It’s been a relatively quiet day here at the loch although our big female intruder was back circulating around. Our male had just caught a Perch so was jealously guarding it and alarm calling at her. Our young Osprey, Blue 44, has been doing a bit of flying around and a lot of shouting at his dad for fish. Our female, affectionately known as Lady/Isla/Marge has been gone for over a week now. Kate, one of our volunteers, and myself reckon we were lucky enough to see her leave. She took off from the nest and headed in aSouth Westerlydirection, which is where we would expect her to go. What caught our attention was how she was flying as it was different to what we normally saw. It was steady and deliberate, exactly what you would expect for the start of a long journey, in the same way we might pace ourselves at the beginning of a long hike. We watched her until she was out of sight and both looked at each other with the same thought ‘She’s gone’. Strangely enough the loch felt empty for a couple of days and it still feels as if there’s a piece missing. Who will go next – our male or precocious chick? We’ll just have to see.

Before he goes we thought we’d do another Fish Pie chart update. He’s been a busy boy our male with a fish tally (including our first ever eel) over 360 and counting. It’ll be interesting to see if he makes it a round 400 before he goes.

Lindsey