‘Blue 44’, the osprey chick born at the Scottish Wildlife Trust’s Loch of the Lowes reserve in Dunkeld, has left the nest on his migration to West Africa for the winter. Visitors, volunteers and staff will be eagerly watching data from his satellite tag to monitor his long trip south.
Click here to watch the progress of the osprey chicks on our osprey tracking page.
‘Blue 44’ left the Loch of the Lowes this weekend and his satellite tag showed him just north of Darlington, Co. Durham at 8am this morning (Monday 10th September).
His mother is the world famous osprey, known affectionately by many as ‘Lady’, who is believed to be the oldest breeding osprey in the UK and possibly the world. ‘Lady’ has come back to Loch of the Lowes for the last 22 summers and is followed by thousands of people across the world via the Scottish Wildlife Trust’s blogs and webcam. Visitors from across Europe and the USA have visited the Loch of the Lowes to see the record breaking bird.
She laid three eggs this summer, but only one hatched. The chick, ‘Blue 44’, hatched on the 21st May and was satellite tagged by Scottish Wildlife Trust staff and osprey expert Roy Dennis on the 2nd July. The satellite tag will allow us to follow ‘Blue 44’ along with another osprey chick tagged at a secret location in Angus, as they make the long journey from Scotland to West Africa – over 3,000 miles.
‘Blue 44’ first flew (or ‘fledged’) on the 16th July. He then went missing for four days in the woods around Loch of the Lowes before returning to the nest to the great relief of visitors, volunteers, staff and the viewers of the nest webcam around the world.
Scottish Wildlife Trust Perthshire Ranger Emma Rawling said:
“We’ll be sad to see ‘Blue 44’ go, but this is just the start of his story. We’re all eager to watch his migration: I hope he has a safe trip to West Africa and I’m interested to see what route he takes.
“The data we gather from the satellite tagging project will be used together with results from other tags, to build up a bigger picture of raptor migration to and from Scotland. With sufficient data it is hoped that tagging projects like this can exert pressure on landowners and even governments to protect this migration route, which is vital to the survival of ospreys. If we protect more known osprey sites, we can continue the good work that has seen osprey numbers rise in the last 50 years. It’s a real conservation success story.”
Osprey protection at Loch of the Lowes is funded with assistance from donations from members of the public, as well the SITA Tayside Biodiversity Fund and players of People’s Postcode Lottery.
Facilities at the Loch of the Lowes Visitor Centre have recently been upgraded to enhance the visitor experience including extension of the toilet facilities and a new sewerage treatment plant to protect the health of the loch which is vital to the ospreys. These enhancements have been part-funded by the Scottish Government, European Community Rural Tayside LEADER 2007-2013 Programme, and the Perth & Kinross Quality of Life Trust.