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

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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:

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.
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Louis is a father of thirteen, six with Aila (2017-2020), and seven with Dorcha (2021-)
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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)
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Highlights:
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2023 Nest Two highlights 
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2023 Nest One highlights 
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All captures in whatever format are copyright Woodland Trust - with many thanks for allowing captures from their nest cam livestreams.
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Osprey cams funded by People's Postcode Lottery
  • Is this a juvenile Tawny Owl calling near Nest Two?

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    22.33.16 A sound is heard, continuous calling in a sort of squeaky tone. Sounds like a juvenile Tawny Owl.

    I boosted the audio the better to hear the call, unfortunately that also raises the background hiss level.

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    Have a listen to this for comparison:   https://www.birdsofpooleharbour.co.uk/sightings/tawny-owl-juv-begging-call-lytchett-matravers

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  • Daily summary Thursday 18th July 2024

    A dreich day with mist and rain, and heavy rain from around 11pm. Tonight's forecast is drizzle and light winds, but looking at the nests via night cam, it looks more like heavy rain and fog. Not a pleasant day, but although Louis and Dorcha only showed up once this morning, arriving around 08.55 with Louis departing at 09.03 and Dorcha departing at 09.36, there were plenty of little visitors to Nest One, and what sounds like a juvenile Tawny Owl calling near Nest Two around 10.30pm. Despite Dorcha's calls, Louis didn't bring a fish and made a half-hearted mating attempt before leaving. Neither adult returned to the nest today after that one visit. Over in Spain, we received more footage from the translocation programme of 1JR , formerly known as the submissive chick, looking strong and healthy and tucking in to a big piece of fish on his own with no one trying to intimidate him or take his fish away. It bodes well for his future success. 

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    Night cam switches on (day cam): Nest One 23.30.05 (04.03.54); Nest Two 23.14.11 (04.08.55)

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    Today’s videos:

    https://youtu.be/qaojgIgK74A  WTScotsocial tweet and footage of 1JR tucking into his fish dinner in Spain

    https://youtu.be/eUp1mUx7Wcw N1 A little bird hops up on the nest - juvenile Robin? 04.53.20

    https://youtu.be/38ok-uZ5sHg N1 A Jay visits 05.15.24

    https://youtu.be/wa59vTuwYJc N2 No fish, just a failed mating attempt 08.54.10

    https://youtu.be/1FIRDaevMNU N1 Various little birds visit 10.43.32 - 10.53.50

    https://youtu.be/pxWsh7-M96g N2 Is this a juvenile Tawny Owl calling nearby? 22.33.16

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    Blast from the past, this day in previous years:

    https://youtu.be/hVAZXaUtY_M  N1 Did Aila pop out for a quick pint? Looks tipsy on landing! 2019

    https://youtu.be/25QSyNV93w8  N1 Sibling rivalry - Rannoch gets a beating 2019

    https://youtu.be/D2ZRWZnCU-E  N1 Mallie flexes her wonderful wings 2019

    https://youtu.be/fZq4NVQVZGk  N1 FLEDGE! Doddie finds his wings 2020 (Classic Ospreys: Chopin 2020)

    https://youtu.be/LPCAyNxhmI0  N1 He's back! Doddie returns safely 2020

    https://youtu.be/KwggKoU1DNM  N1 Up and away - Doddie's second flight 2020 (slo-mo)

    https://youtu.be/FXbWOQ9_eII  N1 Vera and Captain bow to Doddie 2020

    https://youtu.be/jzeN92U37KU  N2 Dorcha makes off with fish number two, chicks not happy 2022

    https://youtu.be/QLDYCp-9mQE  N2 Dorcha makes room for LW5 to wingercise 2022

    https://youtu.be/frPHqkNtbbw  N2 Lots of happy squeaking when Louis arrives with fish 2022

    https://youtu.be/gGXO_xyQDws N1&2 RAF do another flypast - three jets this time 2023

    https://youtu.be/vxdVywfJT3U  N1 Garry finally brings a fish for Affric 2023

    https://youtu.be/mmcV4tRItZk  N2 LY7 gets high! Proper helicopter! 2023

    https://youtu.be/GXtkgsVugZ4  N2 Teetering on the edge - nearly a fludge?! 2023

  •  It could be Geemeff. The young begging call but I'm not  100% certain. It's very like , that's all I can say.. The weather looks dreadful in the video , doesn't it   !  Thank you for the video

  • Is this a juvenile Tawny Owl calling near Nest Two?

    Yes, I think so Geemeff, it does sounds like the comparison audio you posted. Thumbsup

  • Thanks Glider, the calls continued long into the night, several hours. I wonder if one of the owlets was in trouble? Never heard one call for so long before.

  • Cirrus said:

     It could be Geemeff. The young begging call but I'm not  100% certain. It's very like , that's all I can say.. The weather looks dreadful in the video , doesn't it   !  Thank you for the video

    I'm surprised owls would be out in that rain, I wonder if it was in trouble or if it was just a food call as maybe the adults couldn't catch anything due to the weather.

    The chicks are so much better off in Spain! The weather has been simply horrendous, both chicks would have perished long ago, Cirrus. Some people are still debating but I am absolutely certain WTS made the right decision. It's wonderful seeing footage of them warm, dry and well-fed, and gone is submissive chick, in its place is a strong confident bird ready to fledge.

  • Nest One 

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    03.59.18 Day cam has just recently come on revealing a ghostly scene as the nest is shrouded in mist.

    The small spider, looking huge due to proximity to the camera, is busy moving around tending to its web adding to the eerie effect.

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  • A Wood Pigeon (Columba palumbus) visits Nest One

    07.24.06 A Wood Pigeon arrives flying in from the right and lands on the centre perch

    It stays for a few minutes looking around before flying off in the same direction it arrived from 

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  • No fish and a failed mating attempt

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    13.23.38 Dorcha arrives, calling. She mantles defensively, occasionally looking skywards

    13.24.23 Hops up onto her perch

    13.32.13 Louis arrives - no fish but brings a twig. His crop is flat. He settles into the nest cup.

    13.34.11 Dorcha jumps down to join him, landing on his wing! He coy mantles, she calls

    13.54.59 Louis departs

    14.05.15 Louis returns and lands on Dorcha for a mating attempt, then settles in the nest cup again.

    14.12.32 Louis leaves 14.20.47 Dorcha leaves and heads towards the loch.

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  • Nest Two - Hooded Crows visit

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    15.07.55 A Hoodie arrives, flying in from behind the nest on the left

    15.08.03 A second Hoodie appears on the right from underneath the nest.

    They potter around but there's been no fish on this nest for several days so no scraps to be had

    15.27.37 One flies off

    15.27.49 The second follows.

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