It’s been a peaceful week at Loch of the Lowes, with an abundance of beautiful sunrises and our osprey pair nicely settled into their incubation routine. They have been sharing incubation duties more this year than ever before, and the male seems very eager to take his turn; sometimes even pushing the female off the eggs! He is also proving himself once again to be a reliable fisher and has caught and delivered at least one fish a day, along with a generous amount of sticks to add to the already impressive nest.

 

 

Yesterday, an intruder osprey was spotted fishing on the loch. It appeared to be another male and, after fishing right in front of the hides, he settled in our male’s favourite tree to eat his catch. LM12 didn’t seem too bothered by the cheek of this intruder, and calmly continued his incubation duties. After a few minutes, the intruder osprey headed off to the North with his stolen fish, leaving the loch in peace once again.

 

 

In other news, the great crested grebes have been performing their beautiful courtship dance out on the Loch for a few weeks and have finally begun to construct their nest. Let’s hope they have more luck this year than last, it would be lovely to see some more of their stripy little chicks about! And it’s not just the grebes that are beginning building work; our beavers are also extremely active at the moment, and have been spotted collecting huge amounts of sticks and vegetation. We’ve been treated to some fantastic sightings of these charismatic mammals, with three being spotted at once from the hides on Monday!

 

 

The progression of spring seems to have brought about an increase in activity from all of the wildlife here at Lowes. The red squirrels are busy collecting food and maintaining their dreys, and there have been lots of sand martins skimming over the loch every day, a sure sign that summer is on its way! It won’t be too long before more swallows are joining them and the three osprey eggs begin to hatch!

 

 

Michelle – Species protection Officer