Taking into consideration the bleak weather early on in the week the female had been doing a great job at keeping the ever growing chicks warm and sheltered. This, however is often counterproductive to the chicks own intentions of poking their heads out from underneath their mothers protective corral to explore their new world.

Now that the season is progressing and more fish are needed to be caught to keep up with the chicks’ insatiable appetite we are starting to see more and more fishing attempts in Lowes itself. On Wednesday evening just after 10pm the male treated us to a spectacular fishing display right in front of the hide. He had just brought a fish to the nest at 9.50pm and was immediately spotted perched in a tree scanning the water, clearly looking for his next meal. After 10 minutes he plunged into the loch and soon after surfaced with sizeable perch, once again proving his worth as a provider. This catch however was not returned to the nest for the chick but was instead eaten by the fisherman himself.

However not all fish are so willing to play their part in the food chain, as was demonstrated on Thursday morning. At approximately 4.30am the male had brought to the nest a still very much alive brown trout. The fish managed to break free of the female’s grasp and proceeded to thrash about the nest eventually landing on top of two of the chicks. At this point the female decided to stretch her wings and resolve the situation upon her return where she pulled the trout off the chicks to the side of the nest. The fish then continued to thrash its way out of the nest and to a presumably unfortunate end.

Will

Species Protection Officer