With the sun shining, bank holiday visitors streaming in, and of course our chicks hatching, Lowes has become a hive of activity this week.

Incase you’ve missed anything, here’s a quick recap:

• Our first chick hatched on the morning of 22nd May. This little one is doing well, getting stronger by the day, and also noticeably larger already!
• Chick two hatched around noon on 24th May and is still a little smaller than it’s older sibling. However both are being fed daily by their dutiful parents.

LF15 has been noticeably tired these past days, even taking naps whilst incubating during the daylight hours. Thankfully LM12 is doing a great job of delivering fish to the nest, which LF15 carefully feeds to her youngsters… when she’s awake!

We’ve witnessed at least 13 fish brought directly back to the nest since hatching began, however we know that LM12 will sometimes eat the head of the fish first before returning to the nest. Taking this into account it is therefore likely to be a count of 16!

Keeping track of “whether that half-eaten fish is the same half-eaten fish as before?”, is a tricky task, but we have a team of hard working volunteers helping us out. Now is a perfect time to thank them all for their continued support through the season, they really are an integral part of Osprey Watch here at Loch of the Lowes!

As you will be aware we still have a third egg, currently un-hatched. Ospreys will sometimes abandon failed eggs to the edge of the nest, however, at the moment LF15 is still incubating this one, indicating, there is still a good chance that it will hatch.

The next few weeks will be a busy time for our Osprey couple, but they have already been showing off their exceptional parental instincts and we couldn’t be more confident in their abilities. Keep updated with their progress though our webcam, or follow us on facebook.

Thank you,

Jennifer – Species Protection Officer