Good afternoon all,

Events at the nest today:

After the brief spell of squally weather our osprey pair has endured this week, life in the nest has returned to normal. Our female appears to be more settled as the nest tree is no longer being blown around by the strong winds.

At 03:21pm today, the male osprey brought in a small pike to the nest with which to feed his mate. However, the female seemed unwilling to leave the nest and the male flew off with the fish. Then at 03:59pm the male returned with the fish. This time however, the female seemed much more agreeable and took off with the fish to eat it elsewhere, leaving the male to take over the incubation duties.

We have received several questions via ospreys@swt.org.uk recently that we have already tried to answer in previous blog entries. I would direct you to our frequently asked questions page were you may find the information you seek. The link can be found below:

http://www.swt.org.uk/wildlife/ospreys-at-lowes/frequently-asked-questions/

Other Wildlife at Loch of the Lowes:

Out on the water today, several unusual species were seen. These included 6 great crested grebes, 4 common terns, 3 mute swan, 6 tufted duck, 2 goosander, several mallard, and over 40 black headed gulls. The call of a curlew was heard drifting over from the southern loch shore.

At the feeding area, 8 pheasant were recorded, along with 3 great spotted woodpeckers, a willow warbler, a pied flycatcher, 6 greenfinch, 2 siskin, 2 yellowhammer, blue tits, great tits and coal tits and numerous chaffinches.

This morning one of our Visitor Centre staff spotted 5 young red squirrels from the viewing window. This is extremely encouraging and heart-warming news as it means that for the moment the future looks somewhat brighter for our native squirrel population in this area.

Simon

SITA Species Protection Officer