by Lindsey

Our wee one is still doing well, looking strong and healthy and growing fast. There’s been two fish in today so far, both Brown Trout and both were recycled (brought in and out the nest) several times. No sign of pipping or movement from the eggs. You can see the chick being fed on today on our YouTube channel

We had intruder drama this afternoon with two intruder Ospreys over the nest at one point. One of them, a large female, was very persistent flying around and around the nest and trying to land, our female soon batted the intruder off. The male did return to defend the nest but once again showed this isn’t his forte, he flew around with both the intruders for a while before disappearing and reappearing on the nest all the while clutching his fish. It was once again down to our female to see the intruder off.

There’s been  strange happenings with our Mallards. We have two separate broods – one of three and one of seven. One of the male Mallards killed a  duckling from the bigger brood and the mother of the three attacked another duckling of the larger brood and would’ve killed one if it weren’t for a judicious thump on the window from Emma. We then noticed the brood of three was down to two, not unusual but then we noticed the brood of seven now had eight. Had one of the ducklings swapped broods? Or has the mother adopted it? Adults are normally aggressive towards youngster that aren’t theirs but perhaps we’re seeing something different.

The Great Crested Grebe are back on their nest, there’s no eggs as yet but they are constantly adding to the nest so it bodes well for the future.