What an exciting afternoon here at Loch of the Lowes with the first osprey of the season arriving at 1.58 pm today. The bird only stayed a few brief moments on the nest, but spent much of the afternoon fishing over Lowes and sitting on the loch side. He finally finished his first fish about 6pm and as the weather turned really wet and windy he flew into deeper cover of the trees between the two lochs.

So who is it? Here is what we know so far:

• It is not our resident female know by many as “Lady” – its too pale and slight
• It looks like a male bird, size and colour wise, and could very well be our resident male
• The birds behaviour since arrival has been very confident and adds to our feeling that it is probably him, as he is using favourite old perches and fishing close to the hides
• We need him to land on the nest for longer to get a really good look at plumage details etc to be sure.
• It is possible that it could be another male bird passing through on migration- in which case it is less likely to return to the nest, probably carrying on its journey tomorrow.

Lastly here are a couple of brilliant photos from Val Gall who was in the hide this afternoon watching all the excitement- thanks Val for sharing them with us.

 

Ranger Emma