For those who are interested in osprey 'ancestry'.............
With regard to Sue C's post: of 19th March 2011:
2003 EJ lost her nest to a more aggressive female,
The female in question was Green 7B. EJ had laid eggs and, having seen off EJ, Green 7B bought in nesting material which she placed over the eggs. Green 7B was unsuccessful in breeding that year - but in 2002 she had (as a 2 year old) arrived late at the Loch Garten nest. There had been many disputes between male ospreys at Garten that year as the male osprey (Olly) who had 'reigned supreme' for many years had not returned. Green 7B persuaded the conquering male to feed her, but did not produce eggs.
Green 7B also had an ancestral link to LG - she was Olly's grand-daughter.
Some people think Ospreys are a matter of life and death. I don't like that attitude. I can assure them it is much more serious than that.
Hi CRinger, not met you before.
That is a very interesting read and thanks for putting it here. :-)
If nothing goes right, go left! :-)
Welcome CRinger..........
and thanks for the info - I have added it to my own copy of the biography. I wrote it because at the start of the nesting season, people always ask questions about the history of Loch Garten, so I'll probably post an updated version at some time.
If you know those kind of things, stick around - we may have more questions for you!
Sue
Thanks for the welcome. If you have any questions fire away - if I can answer I will.
CRinger said: Thanks for the welcome. If you have any questions fire away - if I can answer I will.
Oh if you have any stories about Ollie that would be good! We already know about 1993.
Tiger Signature
What became of Green 7B? It was alleged that she died in 2005 and Orange VS could not cope with the two chicks. The chicks were translocated to Rutland Water. I think they both migrated but have never been seen again as far as I know.
It depends what you have heard about 1993?
As to stories about Ollie......... to me the most interesting thing about him was his contribution to dispelling the myth that male ospreys, when absent from the nest, do not catch and eat prey without bringing it to the nest - see Brown, British Birds of Prey. Roy caught Ollie at Rothiemurchus Fish Farm in May 1995 and at the same time as ringing him a radio tag was attached. Thus his local movements were tracked. A comparison of these movements, sightings at the fish farm and volunteers logs at Loch Garten revealed that Ollie, without doubt, took at least 2 fish from the Fish Farm which he failed to deliver to his mate.
I'm not sure of the identity of the female at OVS nest in 2005, but whoever she was she went AWOL. OVS continued to deliver fish to the nest, but the chicks were too young to feed themselves, hence SNH, to their immense credit, very quickly gave approval for translocation of both chicks.
That is really fascinating. I did not know about Ollie being tagged before.
1993 was when the female got caught in twine and flew away leaving Ollie as a single dad just like the Laird at Loch of The Lowes was almost called on to do in 2010.
Ollie did raise the chicks successfully.
Hi CRinger, welcome and thanks for very interesting info.
ChloeB & Tiger's Osprey Data
Green 7B visited Loch Garten three times in 2005. Green 7B must have been the nightmare of EJ's life so far.
I think there were 4 confirmed sightings in 2005, with another 2 'probables.' There was discussion at the time that some females - it was EJ that was being discussed - 'lent themselves' to being attacked on the nest by adopting a 'weak posture' that was communicated to intruders of the same sex. I didn't have enough data to venture an opinion and am still open minded on the subject.