11.11.54
https://youtu.be/tGKhmichhqo N1 Garry LV0 visits with nesting materials and does housework 11.50.26
https://youtu.be/U-tu9Y00WH0 N2 Fish number four, younger chick attacks older chick 13.47.43
https://youtu.be/JeleU0HE-Iw N2 Fish number five, headless trout, C1 sidles round and gets some 20.54.59
https://youtu.be/wYOfQq2c0dg N2 Fish number six, snack-size trout, C1 gets nothing 22.41.54
Bonus read - who knew you could put a backpack on a beetle? Woodland Trust, that’s who!
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cz55jm0m80ro
Blast from the past, this day in previous years:
https://youtu.be/dqD0YjQdGnk N1 Oh poo! Bob2 trips and decorates mum 2019
https://youtu.be/AZo3XgM86bU N1 Legendary Louis and the ninth fish 2020
Many years from now, as the wind howls down the Glen, and the rain lashes the loch, young osplets will courie doon beneath their mother, and cheep softly to her as they fight off sleep: "Tell us again. Tell us about Legendary Louis and the Day of the Nine Fish!"
https://youtu.be/NqQihIn10z0 N1 Home alone Osplets get a little feathered visitor 2020
https://youtu.be/4hKdWDbY68U N2 Bye bye little bob3, gone but not forgotten.. Dorcha removes the body 2022
https://youtu.be/Fo44bLpKmJY N2 Unknown Osprey does a flyby of the nest chased by Dorcha 2022 (slo-mo zoom)
https://youtu.be/Dsm140K88FI N2 Bob2 demands and gets a good share of fish 2022
https://youtu.be/hHpfXZ1JPvI N1 Who arrives very early? 2023 (slo-mo zoom)
https://youtu.be/ygRI-WCBv_k N2 Chick left home alone does a bit of tidying up 2023
https://youtu.be/J3_v5KrrZPw N1 LV0 brings moss but accidentally takes it away Nest One 2023
https://youtu.be/nlvB92hYk6w N2 Chick tries a hop but faceplants instead 2023 (zoom