Good afternoon all,

Events at the nest today:

• 09:30am – Both birds on nest.
• 09:55am – Male leaves nest.
• 11:09am – Female leaves nest.
• 11:45am – Female returns to nest.
• 12:03am – Female leaves nest and lands in nearby tree overlooking loch.
• 12:10am – Male returns to nest with stick.
• 12:14am – Male leaves nest and lands in same tree as female.
• 12:17am – both birds return to nest and attempt to mate. Male leaves nest thirty seconds later, with female still on nest.

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:

Sighted out on the loch today were eight great crested grebes, three mute swans, twenty-eight mallard and an oystercatcher.

At the feeding station; eight blue tits were seen, along with a coal tit, four great tits, a jay, twenty-five chaffinches, six greenfinches, ten siskin and a yellowhammer were recorded.

Conservation work and sightings on the Perthshire reserves:

On Thursday the conservation team was joined by volunteers to help control the Bracken and Creeping thistle on Keltneyburn nature reserve. This SWT reserve is managed as a wildflower meadow and offers an array of colourful plant species.

The sun was out in the morning so a butterfly survey was also carried out; there are only around 32 different species of butterfly found regularly in Scotland but not countrywide, we found specimens of ringlet, dark green fritillary, chimneysweeper moths, and meadow brown butterflies.

The most common on the day was the Ringlet (Aphatopus hyperantus), this butterfly can be seen from June to august but peaks in July and has an average life span of about 11 days. Other sightings on Keltneyburn were dragonflies and red damselflies.

Perthshire Reserves Conservation Team