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
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:
Blast from the past - this day 6th September saw the final appearance on the nest of Rannoch JJ2 in 2019, and Vera JJ8 in 2020. Louis had delivered fish to each of them the previous day, and was probably still in the area, just not coming to the nest, we didn't see him again until the following spring.
Vera hasn't been seen since leaving the nest in 2020, but Rannoch was sighted in Senegal by an ornithologist in January 2022
Confirmed: Final sighting of Rannoch on the nest (2019)
Confirmed: Final sighting of Vera on the nest (2020)
I hope Vera, Doddie, Captain and Rannoch are all safe somewhere in the world.
That would be very very satisfying to know they are flying wild and free, maybe even fledged their own chicks.
Nest One 17.12.42 A little bird pops up, it's a Coal Tit who pootles around on and beneath the nest
17.13.41 Disappears underneath again
(zoomed)
Blast from the past - on this day in season one and season six, Louis was still bringing fish to his offspring - his first-born Lachlan JH4 in 2017, and his tenth chick Sarafina LW6 in 2022
Louis is a father of thirteen*, six with Aila, seven with Dorcha
2017 Lachlan JH4
2018 Pine Marten stole the eggs
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 1JW, 1JR (d) (Spain)
* counting only the chicks who survived to be ringed
Louis brings a fish for Lachlan (thanks Scylla! 2017)
Louis brings Sarafina a mackerel (2022)
Daily summary Saturday 7th September 2024
No activity on the nests but lots of sunshine and an atmospheric sunrise and a colourful sunset today made for pleasant viewing. It's nearly time when this comments page will close for the winter, but the livestreams will still be available on YouTube, for as long as the solar panels remain active - not always easy given a typical Scottish winter. In fact, just having the nest cams livestreaming at all in such a remote area is quite a feat, read more here: https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/trees-woods-and-wildlife/osprey-cam/behind-the-scenes/. Grateful thanks to People's Postcode Lottery for funding the Osprey cams. Forecast tonight is for mist and fog, then cloudy tomorrow and rain on Monday.
Night cam switches on (day cam): Nest One 21.01.49 (05.34.18); Nest Two 21.10.50 (05.47.07)
Today’s videos: none
Bonus read - the vital role of managing the Woodland Trust’s estate for wildlife conservation:
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/vital-role-managing-woodland-trusts-estate-wildlife-sam-tarrant-z3spe
Blast from the past, this day in previous years:
https://youtu.be/MLfW-peV_XQ N1 Lachlan's first landing 2017 (thanks Scylla)
https://youtu.be/I0uoAC0dlUQ N1 Louis brings fish for Lachlan 2017 (thanks Scylla)
https://youtu.be/_FLrEFyGezQ N1 They're gone: nest is empty except for a songbird 2020
https://youtu.be/aeXz-KzosR4 N2 Sarafina, Hoodies, Louis, a fish and a flypast 2022
https://youtu.be/MG1nx4CSbgE N2 Four types of little birds visit the empty nest 2022
https://youtu.be/o7A0pWVlZuk N2Louis brings Sarafina a mackerel 2022
https://youtu.be/vp8aULxjQAY N1 Great Tit (Parus major) investigates the empty nest 2023
https://youtu.be/39uwe2TbACQ N1 Giant spider caught on night cam 2023
There was fog this morning on Nest One - it has provided some spectacular sights on misty mornings.
Here's one I did earlier, back on 18th September 2020. It was a gloriously eerie sight with the mist drifting in and out so I did a time-lapse and set it to Mendelssohn's Hebrides Overture - Fingal's Cave, part of my Classic Ospreys series
Highlands Overture - Fish Hawk's Nest: misty morning time-lapse (Classic Ospreys - Mendelssohn)
Blast from the past - this day in 2022 saw the final appearance of Sarafina LW6 on the nest, which means that apart from a few occasional visitors to the nests and the atmospheric scenery of their surroundings, there'll be no more videos to pad out the increasingly thin daily summaries. Therefore tonight will be the last summary for this season, and will include my highlights video for 2024.