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:
Daily summary Thursday 1st August 2024
Not much action today but after a quick pop in on Nest One from a pair of Warblers, we did have the pleasure of seeing an Osprey - Garry LV0 arrived and spent a few quiet minutes looking around and preening before flying off again. Chaddie 14 gave us the exciting news that the chick at Bunarkaig has fledged, this chick is thought to be the offspring of Affric 152 & Prince. Link to his update: https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/trees-woods-and-wildlife/osprey-cam/?ht-comment-id=15536809. WTS George says we would really appreciate people signing our Living Legends petition to protect our ancient trees: https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/trees-woods-and-wildlife/osprey-cam/?ht-comment-id=15532685. The weather was settled today, but tonight's light cloud and light winds will change into heavy rain tomorrow.
Night cam switches on (day cam): Nest One 22.32.55 (04.30.46); Nest Two 22.32.34 (04.38.42)
Today’s videos:
https://youtu.be/9LKihnfJAjo N1 A pair of Warblers visit 10.31.12
https://youtu.be/QTRqeePpg8I N1 Garry LV0 arrives, stays a while, and preens 13.07.21
Bonus watch - Soar with a Golden Eagle as it flies over Scotland wearing a go-pro eagle cam:
https://youtu.be/JDmgtkaKx6c
Blast from the past, this day in previous years:
https://youtu.be/181xNOoWypU N1 Sneaky Mallie grabs the fish despite Rannoch's protests (2019)
https://youtu.be/6YY5LU155KQ N1 Rannoch can't decide whether to preen or screech - so does both! (2019)
https://youtu.be/J-uTXU19Ixc N1 Dawn intruder alert: who lands on the nest? 2020
https://youtu.be/DBAhTzqVg3I N1 Milestone moment: Doddie flies with fish 2020
https://youtu.be/9JjSrQqH-BI N1 What a fankle! Captain gets entangled 2020
https://youtu.be/Z2HS9pTC7eI N2 Sunrise over the nest as Louis brings breakfish 2022
https://youtu.be/Mg3YJr_l8mE N2 Upstart Crow: Edited video of its many visits 2022
https://youtu.be/0xI-JdBRWwg N2 Louis arrives in a camera glitch and does egg cupping 2022
https://youtu.be/IVbkxIKfT4c N1 After a day's absence Affric pays an early morning visit 2023
https://youtu.be/qYPmuE54ZQs N1 Garry arrives with a stick 2023
https://youtu.be/vPzAIFCdT-Y N1 Affric returns missing Garry LV0 by minutes 2023
https://youtu.be/i40FIIZHHWQ N2 Ludo tries to bite Dorcha for not bringing fish 2023
https://youtu.be/jDR7eTisJj4 N2 Dorcha & Ludo go into full alarm mode as a Golden Eagle prowls nearby 2023 https://youtu.be/YlGtuWGiurU N2 Ludo is confused by a live mackerel 2023
Nest Two
02.21.52 a bat appears bottom right of the nest then appears left in the gap between nest edge and perching tree, circles back, flies right then out of cam view
02.22.48 The bat or another one, appears bottom left flies close to the camera on the left side.
Very fast in real time, so repeated in super slo-mo with some still shots added at the end.
Nest One
08.34.07 One of the under-nest residents - a juvenile Robin - puts in an appearance
08.35.01 Flies down to the left and out of sight
Daily summary Friday 2nd August 2024
Another day with no sign of any Ospreys on either nest. Dorcha was last seen on nest cam - Nest One! - on 27th July, has she headed south already? Perhaps she'll appear soon, but as always it's a case of wait and see. Louis was last seen more recently, on 30th July, on his own nest, and the only thing that's certain is that many pairs of eyes are on the lookout for any sightings of any Ospreys. HelenG's keen eyes spotted bats swooping around Nest Two in the early hours, that and a juvenile Robin on Nest One was the extent of the action today. The forecasted rain materialised and continued until about 7pm. Tonight's forecast is dry conditions with light clouds and light winds but back to wet tomorrow with thundery showers throughout the day until late evening.
Night cam switches on (day cam): Nest One 22.55.33 (04.33.24); Nest Two 23.03.47 (04.38.24)
https://youtu.be/kTYhjh-Rrxg N2 Bats fly around the nest 02.22.40(super slo-mo)
https://youtu.be/vgs5NO-r20w N1 One of the under-nest residents pops up for a quick visit 08.34.07
Bonus video - from Scotland to Africa as the Osprey flies:
https://youtu.be/bu_fiEUCti0
https://youtu.be/9AnSPvsk6DY N1 Superdad Louis brings two fish in ten minutes 2019
https://youtu.be/mNtRaeAuw2Y N1 The welcome sight of Aila after being absent for a while 2020
https://youtu.be/yqFjDElk4V4 N1 Breakfast arrives, all three chicks want it but Captain gets it 2020
https://youtu.be/pruObUISjPQ N1 Captain flies with fish for the first time on his 2 month birthday 2020 (slo-mo)
https://youtu.be/LEq2B4U9j-k N1 The Fishtail Waltz: Loch Arkaig Osplets in quickstep 2020 (Classic Ospreys - Strauss) https://youtu.be/No84G3nG5qo N2 Dorcha and the crow 2022 (extended version)
https://youtu.be/g8mHME3FIQQ N2 Willow nips Louis and nearly gets pulled off the nest as he departs 2022
https://youtu.be/K10hkey31mQ N2 Hoodie looks quite at home pottering around the empty nest 2023
https://youtu.be/1YyDkc78_SU N2 Dorcha brings a stick and gets Ludo's leftovers 12.48
https://youtu.be/8egAmzGlJ1o N2 Noisy Ludo has to deal with a flatfish by himself 2023
https://youtu.be/VD99AKBQpNU N1 Garry LV0 pays a late evening visit 2023
https://youtu.be/lzcf_xhMq0o N2 Hoodie lands as soon as Louis leaves 2023
07.11.53 Hoodie arrives and lands on Dorcha’s perch
07.12.04 It jumps down onto the nest
07.12.08 Another Hoodie flies overhead on the left, doesn’t land on the nest - think it lands on the cam pole
07.12.52 After see-sawing on the sticks nearest the camera, the Hoodie flies up to the cam pole, cawing heard from the second one
07.12.58 Back down again 07.13.11 back up on the perch
07.13.23 First one flies away - is the second still up on the cam pole?
10.39.41 A Hooded Crow (Corvus cornix) lands and has a root around
10.42.43 Departs - not much on this nest in the way of scraps, it's been days since the last fish delivery.
19.22.06 A little bird pootles around the base of the nest on the camera side - ID'd by WT forum member renardine as a juvenile Great Tit
19.23.15 A second bird, a Coal Tit, appears in the branches on the left and disappears after a few seconds
19.23.27 The Great Tit disappears out of sight in the branches bottom right
News - a mystery is solved!
Liz Bracken says:
Bunarkaig News
Yesterday I managed to get some footage of the Bunarkaig female and chick. I’ve posted a clip on YouTube that shows her climbing out of the nest cup to finally reveal her leg ring. It’s not the clearest but after studying it frame by frame I’m happy to finally say this is definitely Affric 152.
I have some other clips which I’ll try and post tomorrow - I’m having trouble uploading due to incredibly slow internet just now
Daily summary Saturday 3rd August 2024
No Ospreys seen on either Nest One or Nest Two today, but LizB pulled off a coup by getting clear footage of the resident female at Bunarkaig and yes, her video confirms what's been suspected for some time - it's Affric 152. Link to her video in the bonus section. Nest One had some little songbird visitors and Nest Two had bigger and less melodious visitors when some Hoodies arrived for a fruitless check for fish scraps. It was a dreich day with rain on and off throughout the day, and more rain expected tonight and tomorrow.
Night cam switches on (day cam): Nest One 22.26.50 (04.24.39); Nest Two 22.25.18 (04.34.28)
https://youtu.be/6hztczD-J2o N2 A Hoodie lands on Dorcha’s perch, a second on the cam pole 07.11.53
https://youtu.be/bx54tIwLja4 N2 A Hoodie returns to the empty nest 10.39.41
https://youtu.be/tjBR3H8XuYg N2 A Coal Tit and a juvenile Great Tit flit around 19.22.06
Bonus video - Confirmation of Affric 152 as the Bunarkaig resident female (2 Aug 2024 - thanks LizB):
https://youtu.be/ERAl9LLEL6I
https://youtu.be/F6JyzcMzk6s N1 Eating and Squeaking: Rannoch steals Mallie's fish 2019
https://youtu.be/X80auBko71c N1 Now now children! Fish number three causes a fight 2020
https://youtu.be/fTDNze8_qT4 N1 Aila brings another fish, nest's empty until Doddie arrives with the previous fish 2020
https://youtu.be/gHkNqtDhJTc N2 A rainbow arcs over Sarafina 2022 (quick time)
https://youtu.be/Sq78TveUke4 N2 A chick, a crow, a fishtail, two adults and lots of flying 2022
https://youtu.be/H5NLGpEwV1w N2 Sarafina crash lands onto Willow and dislodges some feathers 2022
https://youtu.be/rfpv10J5dpk N2 Ludo does a flypast before landing to get rid of Hoodies 2023
https://youtu.be/wPm1lio9lJc N2 Hello George! Give us a wave! 2023 (zoom)
https://youtu.be/KrpwAO9bB_4 N1 Affric pleads in vain with Garry for fish 2023
https://youtu.be/nDfuqve9IbU N2 Dorcha's mid-air near-miss 2023 (slo-mo zoom)
https://youtu.be/CybrxBatD1Y N2 Louis brings Dorcha a teeny tiny fish! 2023 (zoom)
That's an odd sutuation going on with Affric, Prince & Gary??