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:
Fish 3
11.19.12 Fish number three, big whole trout - the chicks form an orderly queue
Both chicks are being fed, no aggro, they politely wait their turn
11.19.26 Louis departs, 14 second handover
12.19.57 Fish number four, very chunky headless trout.
The chicks don't seem too enthusiastic as they're probably stuffed from huge fish three, but present themselves to Dorcha and accept morsels from her
12.21.34 Louis departs after pottering around, staying a little longer than usual
18.39.53 Louis arrives with fish number five, a big headless trout, and stays to watch as Dorcha dishes it out.
The two chicks line up in front of her and take turns getting fed
18.43.15 Louis departs, the calm feeding continues
19.42.43 Osprey arrives - it’s Garry LV0
20.45 Still there, now on the left hand perch. Just sitting quietly, looking gorgeous - he is a very handsome Osprey!
20.52.53 Garry departs, flying eastwards and disappearing into the dark green trees past the square of rock underneath the logo
22.18.50 Louis arrives with a small snack size fish. Dorcha grabs it and starts dishing up
22.19.11 Louis departs
22.24.01 The fish is finished quickly and Dorcha downs the tail
Thank you Geemeff for your continuing wonderful coverage of this nest and all the extras you post.
It’s good to see C2 has calmed down a bit!
It’s nice to see Garry still around too, still hoping Aida is in the area
Hello Glider, glad you're enjoing my posts - feel free to put some up yourself, I don't have time to take photos, just the videos, but I do miss seeing lots of stills of the nests.
It is fantastic that the chicks are behaving so calmly, too late for C3 of course, but I wonder would C1&2 be so calm if there was a third competitor for the food?
Garry looks gorgeous, he's a handsome boy, hope he's getting a chance to breed this year. I'm told there's an established nest at the western end of the loch, been there for years, but there's another nest on private land at the eastern end of the loch, so perhaps he and Aida are there. Or, they could have built another for themselves, who knows.
When Lewis does the ringing rounds, we'll only know how many chicks there are, not who the adults are as of course they'll fly off when he arrives. But maybe he'll catch enough of a glimpse to say whether or not he saw a blue flash of a Darvic ring.
06.28.23 Fish number one, lively trout, Dorcha seizes it from Louis
06.28.38 Louis departs, 15 second handover, Dorcha's already begun serving it out despite its flaps
The chicks are calm despite this being the first fish of the day, there's no aggro or pushing, they wait their turn.
08.26.17 Fish number two, headless trout
08.26.34 Louis departs, 17 second handover.
Dorcha grabs the fish and starts dishing out, both chicks calmly await their turn and both get a good feed