With all fingers currently being crossed for hatching over the next week or so, here at Lowes we’re hoping for as little drama as possible. However, when it does rear its head it rarely fails to disappoint. On Sunday evening we saw an intruding osprey with a white leg ring circling the nest and perching on the nearby flat top tree. Our female stoically held her ground and fended off the intruder after 5 tense minutes. Unfortunately the bird was too far away to get a clear picture of the ring, so the identity of the unwanted visitor remains unknown.

For those of you who watch the webcam, witnessing the female preening will not be an uncommon sight. Incubation is the ideal time in the season for the females to renew their worn feathers, and to keep them in top condition the birds regularly preen and oil them. Occasionally our female also treats visitors to a spectacular view of her bathing in the shallow waters at the edge of the loch, and one of our volunteers managed to capture a great photograph of one of these displays.

As we are now in the period where egg hatching is possible we are analysing the female’s every move, waiting anxiously to spot any changes in her behaviour which may indicate the movement of chicks within the eggs. We have no way of knowing exactly when or even if these eggs will hatch, but we are all hoping that we don’t have too much longer to wait.

Charlotte,

Perthshire Ranger.