After yesterdays excitement on our osprey nest, when our chick was ringed and satellite tagged, today has been comparatively quiet.

The chick, now know as Blue YZ , has been very active today, with lots of wing flapping practice and even some tiny hovers on the nest- she suddenly seems like a much older chick. She has done some preening today around her tag straps but otherwise seems to be adapting to the satellite transmitter perfectly.

Some readers pointed out my mistake in yesterday’s blog, in which I put cm instead of mm when describing our chick’s measurements. To clarify, she measured 375mm from shoulder joint to wing tip, and her tail measured 1750mm and her weight was 1800gms.

This evening we have passed another milestone- by our calculations the third fish of today is the 300th fish delivery to the nest this season. What looked to be a headless pike was delivered by the male right in the middle of an intruder alarm at around ten to six this evening. Some serious respect is due to our male for his skill in bringing such an impressive tally of fish to the nest this season, despite a huge variety of fishing conditions.

Fishing conditions are now starting to get hard for him as the loch level is very low and the water very warm, which means many fish sit very low in the cooler water out of his reach. He dived in full view of the hides this afternoon, but alas was unsuccessful. Many of the fish being brought to the nest are so well eaten (or tiny) that many are unidentifiable, though clearly still good eating!

There have been two intruder osprey fly pasts today at the nest as well as a Grey Heron which caused momentary alarm.

More about Satellite Tracking tomorrow folks.

Ranger Emma