This thread has been set up to follow the travels of Caledonia and Alba, the young ospreys raised at Loch Garten in 2012.
Their mother is “EJ”, the resident female at Loch Garten since 2003; there is some doubt about the identity of their biological father, given EJ’s dalliance with a male from a neighbouring nest, Blue XD, both before and after the return of her regular partner Odin, who raised them.
Caledonia hatched on 16th May and Alba on 18th May; they both fledged on 14th July.
This is a link to the Loch Garten blog describing the ringing and satellite tagging.
Caledonia’s ring is Blue/White AA1, reading downwards. Alba’s is Blue/White AA2, reading upwards.
Following the tracking
This page gives a quick overview of the routes on a map, which will be more useful once they start migrating.
If you want to look at the routes in more detail on Google Earth, this page contains instructions on setting up your PC to do this.
This blog contains some useful information about how the tracking works – we are now on a 3-day reporting period.
I am so happy Richard reported that Caledonia is doing so well and fantastic. I do miss pics of her and I loved the Vaps pics and Roberto's also. I must admit I am greedy and want more. Is that wrong lol. I am just so happy the Copperhead youngster is doing so well :) Love the news reports also.
Thanks for the information about Caledonia. Its amazing that she chooses to be in such an area as this but must be good fishing for her! Glad to know shes safe.
So happy to hear that Caledonia is still doing well, when does the GE data cycle change to more frequent downloads? Its maybe been reported on another thread, just trying to catch up with everything.
EJ's Memorial Balgavies Loch Ospreys 2023
Not the correct thread, but welcome back, Mary - hope you had an enjoyable hols.
Unknown said: An odd position for Caley this week, seemingly perched on the deck of a cruise ship moored just below Puente de los Remedios ........of course, there may not have been a ship there at the time. This quay seems to be the furthest north that long distance shipping comes up the Guadalquivir channel - beyond this, it's just the sightseeing boats and the rowers & canoeists. Video of a sightseeing cruise The boat departs from Torre del Oro and initially goes south At 2 mins the boat turns just at the spot where Caley is shown above and heads north At 3 mins they go past Torre del Oro again At 4 mins 30, just past Puente de la Barqueta they turn again in Caley's favourite fishing area, with Alamillo bridge visible in the background. PS The other points in this week's update are all in the area round her roost site.
An odd position for Caley this week, seemingly perched on the deck of a cruise ship moored just below Puente de los Remedios
........of course, there may not have been a ship there at the time. This quay seems to be the furthest north that long distance shipping comes up the Guadalquivir channel - beyond this, it's just the sightseeing boats and the rowers & canoeists.
Video of a sightseeing cruise
The boat departs from Torre del Oro and initially goes south
At 2 mins the boat turns just at the spot where Caley is shown above and heads north
At 3 mins they go past Torre del Oro again
At 4 mins 30, just past Puente de la Barqueta they turn again in Caley's favourite fishing area, with Alamillo bridge visible in the background.
PS The other points in this week's update are all in the area round her roost site.
SueC - I do know that the Cruise Ship Azamara Quest will be cruising up the Guadalquivir River on the 29th and 30th March, whether its been there earlier in the month I cannot find out, but it does look like it from that photo above. Now wouldn't that be something if Caledonia was actually perched on that ship LOL....
Mary GK
Ah, but Google Earth images are not necessarily that up to date - it's been discussed on one of the other threads, I think while you were away. I have found photos/videos of bridges and walkways at other points along this waterway, which have been constructed in the last couple of years, but are not yet shown on Google Earth. Seville does seem to be a regular port of call for Azmara Quest, so the image possibly is of this ship, but not as recent as 4th March.
To answer your question above, the schedule of Caledonia's transmitter changed back on 8th March to 3-day transmissions with 9 points per day, though Mike (Tracker) has explained a few pages back why he doesn't plot all the points.
I looked up the Wikipedia article about this "closed off" arm of the Guadalquivir which runs through the city - you can get the gist of it from Google Translate. The map (click to enlarge) is fascinating in showing how many times the course of the river has changed naturally, or has been changed by man, even in the area round Caledonia's roost. As things stand currently, water can be piped in to the channel at the northern end, adjacent to Alamillo Park; at the southern end is a lock. This enables the water level to be controlled, protecting Seville from flooding, and also allowing smaller cruise ships and cargo vessels to dock in the city.
The reason why this channel is Caledonia's favourite fishing spot is probably that it's fairly shallow at the northern end and it is also "flat water" which does not become turbulent, even when the main river is swollen and muddy - which I think it will be at the moment.
SueC - Thank you for the information above, I keep forgetting about the GE images not being up to date LOL.... I think that photo is probably the AQ though from that photo, taken when it has been cruising there previously. It looks the right size and layout for that ship.
The explanation about Guadalquivir and the locks is fascinating, lets hope that this is going to be a long term wintering ground for Caledonia and that she is every bit as successful as her mother.
The rain in Spain........
Caledonia has been having some pretty wet weather lately. This site MeteoSevilla gives reports from a weather station in Santiponce, only a short distance from her roost. Look at the rain guages - in purple, on the right hand side of the page. The monthly figure i.e. since the start of March is 97.00 mm (or 9.7 cm) - that's about as much rain as Aviemore would expect to get for the WHOLE of March.
The results are showing in other place too. I've been watching this site Embalses.net for a while; it's a site dedicated to Spanish reservoirs, and the linked page shows how much water is being held in reservoirs across the whole of the Guadalquvir basin. This week, they have reached 92.45% of total capacity; the graph shows how this exceeds previous years and the 10-year average.
This means that some reservoirs are actually full, and having to discharge water. You can select individual reservoirs from the page above, and this is the situation at Gergal the first reservoir up the Rivera de Huelva from Caley's roost, which she has visited. A linked forum thread from Saturday 9th gives photos and videos of the reservoir discharging water into the Rivera de Huelva; if Caley ever fishes in the Huelva, I don't think she'll be doing it at the moment.
The situation is also critical higher up the Guadalquivir - this is a slideshow of pictures taken yesterday around the Roman bridge in Cordoba, where the river has flooded the embankments. There has been some flooding around Cordoba, affecting homes.
SueC, thank you for the reports and links on the bad weather Caledonia will be experiencing.
Lets hope she is managing to find fish at these worrying times.