Whilst waiting for his female to arrive, our resident male kept himself busy yesterday by making valiant attempts to enhance the nest with freshly collected sticks, delicately arranged into exactly the right position. Earlier this morning however his efforts to tidy appeared slightly in vain as his hard work was covered by a layer of snow which fell overnight. Thankfully this is now beginning to melt, and we are hopeful to see more nest building behaviour today. Despite the nest not currently receiving any attention from any female ospreys, it did attract a different pair of birds yesterday morning. Two cheeky jays were seen exploring the eyrie, and one even decided to steal some of the nesting material. A very brave move indeed!

Once again, our male has continued to display his great condition by catching another very large pike which unusually, but much to the delight of our visitors, he decided to eat on the nest. This was quite a rare behaviour to see from him as he normally chooses to eat elsewhere away from the nest and will only deliver fish to the eyrie for the female or any chicks. They are very clean, tidy birds and will work hard to maintain the nest ensuring that no rotting meat is left behind.

A quick reminder that our visitor centre is now open every day from 10am – 5pm and there is lots to see and do. Coming up, we have an osprey themed Easter Weekend, with craft and quiz trails for children including an easter egg trail! Watch this space for more details about our upcoming events, or for more information and bookings please call 01350 727 337.

Charlotte,

Perthshire Ranger.