High drama on the osprey nest over the last 48hrs here at Loch of the Lowes. No, its not the arrival of ‘our’ male unfortunately, but yet another intruder osprey ! A second female has been landing on the nest, and looking rather too comfortable on it. She is easy to recognise as she is very large ( at least the same size as our female) and very very dark in plumage, with a distictive black ‘cap’.

The resident female has been frantically mantling ( standard defensive behaviour) but all her anger seems not to be having much effect on the bold intruder. Do we have a serious rival for the nest? Can our female hold on to her nest without her mate to back her up? Only time will tell.