LOCH ARKAIG - THE WOODLAND TRUST - June 2024 - February 2025

Daily summary Monday 10th June 2024

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Much more settled weather today, and Nest One saw a visit from a charm of Siskins, while over on Nest Two, the chicks fought despite plenty of fish, albeit the first fish arrived much later than usual. Louis brought five fish to the nest, including the third flatfish of the season, and his tally now stands at one hundred and eighty five. Dorcha did a good job of dishing out the fish, although middle chick seems to be attempting to get all the fish for itself by intimidating the other two but the day ended with all three chicks having huge crops full of fresh fish. Tonight's forecast is partly cloudy and light winds, and the prospect of a dry day tomorrow.

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Night cam switches on (day cam): Nest One 00.05.19 (03.23.01); Nest Two 23.25.02 (03.42.20)

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Today’s videos:

https://youtu.be/b9h6sZY_Nog  N1 A charm of Siskins (Spinus spinus) pay a very brief visit 04.31.35 (slo-mo repeat)

https://youtu.be/x-dM1-WszI0  N2 Tempers fray as the chiks have to wait for the first fish 12.13.42

https://youtu.be/QVM9Tn8MxMo N2 Big chick attacks C3 during feeding 12.14.53

https://youtu.be/teeOKym65Nw N2 Fish number two, flatfish, everyone queues up nicely, no fighting 15.12.51

https://youtu.be/XOB5q4pPKLI  N2 Fish number three, whopper trout - looks like one chick wants to hog the lot 16.32.07 

https://youtu.be/Kn5O6_IHcEg  N2 Fish number four, headless trout  19.10.17

https://youtu.be/9T8QpyZ7SLY  N2 Fish number five, whole trout, all three chicks gather round despite full crops  21.44.11 

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Bonus info - raptor anatomical terms:

https://www.themodernapprentice.com/gen_biology.htm

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Blast from the past, this day in previous years:

https://youtu.be/y6Xv5QjmtT4  N1 Eeek! Aila nearly throws bob3 out of the nest 2020 (slo-mo)

https://youtu.be/Er2bFIWVR3E  N1 Aila only just avoids bashing the bobs with huge logs 2020

https://youtu.be/eBk3mIRU_bc  N1 Bob3 rides the slippery slope of the fish to get a mouthful or two 2020

https://youtu.be/te0rHGZfiWo  N2 Pesky crow harasses Dorcha 2022

https://youtu.be/zEmjQK41hzI  N2 Sudden gust forces Dorcha to do an involuntary headstand 2022

https://youtu.be/5i2j1JmAauY  N2 Little bob3 finally gets a bit of fish 2022

https://youtu.be/5-rYbkudNYU N2 Size matters -  little bird visits Dorcha 2023

https://youtu.be/8rb8h0ZTO6c  N1 Affric gets no response, flies to Stick Tree 2023 (zoom)

https://youtu.be/aFW075n_WWQ  N1 LV0 brings Affric a fish 2023

https://youtu.be/7W_NxX2pt0I  N1 Affric doesn't want to mate with LV0 and leaves quickly 2023 (zoom)

https://youtu.be/Z-iI78_2FH4   N2 Louis helps sort out the cot rails now that the chick is more active 2023

 Fish number one, and a fight breaks out  - Dorcha keeps calling10.35.58

10.35.58 Louis arrives with fish number one, whole something, probably trout.

Dorcha seizes it and starts dishing up, but keeps calling constantly. Why is she doing this?

10.36.37 Louis departs

10.39 C2 is getting all the food and pecking the other two!

Middle chick is reversing the usual order and becoming the dominant one. Is C1 male, and C2 and C3 female?

Chicks do housework while Dorcha preens 15.06

15:06:11 Everyone is having a go at tidying the nest.

C3 enjoying picking up the bigger twigs while C1 is letting the other two do most of the work. Dorcha is preening while this is going on.

No aggression among the chicks during this little interlude

15:15:50 All three chicks work together to place a stick

Hello Louis - where's our fish? 21.25.57

21.25.57 Dorcha is very very vocal as Louis has finally turned up, but with empty talons, and he’s getting it from all four on the nest.

Louis was last seen at 10.35 leaving the nest after delivering fish number one.

He appears to have a full crop and bits of fish on his beak - where's the fish for the family?

21.34 Chick2 goes ballistic when Louis arrives without fish, and attacks the other two, not leaving them alone even when they've gone very submissive.

C2 is taking its frustrations out on the other two, while Dorcha screams at Louis

21.41.43 Louis departs after Dorcha tells him off - will he come back with a fish?

Did he drop the rest of the fish he’d clearly been eating, or eat it all?

Will C2 start eating C1 and C3 if it doesn’t get some fish soon?

Next exciting episode coming soon!

Full unedited sequence of the stramash erupting from his fishless arrival at 21.25 to his departure at 21.41

21.25 Louis arrives and causes consternation.

Dorcha screams at him non-stop, the chicks try pecking his beak for fish then chick2 starts attacking the other two, and this continues until he leaves .

21.41 Louis departs and never did return with fish that night, leaving cross and hungry chicks

05.54.41 Fish number one arrives to great excitement, whole small trout

05.55.21 Louis departs

It wasn’t very big, and it disappears quickly, as soon as it was gone, chick2 attacked the other two until Dorcha stepped in and they all settled down again

11.33.09 Fish number two, whole small to medium trout.

Chick2 started beating up C1 when Dorcha started calling, even before it landed, so it would get an exclusive feed.

C3 hunkers down out of the way.

11.33.24 Louis departs