Events from the nest:

It is now 49 days after the third egg was laid by our female osprey in residence here at Loch of the Lowes for the 21^st consecutive year.  The average incubation period for osprey eggs is thought to be 37 days and, although our female osprey has surprised us many times in the past, it now seems highly unlikely that the eggs will hatch this year.

Sadly these things can happen in nature, and while in many ways it is disappointing that we are not going to see chicks on the nest this year, it is worth remembering that our female osprey has now laid her 61^st egg, which is still an astonishing achievement.

Presently, our ospreys are continuing to incubate the three eggs.  This is behaviour we expect to see. It has been known for ospreys to continue to incubate unsuccessfully for up to a month after eggs were due to hatch.

We will now expect our ospreys to remain in the area and make for an early migration back to West Africa as the season dictates.  Viewers of the webcam can continue to follow live footage of our famous pair of ospreys streamed from the nest here at Loch of the Lowes  www.swt.org.uk/wildlife/webcams/loch-of-lowes/, while visitors to the reserve may be lucky enough to see one or both of our ospreys in flight.

While we are disappointed that we are unable to initiate the satellite tracking project this year, it is our intention to progress with this important study next spring. For more information on the future of our satellite tracking project, follow this link: http://www.swt.org.uk/wildlife/ospreys-at-lowes/osprey-tracking/

To view our press release relating to this year’s eggs, see:

http://www.swt.org.uk/news/oldest-ospreys-eggs-fail-to-hatch/

 Anna

Perthshire Reserves Seasonal Ranger