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.
Opinion is still divided as to whether it was EJs egg or the intruders. The intruder was certainly unringed, but without a doubt not Olive. Roy said he had never seen such a ferocious attack when he saw the footage.
It was amazing to see the female coming at EJ with a large stick.
ChloeB & Tiger's Osprey Data
Again, opinion I think is divided - was she using it as a weapon, or in effect making a statement - this is my nest and I intend to add to the structure? An interesting debate.
Yes I see what you mean. Very interesting point.
Do you have any pics of Ollie and Olive you are able to share with us?
Sorry, unfortunately not. :-(
Some place somewhere I have seen a proper picture of Ollie but I cannot retrieve it! :(
He was a rather small bird with a sightly odd head.
Tiger Signature
No problem, thanks.
I didn't witness it myself, but bow to much superior knowledge - Roy maintains that at the Fish Farm, even at that time, there was a 'hierarchy' of fishing male Ospreys, and when the LG male - Ollie - appeared then any other male who was looking for food, gave way and let the LG male have first pick. I certainly saw up to 8 males at the fish farm at any one time in an early morning, but did not have the knowledge and experience to try and work out hierarchical structure.
You have certainly enlivened our evening. I hope you come back for further discussion. There are just so many questions that pop up.
It is 50 years today (20th) since the first American (John Glenn) orbited the earth. Loch Garten was just waiting to see if their ospreys would come back.