It’s been a surprising 24 hours here at Loch of the Lowes.

Our breeding male, LM12, was last seen on Friday morning at 9.44am chasing off an intruding osprey. The female, LF15, has been left to incubate all day, with no visits, fish or changeovers in incubation by LM12.

A possible sighting of an osprey behind the nest at 9.15pm by our Osprey Watch volunteers that same day  may have been our male, but this could not be confirmed.

Meanwhile, LF15 settled down to incubate for the night.

As dawn broke and the sky became clearer several ospreys could be seen in the area with an intruding osprey attempting to land on the nest, much to the dismay and agitation of the female. She loudly alarm called, beat her wings to drive him off and mantled over the eggs.

An unidentified intruder attempts to land on the nest, only to be driven off by LF15.

Since this incident, there have been several more attempts this morning by intruder ospreys to land on the nest. It’s possible this is in a bid to court LF15 or take over the nest. At times there have been upwards of four ospreys in the air above Loch of the Lowes, sometimes as many as six.

PH1 returns

As if today’s events weren’t unusual enough, a male osprey appeared to land on the nest during a period of several ospreys in the air, with no aggression from LF15 at all; his leg ring code was captured by photographers and reads PH1.

Leg rings (known as Darvic rings) are attached to chicks before they fledge so that they can be identified during their lifetimes and their movements and activities can be tracked. The code PH1 belongs to a Loch of the Lowes osprey from 2017; in other words, this is LF15’s two year old son! Ospreys are able to breed from 2-5 years of age, so the return of PH1 is likely his first time back in Scotland, and may indicate his willingness to find a mate.

A future blog will cover details surrounding this extraordinary moment.

A male ringed osprey (PH1) arrives on the nest – LF15’s son from 2017!

LM12 returns

After these dramatic events and amidst a flurry of intruder ospreys, LM12 finally arrived back at the nest! He sat close to LF15 and repeated alarm calls towards intruders, before flying off himself. A very eventful morning, but the excitement is far from over!

LM12 arrives after his long absence!

Andy
Species Protection officer