It’s been nearly a week since we welcomed the return of our breeding osprey back to the reserve for another exciting season!

The staff were surprised to observe female osprey ‘Blue NC0’ land on the nest at 7:43am on Friday 17th March! Not only was she back first – usually the males return before their mate and begin tidying the nest – but it was her earliest ever arrival, previously arriving on 28th, 25th and 23rd March respectively.

She looked in great condition after her monumental 5,000km migration north from sunnier climes, either from West African countries such as Gambia, Senegal and Guinea Bissau, or possibly from the Iberian peninsula southern Spain, Portugal and Morocco.

After shuffling a few sticks about on the nest she didn’t have long to wait for the return of her mate. Around 13:10 she suddenly looked skywards, attracted by the distinctive undulating call of an osprey performing a ‘skydance’ high above the loch. Sure enough, (having no doubt just impressed his mate with his flying prowess), our breeding male LM12 landed on the nest at 13:43, returning for his 12th season to date.

It wasn’t long before LM12 looked to mate with NC0 and then headed off to find a fish to refuel after his long flight.

This will be the fourth season LM12 and NC0 have looked to breed on the reserve, having successfully fledged 5 chicks. NC0 replaced the previous female LF15 in 2020, who failed to return from migration. After abandoning the current site to breed elsewhere, they returned in 2021 to the ‘webcam site’ and have appeared very settled since.

Their first week together certainly seems to reflect a pair that are now well accustomed to each others ways, and have wasted no time in building up the nest and strengthening their bond with lots of mating. LM12 has been in fine fishing form, bringing in some huge brown trout to the nest!

It’s always a little hard to predict how quickly the pair will lay eggs, however we would anticipate the laying window to begin in late March/Early April.

You can follow the highs and the lows of the season by following our webcam, or pop into the reserve. The visitors centre is open 7 days a week, from 10:30pm – 5pm, with the hides open to the public 24/7.

We look forward to welcoming you.

‘Raz’ Rasmussen
Perthshire Ranger