by Lindsey

No guest blogs today,  just me doing my usual slot. It’s been a busy day on the nest and the loch.

On the Osprey nest there have been five fish and a surprise so far, the surprise being a large eel. The female and chick didn’t seem to impressed with the new delicacy and the female had  really struggle to tear it up and eat it. The three afternoon fish (1 Pike and 2 Perch) were all quite small, hence the increase in numbers. It’s very windy today here and we’ve been watching the Ospreys really battle against the wind so it may be affecting their fishing ability. The fish total now stands at 215 so time for another fish pie chart.

Our chick continues to grow and thrive and clearly has attitude, its pecked at mum at few times and even poo-ed on her yesterday! Today, after watching it’s mum intently doing some house keeping, it started to mimic her by moving sticks around. It’s not the first time its done this but its great to see.

There have also been two intruder birds today both with distinctive feathers missing making them easier to identify. In both cases it looked like they were trying to fish but struggling against the wind rather than showing any particular interest in the nest.

Out on the loch there was a male Wigeon going into eclipse, meaning it hasn’t found a mate and isn’t going to breed this year. There were also two separate groups of Goosander, one with three chicks and one with eleven, all showing off their diving skills and unlike the Mallards quite happy to mingle with each other. The geese were out in force with the Canada Geese bringing their large goslings through; Greylag Geese hanging out with the larger flock of Canadas; our solitary Barnacle Goose that seems at home with the Canadas and; two hybrid geese we think are a Greylag & Barnacle cross. In front of the hides Reed Bunting, Reed Warbler and Willow Warbler are all zooming in and out with beakfuls of flies for  their young and a Tree Creeper doing the same. Over in our woodland we saw a female Yellowhammer feeding her youngster.

Finally thanks to Keith & Rosie Barnes for this fantastic picture of one of our Red Squirrels drinking from the edge of the loch, not something you see every day.