Male osprey LM12 has returned to the Scottish Wildlife Trust’s Loch of the Lowes Wildlife Reserve on Wednesday 27 March at 16:38 for his 13th breeding season.

His mate for the past four years, female osprey NC0, arrived back on 08 March and has since been observed preparing their nest with twigs and moss. Together, the pair have fledged seven chicks, with LM12 having raised 21 chicks in total at this site. This will be LM12 and NC0’s fifth breeding season together.

The Scottish Wildlife Trust’s Perthshire Ranger, Sara Rasmussen, said: “It’s wonderful to see LM12 back for another breeding season with NC0. He’s now older than the average age of most adult ospreys and after a tough season last year I really wasn’t sure if we would see him again. I’m delighted that he’s looking in good condition and the osprey breeding season is now underway.”

The breeding pair also made an appearance in the latest series of the BBC’s Great British Railway Journeys with Michael Portillo. Aired this week but filmed in May last year, the series focuses on post war Britain and is available on the BBC iPlayer.

Ospreys were extinct in Britain for much of the 20th Century. They began to recover in the 1960s and an estimated 300 pairs of ospreys now breed in the UK each summer. Most of these birds migrate to West Africa but some overwinter in Spain and Portugal.

The recovery of ospreys is thanks to the efforts of conservation charities including the Scottish Wildlife Trust. The Species Protection Team at Loch of the Lowes Wildlife Reserve is supported by players of People’s Postcode Lottery, with funds awarded by Postcode Planet Trust.

Loch of the Lowes Wildlife Reserve and Visitor Centre is currently open seven days a week from 10:30am to 5pm. People can also tune in to our live webcam feed from the osprey nest here.

Find out more about Loch of Lowes Wildlife Reserve here, on Facebook or Twitter. Learn more about ospreys here.