It’s a lovely peaceful morning here at Loch of the Lowes, and as the third week of incubation begins, it’s a good time to look at what patterns are emerging in our Ospreys’ behaviour so far.

Our male bird is undoubtedly a master builder, bringing in more sticks to the nest than I’ve ever seen. Even though the female seems rather cramped just now, rest assured that over the season, the nest always changes shape and will be customised for comfort.

There has been a distinct preference for pike shown by our male osprey, with the odd trout and perch making up the rest of his catch. Fish deliveries to the nest have mostly been at lunchtime (1pm approx) and again late afternoon 5-6pm. 

The female is her usual dedicated self during incubation, though the male has been doing a fair bit of sitting on the eggs- especially in the morning. It seems our female get impatient for food just after dawn (as it’s always the female who sits overnight) and if her partner does not produce a fish straight away, she gets him to take over incubation whilst she goes fishing for herself.

Please add your own observations of patterns of behaviour and todays events below.

Emma Rawling    Perthshire Ranger