Good afternoon all,

Events at the nest today:

Today, our male osprey has brought a total of two fish to the nest. The first was at 06:28am. The second arrived at 03:45pm and was eagerly taken away by the female who had been calling quite fervently prior to his arrival.

It has been a rather wet and dreary day for our osprey pair today. The female has been hunkered down in the nest trying her best to keep out of the worst of the occasional downpour. She has been doing the odd bit of nest maintenance, but on the whole has sat tight throughout the day.

Other Wildlife at Loch of the Lowes:

On and around the loch today we recorded a number of species not often seen here on the reserve. On the water, appearing to relish the wet weather were three great crested grebes, as well as four mute swans, two goldeneye, four tufted duck, a pair of goosander, a Canada goose and a great many mallard. Two common gulls were also recorded and sand martins and the odd swallow were seen passing through the area.

At the feeding station, two great spotted woodpeckers could be seen from the viewing window, along with a robin, three greenfinch, five siskin, two yellowhammer, great tits, blue tits, coal tits and a reed bunting. The ever-present swarm of chaffinches was also in attendance.

Elsewhere on the reserve a pied wagtail was spotted along with a redstart. These smart, slim, somewhat secretive birds are summer visitors to Britain from April to September, wintering in Africa. Females of the species are uniformly sandy brown. However, the males have a light grey back, an orange breast, a dark face and throat with a bright white stripe above the eye. A redstart’s preferred habitat is deciduous and mixed woodland.

Simon

 SITA Species Protection Officer