by Lindsey

A quiet day on the Osprey nest with two big Brown Trout in this morning. The first fish was so big the male had trouble getting it on the nest. These two fish have kept them happy for most of the day until about half an hour ago when she sent him away for another one. She’s currently shouting loudly so we’re assuming she can see him with a fish and demanding he bring it to her. This afternoon she went for one of her regular wash and brush ups and while she was away he nipped in and nicked the rest of the fish that was there. She didn’t seem to bothered and when he returned to give her the final remains neither she nor the chick were interested so he sat on the nest  scoffing it all which was unusually tolerant of her. Yesterday saw our first Salmon of the season being brought into the nest, there were only six in total last year so it was a rare treat for them.

We’re still keenly watching the Great Crested Grebe nest as they eggs are due to hatch anytime from now on. We’ve had a couple of glimpses of the nest as the pair changed over today but  because of the lilypads we can’t see inside so will just have to wait.

One of the female Goosanders was in with her three chicks and the young Mallard are growing fast and are almost adult sized. I wouldn’t be surprised if  the Mallards have a second clutch this year, there’s alot of the ‘squeaking’ and chasing courtship behaviour that you would expect before mating.

Over on the bird feeders we’ve had young Blue Tits, Great Tits and Great Spotted Woodpeckers in as well as our regular Red Squirrel visitors.