Events from the nest today:

It is now 45 days after the first egg was laid, 42 after the second, and 39 after the third. There is still a chance of eggs hatching and us seeing chicks in the nest this year. Here at Loch of the Lowes we remain hopeful.

Our famous pair of ospreys are continuing with incubation duties, making changeovers and regularly turning the eggs. At 10.39am our male osprey, 7Y, brought a small pike to the nest which our female then took to eat elsewhere; returning to the eyrie at 1.45pm.

Questions we received via ospreys@swt.org.uk queried what our pair of ospreys would do if the eggs do not hatch this year.  Should this be the case, it is likely that the pair will continue to incubate for some time and then make an early migration back to West Africa.  Last year, there was a third egg on the nest which failed to hatch. Our female continued to incubate this egg whilst the two successful chicks were small.  However, I’d like to reiterate that we remain optimistic, as there is still a chance of eggs hatching this year.

We have received queries via ospreys@swt.org.uk regarding the satellite tracking programme. Full details of this can be found on our dedicated webpage; so for answers to any of your questions, follow this link:

http://www.swt.org.uk/wildlife/ospreys-at-lowes/osprey-tracking/

For any more questions regarding our ospreys that you may have, please check our dedicated FAQ page and see if you can find the answer you are looking for:

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

Other wildlife at Loch of the Lowes:

We have been fortunate enough to again see two juvenile red squirrels at the feeding windows here at Loch of the Lowes.  This is an encouraging sign for the population red squirrels in the Perthshire area.

Also at the feeding station today were pheasants, great spotted woodpeckers,a  robin, blue tits, coal tits, great tits, chaffinches, greenfinches, siskins and yellowhammers. Out on the reeds near the loch, two reed buntings could be seen.

Elsewhere on the loch were great crested grebes, mute swans, Canada geese, a grelag goose, mallards, tufted duck and oystercatcher. Overhead were sand martins and around 75 black-headed gulls.

Anna

Perthshire Reserves Seasonal Ranger