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

.

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.
.
Louis is a father of thirteen, six with Aila (2017-2020), and seven with Dorcha (2021-)
.
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)
--------------------
Highlights:
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2023 Nest Two highlights 
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2023 Nest One highlights 
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
All captures in whatever format are copyright Woodland Trust - with many thanks for allowing captures from their nest cam livestreams.
.
.
Osprey cams funded by People's Postcode Lottery
  • 12.04.15 Osprey seen flying towards the nest from behind the knolls

    12.04.22 Garry LV0 arrives with a clump of moss

    12.05.46 Garry departs, flying left out of view

  • 13.57 The chicks are very relaxed. A big wing and leg stretch from the chick at the back.

    14.46 “Just look at the size of my feet!”


    EDIT -  16.44 Dorcha very excited to see Louis incoming with a fish


    16.46 Fish #2, which I’m sure Geemeff will cover! The chicks get some greens (moss) with their fish at the same time!


    19.59 Dorcha cuddled in with the chicks.


    ©️Woodland Trust

  • June 26


    20.02 This was fish #3 from last night, small live trout.


    Dorcha secures the fish


    1st piece goes to the more dominant chick, C2?


    20.03 It can’t swallow it and spits it out.


    20.04


    20.05 Dorcha picks up the piece that was spat out by the chick earlier


    It’s a bit of a struggle, but she manages to swallow it.


    20.07 The chick to the front C2? gets the tail fin to eat.


    It was a very quick feed. Both chicks got some although the more dominant chick had the larger share.

    ©️Woodland Trust

  • Thank you Glider! The website went down last night and I kept getting error messages every time I checked, right up until half past midnight when I went to bed. 

    I’ll post the videos and summary shortly.

  • Tuesday 25th June

    Garry returns and does some nest prep:

    14.45.25 An Osprey is seen flying towards the nest - it's Garry LV0, who brings a clump of moss. He does some nest prep, rearranging sticks and moss, then perches and preens

    15.05.33 He departs flying eastwards and disappears by the WT logo.

  • Tuesday 25th June

    Fish number two, chicks queue politely:

    16.44.47 Louis arrives with a headless trout - fish number two

    16.45.15 Louis departs, 28 second handover

    Chicks queue politely, both are looking huge and only C2 has a few fluffy downy feathers left

    Not much left for Dorcha after she's dished up to the chicks

  • Tuesday 25th June

    Personages with long sticks: part of my Classic Ospreys series

    17.17.01 - 17.25.29 Dorcha decides to move sticks around, and the chicks have to get out of her way.

    Set to The Carnival of the Animals - Personages with long ears by Camille Saint-Saëns, performed by the Seattle Youth Symphony and reproduced here with many thanks under creative commons copyright-free performances.

    Link to their performance here: https://musopen.org/music/1454-the-carnival-of-the-animals/#recordings

    WT forum member Eyefrabird who requested this video describes it thus:

    Mum, leave it. Mum, it was all right where it was. Mum, you’ll have someone’s eye out.

    For goodness sake, mum, that mad fella with the bag of plastic thingies will be here soon: let him sort it out. Dad, tell her!’

  • Tuesday 25th June

    Fish number three -  Dorcha gets hardly any

    20.02.23 Fish number three arrives, a very small whole live trout

    20.02.56 Louis departs, 33 second handover

    Doesn’t last long! Dorcha only got a small chunk, and gave the tail to a chick.

  • Daily summary Tuesday 25th June 2024

    .

    A day with few fish but plenty of good manners, and confirmation of two chicks on the Bunarkaig nest (thanks Chaddie), whose parents may or may not be Prince & Affric 152. Louis only delivered three fish today, none of them especially big, so Dorcha gave the two chicks, who queued up politely and took turns, most of the fish and only took a little for herself. Louis' tally rises to two hundred and forty nine, although judging by his bulging crop, he may well have caught more than three today. Dorcha took out her hunger on some sticks and the chicks paid close attention making sure to keep out of her way. Garry LV0 paid several visits to Nest One, bringing nesting materials and doing housekeeping as well as perching quietly and preening. The weather was settled today, and more of the same tonight with a forecast of light clouds, light winds and a low of 12 °C.

    .

    Night cam switches on (day cam): Nest One 00.18.32 (03.29.13); Nest Two (04.08.47)

    .

    Today’s videos:

    https://youtu.be/K3WvjHDOV-M N2 Fish number one, not much left for Dorcha 09.29.00

    https://youtu.be/Z_3zm3AQWgc N1 Garry LV0 brings bedding but only stays a short time 12.04.22

    https://youtu.be/Y2Gv_Oh4iNk N1 Garry returns and does some nest prep 14.45.25 

    https://youtu.be/dFLYF7Ayh0E  N2 Fish number two, chicks queue politely 16.44.47

    https://youtu.be/ySDyxYVtZpw  N2 Personages with long sticks 17.17.01 (Classic Ospreys - Saint-Saëns)

    https://youtu.be/4vw_4rNXK2g N2 Fish number three, small headless trout, Dorcha gets hardly any 20.02.23

    .

    Bonus shopping - bag a bargain in Woodland Trust's sale - every purchase made from WT's shop funds vital work to plant and protect trees and woods across the UK: https://shop.woodlandtrust.org.uk/summer-sale

    .

    Blast from the past, this day in previous years:

    https://youtu.be/IxEocs_nb_E  N1 Louis arrives in a blaze of bronze wings 2020

    https://youtu.be/J6rFYgLidLs  N1 Littlest Osplet doesn't wait for Aila and starts tucking in 2020

    https://youtu.be/C5KxpCHmN9s  N1 Osplets feed themselves 2020

    https://youtu.be/SRa-ozwUAcY  N2 C2 forced onto the cot rails by C1 2022

    https://youtu.be/o476vS1eKf8  N2 Songbirds visit - Dorcha doesn't notice 2022 (zoom)

    https://youtu.be/p1Ld48KF9vE  N2 Pickup sticks game (2022)

    https://youtu.be/64i7qXf299g  N2 Chick regurgitates a pellet 2023

    https://youtu.be/NUbDWzUxeDM  N1 Garry BlueLV0 arrives followed by Affric Blue152 2023

    https://youtu.be/htYG1Q0iAME  N2 Mumbrella needed: chick wants shelter from mum 2023

    https://youtu.be/ILBs4egeKOg  N1 Garry departs leaving Affric still calling for fish 2023

    https://youtu.be/jke4_DT2IpA  N2 Chick's crop is full! So Louis takes the fish tail 2023

  • Fish number one, finally - but Louis has had a good munch and there's not a lot left

    11.51.50 Fish number one, big headless trout remnant

    11.52.26 Louis, with a very nicely rounded crop, departs with Dorcha telling him to leave

    The fish doesn't last long. Louis is perched nearby and Dorcha keeps yelling at him