As my third season working as a Visitor Centre Assistant at Loch of the Lowes draws to an end, I have been thinking about all the fantastic experiences I have had here.

 

Starting in 2019, I enjoyed a busy summer with visitors arriving from all over the world, excited to see our ospreys. That year our resident male LM12 and resident female LF15 successfully fledged two chicks. PT4, one of the chicks from 2019 was spotted this year at Kielder Forest. It is lovely to see that at least one of the young from my first season here has managed their first return journey to the UK.

 

2020 was an unusual year for us all, with the first lockdown starting in March, just one and a half weeks after I started back at Lowes for my second season. Working from home as a visitor centre assistant was unusual to say the least. Without any public to interact with in person, my role moved online, where I interacted with our followers on our social media channels. We had great fun writing blogs and even creating quizzes for our followers to keep them entertained whilst we were all stuck at home. “Who’s nose is that?” was one of my personal favorites! See how many you can work out!

 

August finally came around, and we were allowed to reopen our visitor centre! This was a challenge in itself, as you can imagine, a lot had to change to ensure that all our visitors, staff and volunteers remained safe.

 

This year was a busy summer, with lots of visitors eager to get out an explore again following the lock-downs. It was lovely to see NC0 breeding on the nest beside the loch, a very different bird from our previous female. It is fascinating seeing the different personalities these birds have.

 

We were delighted to see NC0 fledge two chicks, the younger of the two has been seen twice in the south of Spain since departing Loch of the Lowes.

 

The ospreys were not the only birds on our reserve to have a successful breeding year. I was delighted to see the great-crested grebes have two clutches of eggs on their nest this year, something I had not seen before.

 

Even after three years, I still get excited when watching the red squirrels!

 

I must say, one of the highlights of my time working at Lowes is still when a beaver appeared in front of the hides in the middle of a Sunday afternoon!

 

I decided I should probably include the answers for the nose quiz before I go…

 

Amy Bastow
Visitor Centre Assistant