DAILY UPDATE (LG nest) Sunday 17 June 2012

happysnappa: sorry not to have welcomed you to the forum today, there's just been rather a lot going on!

Guys - we are all upset in different ways and will behave in different ways, but PLEASE let's not start any more having a 'go' at each other about our feelings and comments.  Everyone is entitled to their views and it is not relaxing to read other people having a go at each other about what they have said:-(

I too am distressed about this little chick - but as I have already posted, it may very well have been inherently weak/sick from the moment it hatched and it has only become more apparent since it got bigger - which MAY be why it's been killed. We simply don't know. This may be a comforting thought to some that although it has been killed it might have suffered worse and for longer if it had actually gone on to fledge. Again we don't know, but it IS Possible

I agree with someone (was it Black Jaguar?) who said that (whether we like it or not) the Aggressive #2 chick may very well have a lot going for it in survival terms. That's a weird thought, but I also think it's true!

Happy Snappa and other newbies - welcome. It's probably not a good time to have joined since feelings are running rather high, but you ARE welcome and I'm sorry if any of you were made to feel otherwise :-(

I think it was wattle who spotted (or mentioned) the vehicle crossing behind the nest.

To my recollection there are no roads in that part of the site, so if it was a vehicle it should not have been there! I think it's more likely it was an animal of some kind - scale can be quite difficult to judge at that distance.

By the way, last time I was there the night shift began at 10 pm, so the volunteers should be safely tucked up in the forward hide by the time on the video, which I think was about 11.30 pm

Well, to get back to the current events (or lack of them), the two remaining young are just about visible behind #2's poo, looking pretty sleepy, and occasionally preening. EJ is away.

New blog from Richard.

HAPPYSNAPPA,  Please don't take this as a "normal" day on this thread.  We really are a friendly bunch and nice of you to join us.

HAPPYSNAPPA, before your comments about not being welcomed, Heron then later myself welcomed you. When the forum is very busy, such as around the time you 'landed', it can take a while for people to realise you're there - but do keep posting as normal, it isn't that you are being deliberately ignored.

and can I just add that when I joined this year I have found it MOST welcoming- a rather large extended osprey family!

Please stop having a go at the centre. They were stuck between a rock and a hard place. To try to rescue the chick may have caused more upset than leaving things to act out. What if the act of putting a ladder up caused the chicks to panic and fall out, or if the parent birds attacked the rescuers causing damage to either of them. In this case I think what happened was unaviodable and things had to happen, hard as it was to see. I dont really support nature taking its course if something different could be done with full safety to the rest of the family, but in this instance I dont think there was a 100% safe alternative.

The situation at Dyfi was different. The nest would certainly have failed without intervention and the argument about nature taking its course at that nest was old fashioned in my opinion. The loss of the nest would have had a very damaging outcome for Dyfi. There would have been hardly any interest in the nest and webcam and the centre would have suffered very badly in a financial aspect and possibly wouldnt have given the same sevice next year. Its not wrong to look at things from a financial point either. Without interest and the money these centres attract, they wouldnt exist and the bird population would be much slower to repopulate areas.

As I write this, Ej has just brought in a FISH.