Its a beautful morning here at Lowes with the sun on the loch, though the wind still has a wee bite to it. Our male osprey brought in a fish this morning already, and the female has had her breakfast and settled back on the nest.

The intruder osprey ( is it the same one every day, or two birds?) has already made what is becoming a daily visit, circling over the nest around 9 this morning- you will have heard our male giving a very shrill alarm call a few times.

Elsewhere on the loch, many other animals are busy too: two pairs of great crested grebes are nesting amongst the reeds, and there are mallard ducklings already; there are dozens of swallows and sand martins feeding over the loch, and yesterday we saw our first swift of the year; the first cuckoo was heard here yesterday also, and there are willow warblers and reed buntings turning up . We’ve even had good sightings of a weasel and a hedgehog! There’s always plenty going on at Lowes.

Emma Rawling,
Perthshire Ranger