Osprey's return for 2012 Season!

As many of you may have read the Aberfoyle Osprey season is just about to begin. This year for the first time ever we are showing three live nests, two of which are being shown through HD. We have already had ospreys on all three nests and signs of attempted mating between pairs.

On nest site 1 (the nest that we have shown in previous years) we have already seen the return of Red 6A (our female from 2006 - 2010) who failed to return to the nest at the beginning of the 2011 season, but was seen on site later in the year. She seems to have been joined by a metal ringed male, whom we presume is the infamous male from the last few years.

For those of you that want to follow the action minute by minute we will be tweeting @aberfoyleosprey and also Facebooking at www.facebook.com/aberfoyleospreys. We are also hoping to get the webcam link up and running this week, sorry for the delay in this :-)

Other sightings and live cameras currently on show at the David Marshall Lodge Visitor Centre include Barn Owls, Red Squirrels and for the last few weeks we have been catching a glimpse of a Pine Marten, but we are keeping our eyes fixed on the osprey nests as another season at Aberfoyle begins!

Not Long Now!

Believe it or not in just over 2 months our ospreys should be back with us and we will be at the start of a brand new season. The are lots of improvements planned for the David Marshall Lodge Visitor Centre and because of this some of our outside areas/car park is currently closed off to visitors. The visitor centre itself though is still open (11th - 19th & 23rd - 26th Feb 10am - 4pm and 1st March, open 7 days) and while be eagerly anticipate the arrival of our ospreys we are seeing plenty of Red Squirrels and even a Pine Marten on our feeder cams.

There are some new exciting plans this year, which I will tell you more about soon. We were out last week checking that all our ospreys nest had survived some of the harshest winds for many years and while there is odd one or two needing a bit of work, on the whole things aren't looking to bad. All the electrics were also put in last week and hopefully we will be continuing our change over to HD, I'll keep you posted.

Red Squirrels going global!

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

Winter Hits the Lodge!

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!

Osprey Update!

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!

Squirrels abound

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

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.