Another day of waiting, and waiting, and waiting for our osprey chicks to hatch. As you can tell if you have been watching the webcam, we have been examining the eggs in detail every time they have been visible and so far there are no cracks or pipping hole to be seen despite our vigilance and wishful thinking. Both parents birds behaviour has been standard though and the female especially has been again ‘listening’ to the eggs, which means we have seen nothing to worry us so far. As the second egg is only on day 38 of incubation, we still have every hope this may hatch and certainly eggs 3 and 4 are still a possibility.

 On another osprey note, an intruder osprey was photographed yesterday over the loch and nest by one of our regular visitors, and it has been identified as a satellite tagged bird wearing a transmitter. I have been in contact with Roy Dennis today who tells me he is pretty sure it will have been Rothiemurchus, his young adult bird who is known to be hanging around this area- the next batch of satellite data should confirm this.

 A big THANKYOU to our visiting group today from the Wildlife Forum online, who have left the staff and hungry volunteers obscenely generous amounts of cake- this job is really bad for your waistline!

 Also today a sincere thank you to Maurice Drummond, the nephew of our original Loch of the Lowes warden Maurice Drummond, who dropped in today. His uncle was a great character fondly remembered by staff, volunteer and visitors alike, and who was instrumental in making the reserve what it is today and setting up the Osprey protection here. Maurice dropped off some wonderful papers relating to the early days of the reserve which will be invaluable for our ongoing Archive project- we are incredibly grateful.

 Ranger Emma