Good afternoon all,

Events from the nest today:

Today has been an extremely eventful day for our osprey pair so far. The male osprey was seen spectacularly catching a fish in front of the hide early this morning. An interloper was seen mid-morning in the vicinity of the nest. In reaction, 7Y made to chase the interloper away from the nest and did not return for several minutes. Thanks to the male’s efforts, the intruder has not been seen since.

In reply to a question we received via ospreys@swt.org.uk, we do have the ability to reposition the camera during the day and once the eggs are laid we will be zooming in to examine them more closely. However, this will be done intermittently and only during daylight hours as the night vision camera cannot be repositioned.

Another question we were asked was why the female osprey upon receiving a fish from her mate, promptly flies off with it to eat elsewhere. This behaviour is normal for the period before the eggs are laid as it is essentially going through the motions of incubation. Once incubation has started, the male will consume the head of the fish himself, and will then deliver the other half to the female, who will leave the nest, allowing the male to take over her duties. This gives the female a welcome break and a chance to get some exercise.

Other Wildlife at Loch of the Lowes:

Across the loch 6 great crested grebes were seen, along with 30 tufted duck, 4 mute swans, 5 goldeneye and 9 mallard. Visitors to the feeders today included siskins, great tits and blue tits, a large number of chaffinches and a coal tit. Elsewhere on the reserve a starling was spotted prospecting a nest hole in a silver birch tree and a robin was seen carrying nest material.

The highlight of the day however were the circa. 200 sand martins that were feeding on small insects over the surface of the loch. These slight, agile birds are related to swallows and are one of the smallest species of this family. They make their homes in vertical sandy cliffs and forage over open water for their prey. Their call is a harsh, rasping sound akin to the rubbing of coarse sandpaper on a surface. 

Simon

SITA Species Protection Officer