by Lindsey

It’s been warm here today and this morning our male could be seen with his tongue out panting heavily. Ospreys don’t have sweat glands so this is their way of cooling down. He did leave the eggs exposed again today but for a much shorter period, just over 7 minutes and it is a warm day so hopefully no harm done.

There was an intruder Osprey in this morning that tried to land on the nest, the female was incubating and the male returned to help defend the nest. In his eagerness he wound up almost standing on her head and kicking her at one point! I’ve always said he’s a lover not a fighter as he’s not great a seeing off other birds so it was good to see him doing his bit in protecting the female and eggs.

Perhaps as part of the warm weather we’ve seen a smorgasburg of fish today with three seperate deliveries of Pike, Brown Trout and the ubiquious Mystery Fish. This morning’s Pike was obviously so tasty they recycled it a couple of times i.e. she ate some of it then brought the remainders back for him, then he did the same. All this has taken our male’s fish tally to 114 for the season so far so I reckoned it was time for a fish pie chart.

Osprey FAQ

Q: It looks like she’s listening to the eggs, is there something happening?

A: We’ve noticed over the last day or so the female was been tilting her head to listen to the eggs. What we’re not sure of is whether this is a pre-emptive behaviour or if she is hearing something. All in all it’s a good sign.

Finally hello to all the Wildlife Village bloggers who’ve been up visiting this weekend and thanks for your kind support especially the chocolate!