Dear bloggers,

Welcome to the first post on our new-look blog!  The changes we’ve made are designed to make the blog easier to navigate and to allow us to effectively display images of the superb wildlife that we regularly see here at Loch of the Lowes.   We hope you like it – we especially love the big image of our osprey above our posts. 

Preparations for the much anticipated return of our famous osprey and her mate are now well advanced. The HD camera has been thoroughly serviced ready for a new season, and we will be keeping a very close eye on the nest for any signs of osprey activity. We’ll let you know as soon as we see anything.

The visitor centre and surrounding area have been given a complete facelift with gutters & roofs cleared, hides, benches & fences repainted, and walls & windows cleaned. The track from the car park to the visitor centre is due to be resurfaced this week to improve visitor access and new information boards are being installed in the car park. By the time the new season begins we should have what feels like a brand new Loch of the Lowes! 

More ospreys have been entering the country since my last post. One was seen just yesterday near South Mimms in Hertfordshire. There have also been a couple of reported sightings in Lancashire and the bird that was spotted at the RSPB’s Exminster Marshes reserve in Devon on 1^st March appears to have stayed in the area for a week or more.

In the absence of ospreys here at Loch of the Lowes yet, we have been entertained in recent days by a group of 10 whooper swans that had stopped off on their migration back to their breeding grounds in Iceland. Not quite as large as their resident mute relatives, whoopers have a distinctly long straight neck and a black bill with a large ‘W’ shaped patch of yellow. As their name suggests, they are also very noisy birds and you will often hear their characteristic ‘whoop’ before you see them.

The feeding station remains as busy as ever, with the return of large numbers of siskins being particularly notable after a recent near absence. Michael, our new Future Jobs Fund Visitor Centre Assistant, spotted two jays at the feeders this morning; another bird we’ve rarely seen this winter. 

Have a good day,

Jonathan

Scottish Wildlife Trust’s Loch of the Lowes Visitor Centre Assistant