Welcome to Loch Arkaig Ospreys season 9
Will both Louis and Dorcha return to Nest 2 ️ ️
Will Osplets fledge safely on Nest 2
Will someone take up residence on Nest 1 MAYBE...
Will any of Louis' chicks with Aila and Dorcha be sighted
Link to previous thread:
Loch Arkaig June 2024 - February 2025
2025 season:
Dorcha arrived 14.04.19 Wednesday 2 April
Louis arrived 19.47.44 Wednesday 2 April
Affric & Prince landed on Nest One 11.47.48 & 11.48.02 Tuesday 8 April
Garry LV0 arrived 09.27 58 Wednesday 9 April
First egg! 17.52.55 Wednesday 16 April
Blue 536 arrived 10.53.46 Friday 18 April
Second egg! 12.56.16 Saturday 19 April
Third egg! 10.30.10 Tuesday 22 April
Hello Aurora! WTS name Blue 536 Monday 5 May
Welcome little bob! First chick hatched 07.34.43 Saturday 24 May
Welcome little bob2! Second chick hatched 02.58.07 Sunday 25 May
Welcome little bob3! Third chick hatched 06.46.27 Tuesday 27 May
Sad news - bob3 has died unexpectedly 16.02 Sunday 8 June
Season's highlights 2024: A rollercoaster season in 2024: triumph, tragedy, and plenty more!
Season Eight for the Loch Arkaig Ospreys was a strange roller coaster of a season with unrelenting bad weather plus Louis going AWOL for days, probably due to illness, leading to a lack of fish deliveries and ultimately the deaths of Chicks 2&3. But Chick1 survived to fledge, thanks to Woodland Trust arranging for a placement on a translocation programme under the auspices of the Roy Dennis Wildlife Foundation and Fundación Migres in Valencia, Spain, and Louis & Dorcha are still strongly pair-bonded, and we are thrilled to see them both back safely this year for Season Nine.
Key facts:
Louis arrived 15.18.38 Thursday 28 March
Dorcha arrived 14.21.27 Saturday 30 March
Garry LV0 arrived 09.35.01 Tuesday 9 April
First Egg laid 11.13.47 Sunday 14 April
Second egg laid 05.55.52 Wednesday 17 April
Dorcha is injured in an Eagle attack 11.08 Friday 19 April
Third egg laid 02.26.08 Saturday 20 April
First chick hatched 06.16.48 Wednesday 22 May
Second chick hatched 22.26.15 Wednesday 22 May
Third chick hatched 16.36.10 Friday 24 May
Sad death of little Chick3 approx 19.02 Sunday 16 June
Louis last seen Wednesday 26 June
Louis returns with fish, uninjured, but clearly not not well Saturday 29 June
Chicks1&2 are removed to a translocation programme, both assessed male Monday 1 July
Chicks ringed with Spanish yellow Darvic rings: C1 - 1JW & C2 - 1JR Thursday 11 July
Sadly 1JR started having seizures and succumbed to a heart condition Tuesday 23 July
FLEDGE! Surviving chick 1JW found his wings and flew 3pm Thursday 25 July
Dorcha last seen on Nest One 11.19.43 Saturday 27 July
Louis last seen on Nest Two 13.31.18 Tuesday 30 July
Garry LV0 last seen on Nest One 13.35.57 Thursday 22 August
Garry LV0 sighted in Senegal 22 - 23 December
Nest Two When Dorcha returns from flyabout, an Owl hoots and a Jay visits
07.14.44 Dorcha shakes her wings in a quick stretch
07.15.14 Dorcha leaves for a quick flyabout and a proper stretch
07.16.03 Dorcha returns
07.16.04 Tawny Owl calls nearby
07.16.23 A Jay appears bottom right, flies up to the underside of the nest
07.16.28 The Jay pops up on the left and perches near Dorcha, who takes note
07.16.32 The Jay flies off to the left and Dorcha settles down on the eggs
Nest Two 09.34.28 Fish number one, headless trout
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09.34 Dorcha’s on the nest, calling
09.34.28 Louis arrives with fish number one, a large headless trout which Dorcha seizes immediately
09.34.49 Dorcha departs leaving Louis in charge of the eggs
Glider said:19 May Geemeff said:Nest Two 22.32.21 As the sun sets, Louis finally delivers a fish! Fish number one and only is a whole tiddler ️WTS This is about the size of fish that I’m seeing delivered to other nests as well just now!
19 May
Geemeff said:Nest Two 22.32.21 As the sun sets, Louis finally delivers a fish! Fish number one and only is a whole tiddler
️WTS
This is about the size of fish that I’m seeing delivered to other nests as well just now!
Oh, that's interesting. Louis doesn't usually offer little fish like this, and brought a med-large one this morning. Do these other nests have chicks, are they in danger? It's good weather now but it's forecast to break this weekend. If the males aren't catching big fish now, what will happen in bad weather?
Nest One 10. 26.59 Fish number one, headless trout
10.01.37 Aurora 536 arrives and lands on the centre perch and starts calling
10.26.53 Aurora jumps down and her calls get a bit more insistent
10. 26.59 Garry LV0 lands with fish number one, a headless trout which she seizes immediately
10.27.32 Aurora departs with the fish, clipping the perch as she goes, Garry remains
10.28.23 Garry departs, flying towards the gap in the knolls
Nest One 15.51.45 Fish number two, headless trout
15.37.48 Aurora 536 arrives and lands on the centre perch and starts calling
15.51.34 She jumps down and her calls get a bit more insistent - an Osprey flies towards the right behind her, tiny in the distance
15.51.45 Garry lands with a second fish, also a headless trout which she seizes immediately
15.52.13 Aurora departs with her meal flying westwards out of sight, Garry remains
15.54.14 Garry departs in the same direction
Nest Two 20.23.13 Fish number two, headless trout
20.22 Dorcha’s on the nest, calling
20.23.13 Louis arrives with a medium size headless trout
20.23.45 Dorcha seizes it and flies off immediately leaving Louis to his favourite occupation
Daily summary Tuesday 20th May 2025
Garry LV0 and Aurora 536 spent a little time on Nest one, bringing nesting materials (him), perching and preening (her) and in between Garry found time to deliver two fish for her, taking his tally to sixty. He delivered them directly without any tricksy showing them off then departing with them before returning them later half-eaten as he's done a few times recently, but Aurora took no chances and made off with the fish as soon as she seized them from him. Over on Nest Two, after an early morning visit from a Jay with a Tawny Owl hooting unseen in the background, Louis also delivered two fish, taking his tally to ninety nine. Both were a decent size to make up for the single tiddler delivered late yesterday, and he had no problem handing them over to Dorcha immediately in order to settle down to his favourite occupation of egg-sitting. The settled weather continues through to Friday, with clear skies tonight and a high of 22°C.
Blast from the past, this day in previous years:
https://youtu.be/I6EiEJdBMEk N1 Aila's misty morning flypast 2020 (slo-mo)
https://youtu.be/GYmMQvGGdbE N1 The eggs are bugged! 2020
https://youtu.be/56srG8Li0pY N1 Two mating attempts by The Stranger and Blue 152 2021
https://youtu.be/Gki0u5vCQg4 N1 Blown away! Comical failed mating attempt 2021
https://youtu.be/eY3vcsWUfmk N2 Very early breakfast for Dorcha 2022
https://youtu.be/XZMfSUpsMc4 N2 Little bird singing away on the high perch 2023
https://youtu.be/sTZm9BK7okg N1 Affric 152 and LV0's visit Nest One! 2023
https://youtu.be/ROkPADnW6JI N1 Louis brings a fish to Nest One 2023
https://youtu.be/i9K2-HCbD-o N1 An unexpected visitor arrives - it’s Affric 152! 2024
https://youtu.be/Nrr-H6eK0m4 N2 Pip pip hooray - cam's been zoomed! 2024
https://youtu.be/P81chr8zJFs N2 Louis bring another fish for Dorcha 2024
https://youtu.be/5fl9uzsupuY N1 A Jay (Garrulus glandarius) perches on the centre perch 2024
Geemeff said:Oh, that's interesting. Louis doesn't usually offer little fish like this, and brought a med-large one this morning. Do these other nests have chicks, are they in danger? It's good weather now but it's forecast to break this weekend. If the males aren't catching big fish now, what will happen in bad weather?
Well the females are on eggs. At The Loch of the Lowes, the male brings 3 or 4 small ones a day and that seems to satisfy the female. Occasionally he’ll bring in a much bigger trout like he did tonight so the big fish are there to be caught, he just seems to prefer fishing near to the nest for the tiny ones! It’s presumed to be their first year of breeding so we’ll see what happens. I think they’ll be fine though as they only have one egg.
At Llyn Brenig, the male didn’t bring a fish for 5 out of 6 days. (The female is happy to fish as well.) The one he brought was a tiddler and they’ve mostly been small since. I know he can catch the large fish too but at the moment, it’s just the wee ones. They have just the 2 eggs. They’ve bred successfully before so I expect they’ll be fine as well.
Nest Two 04.24.34 100 not out! Well done Louis! First fish is the season's hundredth
04.24 Dorcha's sitting quietly on the nest, birdsong in the background
04.24.34 Louis arrives with fish number one, a small trout
Dorcha stays on the nest to eat it, with Louis beside her
Nest Two The camera gets zoomed in!
07.33 The camera starts zooming in, and gets adjusted to optimum viewing of the nest. This can only mean one thing - hatching is imminent! Today is the 21st, we can expect to be on pip-watch from the 23rd on.