Aberfoyle osprey diary

Wildlife Watch goes HD!

2011-11-13T12:42:00.002Z

As some of you may have seen on our Facebook and Twitter accounts, over the course of the last week we have been fitting out some of our cameras with new HD software!

Currently we have Scavenger Cam beaming images via HD and hopefully more camera will be swapped over soon. The images that are coming through are superb and I would definitely recommend popping in and checking them out! :-)

Red Squirrels going global!

2011-08-17T12:34:00.002+01:00

Hey,
Now that the osprey season is more or less over we have decided to give you a rare insight into red squirrels. As some of you may have noticed the live web link that was on our osprey nest has now changed to one of our squirrel feeders at the David Marshall Lodge. These feeders are very popular with red squirrels with them visiting 10+ times a day, you may also be lucky enough to see a pine marten popping in for a quick snack (on peanuts of course!)

These feeders are all part of our conservation efforts to monitor the movement of the red and grey squirrels in the forest. Underneath the boxes are two pieces of sticky tape that collects hair samples from whatever is using the box. This allows us to keep an eye on how the red squirrel is doing and protect it from the bigger American grey squirrel.

Hopefully you will all enjoy this new live link and be able to spot some red squirrels!

Robert

So near yet so far!

2011-06-10T16:20:00.004+01:00

Hey Folks,

As most of you have now guessed the osprey nest has failed again for the 3rd year running. This is a great disappointment for us all here at the David Marshall Lodge and also many of you who have been following the ospreys closely this season.

This doesn't mean that all is not lost though, we are now hunting the forest high and low for new things to put cameras on and our new Swallow nest cam went in yesterday and will hopefully become stars of the show!

Wildlife Watch is still open and will be throughout the season so make sure that you pop in if you are close by!

Could this be the end?

2011-05-31T12:52:00.005+01:00

Hi All,

As many of you will have seen on our new live web cam our female has not been on the nest incubating her three eggs for the last few days. This comes as a great disappointment to all of us here at the David Marshall Lodge as the eggs were due to start hatching yesterday.

We are still unsure of the reasons why the bird has stopped incubating her eggs, but we are fairly confident that it isn't disturbance as both male and female have been spotted on the nest. Unusually though the female is sitting on the side of the nest and every now and again she will touch one the eggs.

We are trying to say positive but things aren't looking very hopeful, but I will keep you all informed.

Robert

Live footage of the nest

2011-05-25T16:29:00.004+01:00

UPDATE, 5.10pm - the camera is live from 10am - 5pm each day.

If you take a look at the right hand side of the blog you'll see that our images from the nest are no longer stills - we're now streaming live footage! These cracking pictures are being beamed directly from the osprey nest camera.

From 5pm this evening you can also view the nest camera on the main Aberfoyle ospreys website (www.forestry.gov.uk/aberfoyleospreys).

Enjoy!

A bit battered but doing fine!

2011-05-25T15:33:00.003+01:00

Just a quick update to say that after the hurricane strength winds on Monday I am happy to report that our osprey nest and ospreys both stood tight and battled against the winds. Our female is still incubating on the three egss which are due over the weekend. Our male is struggling to fish at the moment due to the ribbles that are being caused by the winds but he is being persistent, which is a good sign!

It must be love!

2011-05-23T12:47:00.003+01:00

Well our ospreys are certainly experiencing the Scottish weather today with rain and high speed winds to tackle. It shouldn't be to long now before we start to see the first egg hatching, it will be 37 days on the 30th May ( a week today) since the first egg was laid.

I just thought that I would let you know about something that has been happening over the last few weeks on the nest that shows our new osprey pair are defiantly in love....

As with any other osprey pair its the male that is doing the fishing while the female is incubating the eggs on the nest. As we would expect the male is bringing the fish in headless having taken his share leaving the rest for the female. Usually what should happen is the female would fly away to eat the rest of the fish, while the male does a little incubation. But this is where our tale takes a twist!

Our female is flying off to perch on a nearby tree then bringing back some of the fish to give back to the male, kind of saying "Thanks I've had enough now would you like some more?"! How sweet :-)

P.S All 9 blue tit eggs hatched on Thursday and we currently still have 3 barn owl chicks, who are growing rather rapidly!

1st there was one, now there are three!!

2011-04-30T10:28:00.005+01:00

Just to let you all know that our unringed female osprey laid her 3rd egg of the season on Thursday (28th).

If was a year ago this weekend that the nest site suffered from an invasion by another osprey (who is actually this years male) which resulted in the egg being kicked out of the nest. Fingers crossed this doesn't happen again.

Both male and female are taking on parental responsibility well, with the male bringing in both fish and taking his turn at incubating the eggs!

Don't forget you can watch all the action from the comfort of your home, thanks to our online webcam!

Robert

Eggs for Easter!

2011-04-25T16:35:00.004+01:00

Hi Folks,
Hot off the press (or the TV screen!) our female osprey has just laid her 2nd egg of the season. It was laid at around 15.30 this afternoon (Monday 25th April). This is around 60 hours after the first which is normal for ospreys.

Unusually our male bird has taken quite a fancy to incubating the eggs!! This is considered the females role.

We will keep you posted over the next few days.

Robert

EGG NUMBER ONE!

2011-04-23T11:18:00.003+01:00

I can now confirm that our unringed female has laid her first egg! It was spotted at 10.17am this morning (Saturday 23rd April). We believe it was laid at some point over night. Both male and female have been spotted incubating the egg this morning. We will keep you up to date over the next few days to let you know how things are going!

P.S. Also just to let you know our Barn Owl has successfully hatched all her five chicks!

Web cam up and running!

2011-04-23T10:15:00.004+01:00

Just to let you all know that you can now watch the happenings of the Aberfoyle ospreys from the comfort of your home. Our online web cam is know up and running meaning up can keep up to date with the ospreys throughout the season. The camera will take a picture of the nest every 2 minutes between the hours of 10am and 5pm. These will automatically upload to the web page.

These images can be viewed at: http://www.forestry.gov.uk/website/forestry.nsf/byunique/infd-72ufv3

We are hoping that our female will be laying eggs soon, she has been showing signs over the last few days, so fingers crossed not long now!

Third time lucky for Aberfoyle Nest?

2011-04-18T10:56:00.003+01:00

As many of you are already aware there has been a highly contested battle for the Aberfoyle osprey nest this season. It is only just over 2 weeks since the ospreys returned and we have already had 5 different ospreys on the nest (3 females and 2 males). We currently have a metal ringed male, who was the "trouble maker" last year, who kicked out the eggs at the beginning of May 2010 and a new female who is unusually totally unringed! This new female has been around since Saturday and things are looking promising. There has been lots of nesting material brought in as well as repeated mating taking place. It is a year ago tomorrow (Tuesday) that we had our first egg last year, so we shouldn't have long to wait, fingers crossed!

A new female for Aberfoyle ospreys?

2011-04-11T10:41:00.005+01:00

As reported last week, since the return of our "trouble maker" bird from last season, neither yellow OU nor green DX have been spotted on the nest. Instead, the metal-ringed male osprey was seen on his own waiting for the return of last year's female, Red 6A. She still hasn't returned but the male's attention now seems to have been diverted to a new younger model in the shape of a 4 year old female, ringed white HA, who arrived on the nest on Friday. All we know about this new female is that she was hatched in the Tweed Valley, Scottish Borders in 2007. It is not especially unusual for female ospreys to venture slightly further afield from their birthplace in the hunt for a suitable nesting location. Hopefully white HA and metal ring are going to be our resident couple for the season as we have already had 4 different ospreys on the nest in the last 10 days! As many of you know there is also live viewing of Ospreys in the Tweed Valley. You can check out their blog at: http://tweedvalleyospreys.blogspot.com/ P.S One of our barn owl eggs has hatched, only four to go!

Metal Ring Returns!

2011-04-05T16:39:00.003+01:00

Today has seen the return of the "trouble maker" male osprey from last year, a metal ringed male. There have been a few unconfirmed sightings of a unringed male flying around the nest over the last few days but today we managed to get a good view of his legs! We aren't quite sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing as this particular male didn't show up until the 1st of May last year and this is what caused all the trouble, as we already had eggs by this point. We are hoping that seen as he has turned up earlier this year the two males can fight it out for the nest and female. He has been showing some unusual behaviour though, acting like he is already trying to kick eggs out the of nest; hopefully this isn't a sign of things to come! Yellow OU hasn't been spotted on the nest for the last two days. She is most likely just having a well deserved rest after her long migration and feeding up ready for the summer!

Yellow OU

2011-04-05T09:56:00.006+01:00

Just a quick update on Yellow OU, our female osprey that landed on the nest on Thursday. She was actually ringed in the Scottish Borders in 1999 by our very own Conservation Manager, Dave Anderson before being caught in Spain where a plastic colour ring was added in 2002. This event is described in Roy Dennis' book "A life of Ospreys". We are hoping to get the web cam online sometime this week, although this wont be live footage but a still image loaded onto the web page about every 10 seconds.

Osprey Update 4/4/11

2011-04-04T16:18:00.005+01:00

Hi Folks, thought that I would give you all a quick update on how the ospreys are getting on after they returned to their nest on Thursday (31/3). Both Yellow OU and Green DX look like they are starting to settle back in. Our male bird obviously thinks he is going to be the next Carol Smiley as he has been spotted doing a lot of nest interior design over the weekend! He is also proving his worth with his fishing skills as we have had a good amount of trout brought into the nest.

Just some more information on the female that has been spotted on the nest: Yellow OU last bred on the nest in 2005 before being kicked off by Red 6A (our female from the last few years). We believe she was ringed in the Borders in 2003 and also, unusually, winters in Spain. This is where she has been trapped and has been seen every year. I will confirm this soon.

All this sounds lovely and peaceful but over the last few days the unringed male bird from last year has been spotted both on the nest trying to charm our female, and also perching on a tree next to nest!

Ospreys have landed!

2011-03-31T10:54:00.005+01:00

We can now confirm that ospreys have returned! At around 9.45am this morning Yellow OU, our female from a few year back, and Green DX were spotted back on our live nest site! They have already been seen mating and sorting out the nest. Yellow OU has not been seen on this nest site for number of years, and successfully raised chicks here back in 2005. Red 6A our usual female hasn't been seen yet, and neither has our troublemaker from last year, the metal ringed male! I think there are still a few more twists and turns in the story before we even see eggs being incubated. Stay tuned for more info!

Lights, camera, action!

2011-03-26T12:03:00.004Z

It's that time of year again! Our Osprey cameras are back up and running. Hurray! I have to admit that it brought back a lot of memories from last year when I saw the nest on camera today - Red 6A, Green DX, the intruder metal ringed bird, our change of nests half way through the season, Ozzy, Jemima and Fred and the many fish! I wonder what they have in store for us this year?

We are still awaiting on the arrival of our ospreys (as some of you will know, EJ from Loch Garten has already returned) but hopefully this should be within the next week. The David Marshall Lodge is now fully open so put down your newspapers, finish the housework and pop in and see how we are getting on.

Most of our other live cameras are up and running too, including our Barn Owl Box, where our female is currently sat on 5 eggs!

2010 Osprey Chick Spotted in Senegal

2011-01-27T10:29:00.004Z

We have just received this photo of our Blue HV chick that has been spotted in Senegal. It is always good to hear if some of our chicks have made is safely down to West Africa and it from the photo it looks like they have having a better winter than us!

In just over two months hopefully our ospreys will be returning to take up residence for the 2011 season!

Winter Hits the Lodge!

2010-12-10T11:46:00.004Z

The David Marshall Lodge has been hit by the recent Big Freeze, as have many parts of the UK; because of this the Lodge has been closed for many days. The good news is that we are now open!

Wildlife Watch currently has live cameras on Red Squirrels, Bird Feeders and recorded footage of the 2010 ospreys season, plus many other recordings of different species that you might find in the forest e.g. Pine Marten, Peregrine and Barn Owls!

This weekend is shaping up to be a busy one with Christmas Tree sales, Christmas crafts and the Rockin' Robin trail, so why not pop up and join in the fun!

New Name for Aberfoyle Osprey Viewing!

2010-09-29T13:26:00.002+01:00

The Wildlife Viewing Project at the David Marshall Lodge has a new name!! We have been considering for sometime that the room that is not only home to the Aberfoyle Ospreys but also many other different species for wildlife needed a new name and we can now reveal that the winner is "Wildlife Watch". This has been chosen as we feel that it lets people know exactly what is in the room and what is it all about! This is just the start of many changes to come in the next few months, keep watching for more info!

Buzzard 61 Spotted in Sutherland!

2010-09-20T13:32:00.003+01:00

Some of you may not know but this year as well as a live link to an osprey nest we also had a link to a buzzard nest. This nest was success full and fledged three chicks and we have had news today that one of them has been spotted in Ardgay, Sutherland! These birds can be identified by the wing tag colours and numbers that are placed on them every year for the same reason as the ospreys. This just shows how far these birds can fly once they have fledged off the nest.

If you do spot any birds with wing tags or rings then please do let us know, this helps us to keep track of all the birds that were born and fledged in the Aberfoyle area.

Osprey Update!

2010-08-27T12:24:00.004+01:00

Well the Aberfoyle osprey season is nearly over for another year and what a season it has been!
We do now believe that both our unknown female bird and also Red 6A has started making their way south for the winter. Our chicks Fred, Ozzy and Jemima don't look far off, with us expecting them to start making their way south in the next few days.

Just to let you all know even though we are at the end of the osprey season it doesn't mean that you cant pop in and see us. The David Marshall Lodge is open throughout winter with opening times as follows; September and October 10am-5pm and November and December 10am -4pm. You will be able to catch up on all the action from the 2010 osprey season as well as see live cameras on Red Squirrels, Birds feeders and much more!

Ospreys Are A Go!

2010-08-01T11:28:00.003+01:00

In the last week all of our ospreys have made their first flights off the nest. The first (read earlier blog post) on the 17th July followed by the other 2 at some point over the last week. We nearly didn't know about this as we believe that as one of the ospreys chicks made its first leap it landed on top of the camera causing the camera to tilt meaning it was recording the ground. A mission rescue had to be launched on Friday 23rd July to allow us to see pictures of the nest again. All 3 chicks have been seen back on the nest feeding
We never thought that we would see this moment, with the live nest failing early on in the season. But we have battled through and the season has been very successfull!

We have lift off!

2010-07-19T15:17:00.002+01:00

On Saturday 17th July our oldest osprey chick took its first flight off the nest. It had been doing a lot of flapping and walking very close the edge of the nest most of the day before making its first flight.

Both of the other chicks are preparing for their 1st flight with lots of flapping action taking place. The other chicks are expected to take their first flights in the next few days!

Osprey Chicks are Named!

2010-07-10T10:35:00.002+01:00

After many weeks of waiting, today is finally the day when we would discover the name of our three osprey chicks. With over 250 entries, competition was though but the judges decision is final and the winners are.........................

Ozzy
Jemima
Fred

Ozzy had been a popular choice this year so there was no surprise when it was pulled out of the hat. There had been many other suggestions and one of the most bazaar ones was Cheryl Cole.

All of the chicks are growing well and we expect them to be making their first flight in a matter of weeks!

Osprey Chicks are ringed!

2010-07-09T11:50:00.003+01:00

Earlier this week our 3 osprey chicks were ringed. The have been ringed Dark Blue HV, HW and HY. After weighing the chicks and seeing them at close hand we believe that we have 2 males and a female. The closing date for the naming competition is today (9th July) so by early next week our chicks should all have names.

All of the 3 chicks are growing rapidly mainly due to the amount of fish that our male osprey is bringing in! They are not long now off making there first flight. They are now old enough to be able to feed themselves as was seen this morning when one of our chicks was seen trying to swallow a fish tail whole!!

The Carm After The Storm!

2010-06-22T13:01:00.003+01:00

After a roller coaster of a ride for the Aberfoyle ospreys I am proud to say that everything seems to be back on track. All 3 chicks are growing well and proud mum and dad are both working well mum protecting the chicks on the nest, while dad is away fishing.

Now that the chicks have hatched, we are currently running a competition to name them, ideas are coming in think and fast, why not pop up to the David Marshall Lodge to give us your suggestions!

3RD EGG HAS HATCHED!

2010-05-31T11:53:00.003+01:00

Today I am reporting something that I never thought I would be saying this season. Our 3rd osprey egg has HATCHED! It was discovered this morning so we believe it hatched at some point over the weekend! Mother and chicks all seem to be doing well.

We are going to be running a competition to name this years chicks, so watch this space for details!

Another osprey chick sees daylight!

2010-05-29T16:22:00.004+01:00

Today the second osprey egg has been spotted on the nest. This means that because of the delay of recording the osprey nest the 2nd egg hatched on the 26th May at around 1pm. This is because the latest nest does not have a live linkto the David Marshall Lodge. Also we can only record up to 4 hours of footage at a time and because of this it does take us sometime to discover new happenings on the nest. Please bear with us.

The male osprey is living up to his job of bringing in fish with a plentiful supply of fish for both mother and children arrving at the nest throughout the day. On the other cameras in the Wildlife Viewing room we now have 3 very cute fluffy buzzard chicks, 2 fluff balls that are Barn Owl chicks and a plentiful supply of Great Tit chicks of which some are getting ready to fledge the nest.

Hatching Galour!

2010-05-25T11:16:00.004+01:00

After the events so for this season we never thought that we would see this day but this morning at around 10.15am the first osprey chick was spotted.
The chick was spotted on our back-up camera when the disc was been swooped over this morning. At the time the female, who has still not been identified was feeding the chick its first breakfast. We are now all eagerly awaiting the hatching of the second egg.

Also over the weekend we spotted the first of our Buzzards chicks and even though the camera is a bit fuzzy at the moment we beleive the mother and chick are both doing well. In the last few weeks the Great Tit eggs have also hatched with two nests on camera in the Wildlife Room. They have both had 6 chicks each. Why not pop in and see the new editions to our family?

All is not lost!

2010-05-17T12:00:00.004+01:00

Earlier last week we broke the news that the 3rd and final egg had been kicked out of the nest. There was maybe some slight hope in some of us that the female may lay again but unfortunately she hasn't been seen on the nest since.
But all is not lost... we now have a camera on a never before seen nest at the David Marshall Lodge. This camera isn't live but is this season and from the Aberfoyle area. This means that we are still able to watch the happenings of a osprey couple for the rest of the season. :-)
The new pair haven't yet been identified and we are still unsure of how many eggs the female bird is incubating, but we are hoping that this nest will have a more successful season than the last one!

Bad news

2010-05-11T16:24:00.000+01:00

Today has been a day that we all hoped wouldn't happen. The third egg has been evicted from the nest. It was discovered this morning at around 10.00am. The intruder male was seen on the nest yesterday afternoon and was trying his best to get rid of the third egg and at some point in the early hours of this morning he was successful. But the egg can still be seen on the camera; it is currently wedged on what must be a little ledge on the nest.

This is a disappointment for the second year running with this nest, but we are still hoping that the small chance of the new pair mating may still happen. Let's all keep our finger crossed!

A roller coaster ride

2010-05-10T12:08:00.000+01:00

Last week was a roller coaster of a ride for the ospreys at Aberfoyle. With the original male returning on Monday we hoped that everything would get back to normal for the osprey pair - minus 2 eggs of course. But this was not to happen; the intruder male has been showing up on the nest every now and again, which has been causing the female to get extremly angry! He has also had a few more attempts to get rid of the 3rd and final egg - unsuccessfully you will all be happy to hear!

As I wrote this the original male was away fishing and the female was sat on the one remaing egg, so hopefully in ther next few weeks we will see the one and only chick of the 2010 season!

Fingers crossed.

The Ups and Downs of Being an Osprey

2010-05-04T12:13:00.000+01:00

As of last week, the resident ospreys here at Aberfoyle had laid 3 eggs. This was looking good for the rest of the season, but everything was about to change...

On Saturday 1st May at around 12.00pm, a metal-ringed male entered the nest which the female was sat on, incubating the eggs. This shocked us all as it indicated that the resident male (Ringed - Green DX) has been in a fight and lost. Over the course of the day, as we expected, the new male tried his best to destroy the 3 eggs that were in the nest. He successfully managed to kicked one of the eggs out and smash the other!

The male continued to try to destroy the last remaining egg on Sunday, and on Monday morning, we thought that he had succeeded! But again, everything was about to change...

At around dinnertime on Monday a familiar figure appeared on the side of the nest. It was the original male, back to fight for his female and nest, and he was successful! We also discovered that there are still signs of a egg in the nest

This leaves us all here at The David Marshall Lodge holding onto our hats for the next episode. As I write this the female (Ringed Red 6A) is sat on the one remaining egg. Whether it is damaged or not we are unsure, but with all our fingers crossed we are hoping that the ospreys can get back on track with breeding.

Local male returns

2010-04-21T16:27:00.001+01:00

Our male has now been identified as DX Green confirming that it is the bird that was ringed locally about 5 years ago.

Over the last few days Red 6A had been showing signs of laying, and our waiting finally paid off yesterday as she laid her first egg!

Our new male does seem to be getting a little confused though, as it looks like he wants to incubate rather than catch fish! Hopefully he will come to his senses before too long.

We wait in earnest for the 2nd egg....

Returned birds - more details

2010-04-16T10:40:00.000+01:00

Both the returned birds are colour ringed. As mentioned in the previous post, the female is the familiar red 6A who we have seen on the nest for a number of years. The male is new but is also wearing a colour ring. It looks like green OX but might be green DX. It looks as if this might be a bird that was ringed locally in 2005 but we need to confirm the ring details first!

The male has been busy providing fish for red 6A and no other birds have been seen competing for the nest as yet!

Red 6A is back!

2010-04-16T09:37:00.001+01:00

Just a quick update to say our female red 6A is back on the nest with a new mate whose identity is yet to be confirmed. The new male is busy trying to impress our female with lots of fresh fish and has also brought plenty of sticks to spruce up the tired nest.

Help celebrate the ospreys return

Why not help us celebrate the return of the ospreys this Saturday, 17th April, at David Marshall Lodge. Plenty of family activities - see the return of the ospreys information on the Forestry Commission Scotland website.

Gearing up for the season

2010-04-07T14:02:00.000+01:00

As you might have seen from our counterparts' blog at Tweed Valley, it's osprey breeding season once again. Unlike Tweed Valley, though, here at Aberfoyle, we're still waiting for the birds to return to their nest.

The good news is that ospreys have been spotted close by, so we're keeping our fingers crossed that they'll soon be back on camera.

At David Marshall Lodge, the viewing room is open (10.00am - 5.00pm 7days) and the cameras are on - but at the moment, the only birds on view are the tits, busying themeselves in their nest box.

Our other cameras feature tawny and barn owl nests, a bird feeder, and of course the osprey nest.

This year we're welcoming a new interpretation officer, Robert, who will be keeping us up to speed with what's going on throughout the season.

We'll be bringing you updates on the blog, but you can also sign up to our Twitter feed to get news too: http://www.twitter.com/fcscotland.

We hope to see you at David Marshall Lodge but if you can't visit, we'll try to keep you involved with our posts here.

Squirrels abound

2009-11-04T14:55:00.003Z

Unfortunately, although the red squirrels have been keeping us entertained, there have been no sightings of the Pine marten, which is a shame.
There is still a chance it might turn up in Nov, so we will just have to wait and see.

Huge flocks of Redwings and Fieldfares have been viewed from the centre, flying over the trees and stripping the Rowans of their berries.
Autumn is here. :-)

Change of Focus

2009-10-01T16:00:00.003+01:00

No more ospreys were seen on live camera for 2 weeks after the 28th, when we last seen our own ospreys. Ospreys were still reported locally fishing on lochs but I was surprised we didn't see any ospreys on camera, as you normally get visitors from further north stopping off on their migration south.
For those who are still interested in following something, the 3 chicks from Loch Garten have been satellite trakced and can be followed via the RSPB website:
http://www.rspb.org.uk/wildlife/tracking/lochgartenospreys/index.asp

While here at the lodge our focus now changes to the mammal population: Red Squirrels and hopefully Pine Marten. Last year Pine Marten appeared every second day on our feeders during Oct and Nov and hopefully this year will be the same. Red Squirrels are nearly always seen on live camera and on Sun 4th Oct we have a Red Squirrel fun day here at the lodge. On sat 4th and 11th we have trips to see the Red Deer rut. For more info phone the lodge on 01877 382258.

It's very quiet now.

2009-09-06T11:00:00.003+01:00

The last ospreys were seen at the nest site on the 28th August, where a lone bird was sitting in trees at the back of the nest. The preceding week there had been up to three ospreys hanging round the trees at the back, making it quite difficult to identify them as, even with maximum zoom, we couldn't make out their rings.
Red 6A was identified on the 23rd Aug which would have meant she was here alot later than last year, as she had left by the 6th Aug in 2008. There was also a green ringed bird which we assumed to be the new male but since we had alot of green ringed birds sighted this year we cannot be certain.
One of the birds that had been sitting at the back was practising some nest building techniques by flying in and taking a couple of swoops at the nest to pull out long sticks. It was quite interesting to watch this, as ospreys would use this technique to collect sticks for a nest but would normally use a dead tree to swoop down on.
Today on the nest a flock of blue and great tits landed on the nest and were rooting about for something to eat. Once they had left a lone Dunnock sat perched on one of the twigs for a while surveying all below.
And so ends another osprey season. Who will return next year now our resident male has gone? Will it be the immature green ring that didnt impress the female or will she take on a new partner for life? Unfortunately we will now have to wait until 2010 to have these questions answered.

Ospreys-a farewell?

2009-08-10T16:34:00.004+01:00

Red 6A (our female) was still around as of the 1st August. Last year she was last seen about the 6th before she off on her migration.

The green ringed male is also still around and still defending the nest.

I had an osprey First Flight, First Splash event at the weekend and took 12 people down to the Lake of Menteith to see if we could see an osprey fishing. Luck was on our side as 2 ospreys were present when we arrived. However, they simply displayed territorial behaviour until one took off. The first osprey then sat in a tree for a good half hour then suddenly plunged into the water for food. Our group was very happy; several hadn't even seen an osprey before, never mind seeing one fish. Even the rain stayed off until it was time to leave.

Other events coming up soon are two bird of prey talks. On the 14th Aug at 7pm, Mike McDonnell will talk about Red Kites at David Marshall Lodge, and on the 28th Aug, Elaine Fraser will talk about the Sea Eagle Reintroduction in the North East of Scotland.

To book call 01877 382258 or email: andrea.williams@forestry.gsi.gov.uk

Barn Owls are go!

2009-08-10T16:31:00.003+01:00

Out of our 5 Barn owl chicks, 3 fledged.

The first fledged on Friday 31st July after flapping a lot and peering out of the Barn Owl box hole, and the other two had gone by the 5th August. The last 2 then returned to the box for a couple of days but now have not been seen for about a week.

Nest box update- fly away Peter fly away Paul

2009-06-20T12:02:00.003+01:00

Our Great Tits all fledged successfully on the 4th June.

Our Blue Tits were another story! All 8 eggs hatched, although it was difficult to determine this at first as they were SO tiny. As they got bigger, it was easy to count the open gapes as their parents came in to feed them. One chick seemed to die in the box around the time of the very hot weather. Then on June 9th, I came in one morning to fine the blue tits at the top of the picture on the monitor rather than at the bottom as previously. Also, there only seemed to be 4 chicks! What had happened? Did a predator enter the nest box, knock the camera and eat the chicks? Maybe a stoat or weasel? Who knows? The remaining 4 chicks went on to successfully fledged on June 17th.

The Barn Owls are doing well although there now only seems to be 4 chicks. Food has seemed a little sparse of late, although one chick was seen trying to swallow a whole vole! Its possible that the 5th chick was eaten since food was scarce as no body has been seen in the box. How many will remain until the end?

All quiet on the osprey front.....

2009-06-20T11:54:00.003+01:00

Its still been fairly quiet on our nest but Red 6A is still in evidence. We have had some nice shots of her feeding herself on the dead trees to either side of the nest. We wouldnt really see this so much at this time of the year normally as she would be staying at the nest feeding the chicks. The green ringed male is still about and an unringed bird has been coming and going intermittently. No new rings have been sighted and things seem to be quietening down again. In fact there has been some nest building going on! Both male and female have been bringing in new material to the nest. Ospreys have been known to build frustration eeyries when breeding has failed, so maybe this is kind of like that.

Nest box update

2009-05-29T15:51:00.003+01:00

Our Great Tits have hatched 6 chicks and one egg remains unhatched. These hatched about 1 week ago and are feathering up quite nicely.

The Blue tits have hatched just hatched on Tuesday but are so tiny I am unsure how many we have, at least 5.

The Barn owl definitely has 2 chicks and 2 eggs but whether there is a third egg or a third chick I was unable to see.

Cuckoos have been having population crashes and Springwatch has been asking for your Cuckoo sightings/calls. Look on their website for more info.

Ospreys galore

2009-05-29T15:41:00.003+01:00

Well although it looks like we aren't going to get any more eggs this year, we have had numerous ospreys approaching the nest. In fact we have managed to get 5 new ring numbers!

Three of these have turned out to be birds from other local nests that were hatched in 2004 or 2005. So this is probably the first year that some of them have come back, as osprey chicks normally stay in Africa for 3-4 years until they are mature enough to breed.

One of the rings has still to be identified and another came from a chick that was found caught in the fish cages at Lake of Menteith. This one came down to fish, got caught up in the netting and had to be rescued by the workers at the fishery. They put it to the side but when it was still there several hours later they called for help. The osprey has now been taken to a wildlife rescue centre and the last I heard it was holding its own. Apparently it has an injured elbow and shoulder, so may not be well enough to be re-released. The interesting thing about this bird was that although it didnt come anywhere near our nest, its sibling turned up there about the same time. This also means that 2 chicks survived the return journey when they say only 1 out of 3 normally do. Interesting stuff!

Even more interesting for our nest was that yesterday an unringed osprey turned up at the nest eating a fish. Could this be our resident male? The mystery deepens...

Time is running out..

2009-05-20T15:30:00.005+01:00

After last week's promising start it seems to have all come to nothing. The ospreys have hardly been seen at the nest at all. Today we have seen one bird on the nest - a new green-ringed bird whose Darvic ring I managed to identify. The details have been sent off to BTO to see where this one has come from.

I had said that the female osprey has to lay a new clutch before the end of May but after reading Roy Dennis's book, he says the latest known laying of osprey eggs has been the 23rd May! Groan! It doesnt look like its going to happen here this year. :-(

Eggs aplenty- although not ospreys!

2009-05-16T16:40:00.003+01:00

So far on our live nest box cameras, we have:

Barn Owl on 5 eggs
Great Tit just hatched 6 chicks and one unhatched egg and
Blue Tit on 7 eggs so far.

I can't keep up!

2009-05-16T16:34:00.003+01:00

Our ospreys have rarely been at the nest the past 2 weeks. When there have been ospreys on the nest it has been our Red 6A female and Green-ringed male. He has been trying to mate with her but she has been reticent to stay near the nest.

Today however, was the best sightings I have seen of the birds all week. And there was a surprise in store. A pair of ospreys were on the nest alarm calling and mantling against and intruder osprey and I was trying to identify who was who on the nest. Yes, there was the female Red 6A and surely the male was the green-ringed male but I couldnt see the Darvic. Later on I realised why, when I saw he had no Darvic ring but only a metal ring. Welcome back the silver ringed male. The 2 birds mated and the female was hanging around the nest alot more than normal, so hopefully this will be a positive sign.

Web cam live at last

2009-05-11T10:04:00.002+01:00

We've now got the web cam up and running, both here (on the right of the page) and a larger version on the main Aberfoyle Ospreys pages at http://www.forestry.gov.uk/aberfoyleospreys.

The camera is live from 10.00am to 5.00pm every day. It shows stills from the nest updated every couple of minutes, rather than a live stream, but it gives you a taste of what's going on.

Bad news...

2009-05-09T16:38:00.003+01:00

Yesterday an osprey egg was found on the ground near to the osprey nest. So as suspected it looks like green-ring has kicked the unringed males egg(s) out the nest. The egg was showing signs of predation so whether this was done after being kicked out or was in fact the real reason behind the eggs disappearance, we'll never know.

Red 6A and the green-ringed male have been on the nest very intermittently today and never together. Hopefully our female will hold off until the cold weather is over until laying a new clutch of eggs. If she hasnt done this by the end of May, then its pretty much game over for this season.

Nest box update

2009-05-08T14:37:00.002+01:00

The Barn owls are now on 5 eggs and we have a Great Tit on 7.

Too many cooks.......

2009-05-08T14:25:00.003+01:00

Everything was going quite well with the silver-ringed male and our female for about a week until a green-ringed male came in and took over. This male was with her for a couple of days mating and feeding her but on Saturday, she seemed to be off the nest alot but not too long for the eggs. Then on Sunday 3rd May, she was off the nest practically all day. An osprey kept coming into the nest but couldn't be identified whereas our female was sitting on the dead tree off to the left for the majority of the day. She seemed totally non-plussed and didn't react at all to the bird on the nest. No alarm calling or food-soliciting, she just sat and preened and preened. From this behaviour I can only suppose that one of the males, probably the green-ringed, had kicked the eggs out the nest. She had been so tight on the nest previously and hadn't been off it for long at any stage at all, so seems strange that she would just suddenly decide to go off,unless the eggs had been removed.

Since then the female and green ringed male have been mating but seem reticent to stay at the nest for any length of time. She really needs to lay again before the end of May if we have any chance of having chicks this season. Stay posted!

Barn Owls

2009-04-30T11:15:00.004+01:00

A quick update: the barn owls laid their third egg yesterday and both adults are in the box this morning as its very heavy rain.

Its not good news........but there is a sliver (ringed) lining!

2009-04-30T10:53:00.005+01:00

Our resident male osprey (unringed) has not been seen for about 10 days now and at about the time he disappeared the female appeared to be sitting on eggs. As said in my previous post she is sitting tight most of the time but is getting on and off the nest to chase intruders. This is not good due to the risk to the eggs.

The silver-ringed male has at last been seen providing her with fish. He flew in on Monday with a fish, gave it to her and she flew off. He looked as if he was going to take over incubation but stood in the nest cup then didn't sit down. He poked around in the nest and I watched him with baited breath, half expecting any eggs in the nest to come flying out any minute. Instead he stood there for a moment then took off. The female was sitting in a dead tree to the left and sat there eating her fish for 5 minutes then flew down to the nest with the fish and continued to eat it there. I breathed a sigh of relief and was at least glad to see that she is getting fed. The silver-ringed bird continues to try and mate with her but she is not receptive.

On Tuesday a green-ringed bird landed on the nest and the silver-ringed bird was very quick to defend the female and the nest and actually locked talons with the intruding male. The female joined in quite aggressively and forced them both off the nest. I haven't seen such physical contact in a long time. Ospreys like most animals tend to avoid aggressive contact as it may result in injury; which can sometimes be too costly.

To say our female is having a hard time is to put it mildly, trying to incubate the unringed male's eggs, while trying to defend the nest, most of the time alone. The only good thing is she is actually being fed by the silver ringed male, which is allowing her, for the moment, to continue to sit tight.

I have asked that the cameras be switched from the overview camera to the nest cup camera so we can definitely see if we have eggs and how many. This hopefully should be done today or tomorrow. I'll let you know when I do.

Barn Owls now on

2009-04-27T13:57:00.003+01:00

The live camera on the Barn Owl nest box is now up and running and they have gratified us with an egg on Friday 24th April and a second egg today!

Confused? You will be!

2009-04-27T13:19:00.003+01:00

Sorry for the delay in updating the blog but things have been rather confusing of late. On the 17th April the female looked good for laying an egg but there hadn't been a changeover; normally the first definite behaviour that there is an egg. Then midweek the unringed male (our resident bird) seemed to have vanished!

Shortly after that we had various other birds coming into the nest including a green-ringed bird and a silver-ringed male. The silver-ringed male seems to have taken over the female and is seen with fish, but it's uncertain as to whether the female is being fed by him or by another male.

The silver-ringed bird keeps attempting to mate with Red 6A but is always unsuccessful. Red 6A, although she appears to have an egg in the nest (she looks like she is incubating and turning an egg), is also leaving the nest for short periods probably because her regular male is not around. Today is not proving to shed any light as the female is tight on the nest due to the heavy rain and no other birds have been seen. Hopefully this week will clarify things and won't result in an egg being kicked out the nest!

No eggs yet! :-(

2009-04-21T15:44:00.003+01:00

The female has still been sitting low on the nest but there has been no changeover as yet, when the male has come in with a fish.
We are not impatient, are we?

Nearly there?

2009-04-17T15:07:00.003+01:00

Tomorrow will be a week since the original male returned and we normally say eggs will appear 7-10 days after mating! The female has been sitting quite low today and fussing about the nest which is a good indication she is getting broody.

The male on the other hand has been very lacklustre today, although he has mated successfully several times with the female.

Both ospreys were alarm calling at certain points throughout the day but no osprey intruder was seen on camera, although a pheasant was seen strolling in the background.

So will tomorrow be the day we see an egg?

All change... again!

2009-04-16T11:13:00.004+01:00

The mating between Red 6A and the green-ringed male was improving and seemed to be going well all week. He was adding the occassional branch to the nest and bringing in fish, although I was a bit surprised by his laissez-faire attitude.

Then on Saturday, as soon as the cameras were on, it was an unringed male who was on the nest and green ring was nowhere to be seen. Was this our original bird or another unringed male? The fact our female was so relaxed with him indicated the former, and on checking footage from 2007, it is indeed our resident male. He is quite distinctive as he has 2 stripes coming up from each eye to the top of his head. A marking I have never seen before in another osprey.

It's funny how when you have resident birds together their behaviour just gels and things progress so much faster. This male is on a mission and keeps bringing stick after stick back to the nest. After being off for 2 days I notice a definite improvement in the nest; it is much more formed and is greener, having been lined with moss and lichen. The male has been successfully mating with the female all week and bringing numerous fish to her, including a jack pike. Now that this male is in, things seemed to have settled down on the nest with no other ospreys venturing in for a while now.

Now we can get on with the business in hand!

Menage a ...quatre?

2009-04-09T13:24:00.004+01:00

On Monday when Red 6A arrived, the green ringed male tried to mate with her but she was having none of it and kept shrugging him off. She then did have a successful mating, but with which male we are unsure. It seemed too adept to be the green-ringed male and shortly after this mating he did try and was shrugged off again.

On Tuesday there was alot of to and fro'ing on the nest by Red 6A and the green-ringed male, with quite a few sticks brought in.

On Wednesday we finally got to see a fish being brought in by the green-ringed male. He was sitting eating it quite happily at the top of the nest when he dropped it. Red 6A, not one to miss an opportunity, nipped in and took the fish off to a nearby tree to eat it.

Shortly after when Red 6A was on the nest with green ring, another 2 birds joined the proceedings; the silver ringed male and an unringed bird. The latter was thought to be a male due to Red 6A's lack of response but could have been the previously unringed female. Talk about confusing!

Today there has been much nest building going on by Red 6A and green ring. However, although he keeps trying to mate with Red 6A, any attempt has been unsuccessful.

Nice to see you, to see you...

2009-04-06T14:20:00.004+01:00

Well the nest was very quiet until midday when the unringed female appeared with the green ringed male and mating took place; more successfully than yesterday. The unringed female was food soliciting and the male kept flying off but was unsure as to what to do. So he returned with some moss and dried grass. Good boy!

Then at 2pm, the unringed female landed on the nest and was immediately chased off by another bird. A quick zoom revealed it was Red 6A! Welcome back our resident female, living up to her reputation of not standing for interlopers on her nest. :-)

Well, hello....!

2009-04-05T20:11:00.005+01:00

This morning started with an empty nest but was soon filled by a fourth bird; an unringed osprey, which we thought was a male due to its very light markings. In a tree behind was a green ringed bird which we thought was the same one as yesterdays, which looked female due to a very brown chest patch. Then lo and behold, green ring flew down to the nest and landed on top of the unringed bird! Obviously identification by chest patches alone is not to be relied upon. Lol!

The unringed female was very receptive to advances with submissive posturing but poor green ring seemed out of his depth and tried to mate with her head! Then he landed beside her on the nest and adopted the mating posture of retracted talons and flat legs, with us thinking "but you have to get on top of her first!" Subsequent mating attempts proved just as bad with him approaching the female sideways and this remained the status for the rest of the day. He tried many times but no successful mating attempts occurred.

It will be interesting to see what happens tomorrow.

Our ospreys are back!

2009-04-05T19:57:00.004+01:00

While everyone else was reporting ospreys left right and centre, we were still waiting to see an osprey on live camera here at David Marshall Lodge.

Then on Saturday 4th amidst the pouring rain, an osprey landed on the top of the nest tree with a large trout. The trout was still alive and kept flapping, making it a difficult meal for the bird to keep hold off. After 5 minutes of pulling the fish up then it slipping back down, the fish had more or less given up the ghost and the osprey started to tuck in. On zooming the camera we noticed the bird didnt have its coloured Darvic ring but did have a silver leg ring. The male ate the head of the fish and while it was eating, another osprey landed in the actual nest. This was quickly chased off by a third bird which appeared to have a green ring, then it too took off.

Later in the afternoon, an osprey chased the male off his perch where he had sat for over an hour with the rest of the fish and landed on the nest. This time we got to see the ring which was yellow. We didnt get a good look at the letters but thought it looked like OU. This is the female that used to breed at the site prior to 2005 Since then she always turns up but is consistently chased off by Red 6A, our resident female. Is she yet to appear?

2009 season approaches

2009-03-11T14:34:00.002Z

Welcome back to the Aberfoyle ospreys blog. The 2009 season is almost here and we'll be keeping you up to date with what's going on throughout the season.

More details here shortly and at www.forestry.gov.uk/aberfoyleospreys.

Recent sightings

2008-09-12T11:07:00.001+01:00

The ospreys were still here on the 31st August (the adult male and 2 juveniles). The camera was then off all week and wasn't fixed till Friday 5th September. Nothing was seen the whole of last weekend. Then on Tues 9th September one of our volunteers spotted one of the birds. So we're not quite finished yet!

At David Marshall Lodge our live cameras are now pointed at the squirrel feeders - the squirrels are providing regular entertainment for visitors!

Still here!

2008-08-19T12:06:00.001+01:00

The female osprey has not been seen for a while but there is still at least one juvenile and the adult male hanging about. One of the juveniles came onto the nest yesterday several times, shouting for food. However, it wasnt until 3 o'clock that I noticed it was feeding on a pike. So the male obviously had brought a fish in.
This morning one bird was sitting to the back of the nest but I couldnt see whether it was an adult or a juvenile because it was so far away.

Me and my shadow!

2008-08-19T11:59:00.002+01:00

On Aug 9th I took 14 people to a nearby loch to see if we could see our ospreys fishing. It didnt bode well as the rain poured all day. Yet as we stepped out the minibus the rain eased off and we started looking for our feathered chums. After about 15 minutes we saw a pair of ospreys flying over the loch, one behind the other. From the colour of the plumage it looked like an adult being closely followed by a juvenile. The adult bird washed its talons several times in the loch in front of us and even went in for a "dook" a couple of times. It seemd to be having a bath as no fishing behaviour was observed. After watching these two for a wee while it was time to go and as soon as we got back on the bus, the heavens opened. Talk about good timing!

I need to put on weight!

2008-08-02T15:23:00.003+01:00

We had a nice view of the osprey female today sitting on a dead tree feeding on a good sized trout. She seemed to be in no hurry to eat it as she spent about 3 hours sitting there and most of the time was looking round about her. It was nice to see the female getting such a good feed. Whilst she is looking after chicks she only gets around 40% of her normal food intake. She uses the time after the chicks have fledged to build up her own body weight, to make herself fit for the 3000 mile migration back. After all she will be the first to go.

Woody woodpecker x 3

2008-08-02T15:18:00.002+01:00

Two woodpeckers were seen, one on each feeder, today. However, I know at least three have been there as there has been a female, a male and a juvenile. For those of you who dont know, a female Great Spotted Woodpecker has no red on her head, the male has a little bit of red on the back of his head and the juvenile has a red cap. As the juveniles age this red cap gradually disappears and changes to either a male or female markings.

Barn Owl chick- its lonely in here

2008-08-02T15:12:00.002+01:00

We have only seen one Barn Owl chick all day, so can only assume the oldest chick had fledged before the camera came on. The camera doesnt cover the whole of the base of the Barn Owl box so sometimes the chicks can be hiding up one end of the box and remain invisible to the camera. However, normally at some point during the day they move and you see at least the part of their bodies on screen. This hasnt happened today and one chick has remained visible throughout and its behaviour has suggested that it is on its own. (Awww!) This chick has also started to look out the entrance hole and at one point, we only saw its tail feathers, like it too was on the point of fledging. It wont be long now.

Squirrels galore

2008-07-31T11:13:00.002+01:00

It seems now as the ospreys are becoming harder to spot the red squirrels are becoming less so. Up to 8 have been seen from the squirrel hide off the Waterfall Walk. We have seen up to four on the live cameras and our whiteboard becomes choc a block with the sightings as they are about every 5 minutes at times. We now have a second live camera from the feeders, as the one on the live nest boxes proved rather fruitless once the great tits had fledged. This is doubling visitors chances of seeing a red squirrel, when they come into the wildlife room. For many English visitors it is their first sighting of a red squirrel in years and they recall the times when they used to see them as a child at home but unfortunately they no longer do. If you compare a map of the distribution of the red squirrel between 1954 and now, that area has almost halfed. Whereas in 1954 there was a good distribution from Scotland down to the south of England, now it only goes as far as the north of England. Sad times.

Are you there?

2008-07-31T11:06:00.003+01:00

After the last entry our male did go off and get another fish and sat and ate the head before bringing it in to the female. Then the two chicks landed on the nest and that was the first time I had seen them both all day. The female started the proceedings off by feeding the juveniles but pretty soon they were ripping bits of fish off for themselves. One juvenile ate while mantling his wings and guarding the fish from the other juvenile. Only when it was finished did the second juvenile get a shot.
At one point it was hard to tell who was who as the female intruder flew in scaring the juvenile off the nest and then our female landed then took off, then landed again with the male coming and going and the intruder flying in and out.
How am I meant to see rings or head markings if they wont sit still!!

Come fly with me......

2008-07-28T13:55:00.002+01:00

I've got empty nest syndrome! As soon as the cameras came on this morning, an empty nest greeted me. Both chicks had fledged. When? I dont know. All I know was that yesterday at 5:30pm they were still on the nest and hadnt fledged tho' one had been looking ready to go all day. I am quite surprised that both chicks had gone together, although one might have went last night and one this morning. I am also surprised that they are both off the nest,as in my experience they normally hang around on the nest. However, one has been spotted sitting off to the side in a dead tree.
"Mum" has been on and off the nest in response to our osprey intruder who keeps flying in. We had an excellent view of the male sitting in the same dead tree as the juvenile. He was sitting in a branch below the juvenile feasting on the head of a large fish. His meal was rudely interrupted however, when the intruder came down on top of him, he reacted but much to our consternation dropped the fish. I guess he better go off fishing again!

Feet firmly on the ground

2008-07-26T10:59:00.000+01:00

Just to let you know that there is still no fledging here at DML either from the ospreys or the two remaining Barn Owl chicks.

Marked improvement

2008-07-24T15:12:00.003+01:00

One chick seems to be determined to master this flying malarkey. It has been quite active when allowed and started with some rapid wing flapping. Then this was followed by wing flapping followed by a little jump. Next we had a little lift off. Now it has progressed to rising about 6 inches above the nest. The second chick watches on bemused.
This has all been done with repeated interruptions from our osprey intruder who seems to want to make her presence known. Everytime she comes in the chicks instinctively go down into the nest cup and flying lessons are disbanded until it is safe to come out again.
At 53 and 51 days old they are ripe for take off. Watch this space.

Heated argument!

2008-07-20T12:21:00.004+01:00

Well the weather has improved finally, with today and yesterday being glorious sunshine. This has encouraged the chicks to get up and be active. The older chick was up practising its wing flapping movements this morning but he accidentally stepped back and stood on his sibling. This chick then got up and an argument ensued. They were pecking at each other with wings out and were vying for space on the nest. "This nest ain't big enough for the both of us..."

Are you sure its summer?

2008-07-19T12:19:00.003+01:00

Our osprey chicks have been very quiet this week considering that it is nearly time for them to be flying. However, I don't think the weather has helped. We have had one very blustery day where the chicks both stood up in the wind with their wings outstretched. They stood there getting buffeted by the wind which was just about knocking them off their feet and after a couple of minutes decided that actually maybe it wasn't a good day to practice and went down and lay in the nest cup. That was them for the rest of the day.

The next two days were much the same, apart from it was torrential rain rather than wind putting them off. The female sat off to the side on a nearby tree so people coming in to the room thought that everyone had abandoned the nest! When will these birds fly?

Barn Owl... and then there were two.

2008-07-11T14:53:00.005+01:00

(Photo of another barn owl chick by Allison Henderson).

Unfortunately it seems our youngest Barn owl has died in the box. All three were seen on Wednesday but yesterday our volunteer noted this one lying prostrate on the floor of the box.

On Wednesday it did seem the two older ones were "ganging up" on the younger but no real aggression was seen. If anything I thought this one might have been eaten by its siblings so it seems a shame that it has just seemed to succumb in the box.

That's what these are for.....

2008-07-11T14:47:00.003+01:00

Our oldest osprey chick has been getting more active on the nest the past week. It has been starting to stand up more on the nest and gingerly flap its wings. Its sibling has so far shown no interest in such matters and keeps well out of the way, lying in the nest cup. The chicks are now 40 and 38 days old, so it is now only just over a week till fledging age.

Ringing accomplished!

2008-07-05T11:12:00.008+01:00

(Photo copyright Robert Scott)
The two chicks were ringed yesterday at 33 and 31 days old and all went well. The female knew something was in the offing as she was unusually absent from the nest when the camera first came on (10am) but the weather was kind, being bright but not too hot or windy, and the chicks were at little risk.

The chicks were removed from the nest about 12:30pm and taken down to ground level to have their rings put on. They lay quite flat against the ground, which is their instinct on the nest when predators approach. However, unlike the nest they didn't quite camouflage in as well. Feathers were taken from the birds for analysis to determine sex and once we know the results I will let you know on here.

Once all the measurements were taken they were put back into the nest after about 40 minutes. The chicks immediately lay flat on the nest and after a while were seen to poke their heads up. The female stayed away until 4pm until she was sure all was well and when she did come in she was quickly followed by the male with a fish. She then fed her chicks while keeping an eye out to check that the humans had definitely gone home.

Foxy lady!

2008-07-05T11:05:00.002+01:00

Yesterday morning while waiting for the ringing to occur we were treated to a view of a fox on the live squirrel feeder camera. It came out of the bracken and sniffed around the mown area behind the feeders. It seemed quite relaxed and was there for about 15 mintues rooting in amongst the vegetation. It had very dark fur looking almost black in places, which one member of staff suggested that it meant it was a male. So maybe the title should instead read "Foxy laddie"!!

Ringing

2008-06-27T16:35:00.003+01:00

The ringing of the osprey chicks will occur on Friday 4th July at midday. This can be viewed live from the wildlife room. The ringing will be carried out by Dave Anderson of the Forestry Commission who is a licensed ringer. Because Ospreys are a Schedule 1 species it is against the law to recklessly disturb them and even experienced bird ringers have to apply for a licence from SNH to do this.

Now how do I get out of here?

2008-06-27T16:28:00.002+01:00

Today a couple that were visiting the red squirrel hide last night said they were watching a red squirrel inside a tubular bird feeder that had fallen onto the ground. They assumed it was feeding on the seed inside and watched for a while and even took a picture. However, they eventually realised that the poor thing was stuck and couldnt manage to get back out. The squirrel's tail was switching about like mad and was the only thing they could get a hold of, so they grabbed the tail and managed to pull it out of the feeder. Otherwise it might have been in for a long night!

Apologies...

2008-06-25T14:26:00.000+01:00

.....for the lack of webcam, we are continually having problems with our ISP and we are trying to resolve this.

Double delight!

2008-06-25T14:18:00.003+01:00

Yesterday two red squirrels and two great spotted woodpeckers were seen on the nut feeders at the same time!
At first I thought one of the woodpeckers must be a juvenile as it was being fed by the other but on closer inspection it appeared to be a male feeding a female.
As for the squirrels, one was on the feeder at the front and one was on the bird table. Today this was topped by seeing three red squirrels; two chasing each other in the grounds while one fed quite happily on the peanuts.

Speckled twosome

2008-06-25T14:13:00.004+01:00

The osprey chicks are now 24 and 22 days old and are looking about half size now. Ospreys get 80% of their body weight in 30 days due to their high protein diet. The chicks are now out of their reptilian phase and look quite speckly with a white stripe running down their back. Apart from some sibling rivalry about a week ago, where the oldest was viciously pecking the other,the chicks have been appearing alert and healthy. Despite the miserable weather today, plenty of fish has been coming in and a nice family shot was seen on the live camera with the parents and two chicks visible to all.
At 4-6 weeks old the chicks will be ringed by a licenced ringer from the Forestry Commission.

Weasely does it

2008-06-19T15:57:00.003+01:00

Out with a school group today, we were attempting to measure the man-made osprey nest near the visitor centre, when a weasel came running along the track oblivious. As it approached closer it suddenly realised quite a few eyes were watching it and jumped into the undergrowth.
Weasels can be told from stoats because as well as being smaller they have no black tip on the end of their tail.

Dad gets the cold shoulder

2008-06-19T15:48:00.003+01:00

The male osprey came in with a fish the other day and didnt give it to the female. Instead he took the fish into the nest cup and tried to feed the chicks. The chicks were obviously having nothing to do with him, as everytime a morsel of fish was held into the nest cup, it wasnt taken and the male then ate it himself. The female watched all this going on for a short while, then appearing "disgruntled",she walked over to get the fish and practically shouldered the male out of the way. The chicks then fed from the mother quite happily.

Anyway, three's a crowd!

2008-06-16T16:10:00.002+01:00

Still only two heads showing from the nest so I reckon now we haven't got a third chick as hoped. The two heads were seen behind the wall of twigs this morning. The chicks are now 15 and 13 days old and are starting to look quite dark. This is when the chicks go through their "reptilian" phase. When they first hatch the chicks have only soft down for protection. As they get older they start developing their own flight feathers and as these feathers come in they almost look like scales. Thus, this scaly dark look along with their habit of crouching at danger gives them the appearance of reptiles. As their feathers come all the way through they start to lighten up and almost resemble the adults apart from the fact that their feathers have light edges giving them a more speckled look.

Red squirrels aplenty

2008-06-10T09:49:00.002+01:00

Four red squirrels were seen at the Squirrel Hide on Monday. Two were seen on the live cameras. One looked alot smaller so could be this years juveniles, as squirrels tend to give birth to their first litter from February onwards.

Only two?

2008-06-10T09:43:00.002+01:00

So far there are still only two osprey chick heads showing from the nest. If the third chick hasnt hatched now, it will be unlikely to do so. Thats if there were three eggs in the first place! The female is also making things even more difficult as she has been building up the front of the nest and deepening the nest cup. This is making it increasingly difficult to see any chicks. However, visitors yesterday said when the male came in with a fish, she was feeding both chicks and they got great views of both heads.
The weather has turned a bit inclement and the wind was so blustery yesterday that when the male went to leave the nest he went flying off BACKWARDS! Never knew you got "moonwalking" in the osprey world!

Barn owl camera now online

2008-06-10T09:36:00.003+01:00

We've added a link to the camera showing images from inside the barn owl nesting box at David Marshall Lodge. The images are in black and white and are taken with an infra-red camera, so they are a little grainy, but there are some great images of the birds.

The camera is live from 10.00am to 5.00pm every day at http://www.forestry.gov.uk/forestry/infd-7ffjyy.

Great Tits fledged

2008-06-07T10:03:00.002+01:00

When I switched on the cameras this morning all looked normal in the Great Tit box. The next minute there was only one left. It flappped about at the nest hole for a minute then left. All 4 had successfully fledged. Good luck wee ones.

Other news

2008-06-06T10:47:00.002+01:00

We have three other live cameras at DML: Barn Owl nest box, Great Tit nest box and Red Squirrel feeders.

The Barn Owls now have three big chicks and are progressing well. The female can be seen feeding the young during the day with small mammmals that the male has left during the night.

The Great Tits have 4 young after laying five eggs. I dont know what happened to the other egg as I have neither seen this nor a dead chick in the nest. The chicks are quite well feathered now and should be fledging any day now. In fact i am surprised they are still there! One of the adults just brought in a Thorn moth which one of the chicks devoured wings and all.

The feeders had two Red Squirrels on them the other day. One looked quite small, like a juvenile. The red squirrel comes daily and generally can be seen between 9-10am and 4-5pm. Other visitors include the Jay, Great Spotted Woodpecker and apparently the Pine Marten which I have yet to see.

Hopefully we may get these feeds on the web soon too.

2nd Chick!

2008-06-06T10:08:00.002+01:00

The head of the second chick was seen for the first time on Tuesday by a volunteer.
On Wednesday I saw the heads of both chicks, one holding up much stronger than the other. In fact the head of the second chick was only seen briefly as it veered back and forward.
The female was then quite preoccupied for the next hour trying to defend the chicks against a determined osprey intruder. This osprey which looked like a large female kept swooping on Red 6A on the nest. It was quite aggressive in its actions and even had her talons outstretched narrowly missing Red 6A's head. Our female was frantically alarm calling but the male was nowhere in sight. As the fracas progressed the intruder landed on the stump above the nest and Red 6A flew up towards her, chasing her away. Three times our female left the nest (and the chicks vulnerable) to ward off this intruder. After an hour of this, the intruder finally left and the female settled into the nest cup.
Shortly after the male came in with a fish and the female fed the youngsters. As shown on Springwatch the other night, the oldest chick got the majority of the food.
However,clever Dad came in with a fish on the hour for the next two hours.
Red 6A then brooded the chicks and took a well deserved nap!

Success!

2008-06-01T21:10:00.002+01:00

At 10am this morning the female was busy rearranging twigs on the nest and was standing well out of the nest cup. Then I saw it, a little white blob moving back and forward in the nest. There was a second movement a bit further away but I was unable to confirm what this was. I shouted a colleague and they too saw the movement which looked like the top of an unsteady chick's head moving back and forward. (The things you rely on when you cant see in the nest!!) The female then went back into the nest cup and brooded what was in there. Ten minutes later the male arrived. He started alarm calling and mantling his wings....obviously an osprey intruder about. The female then remained tight on the nest the rest of the day which was just as well as it poured of rain. Hopefully, over the next few days we will begin to see more of the secret that is in the nest!

Nearly there!

2008-05-31T21:09:00.003+01:00

Yesterday I thought the egg had hatched! The male came onto the nest about 10am and the female didnt want to change with him. She then sat ALL day without the male visiting the nest. 6 HOURS! I thought, she MUST have hatched one. She was fidgetting most of the day, looking down into the nest cup and nibbling on something. It looked very promising. Then at 16:30 the male arrived with a fish. What was going to happen next, would she feed a chick? No, she promptly got up took the fish and flew off. The male then took over incubation. Bah!
Today, I thought it's 38 days. It MUST be today. But it seemed to be a reversal of roles today. At about 2pm the male came and took over incubation. He then had to wait for 2 hours for the female to come back. What on earth was going on? So at close of play today, still no hatched egg!
Surely it must be tomorrow.......