The famous osprey at the Scottish Wildlife Trust’s nature reserve at Loch of the Lowes laid a fourth egg at the weekend, the second time that this particular bird has done so in her lifetime.

The fourth egg arrived late on Friday evening or early Saturday, equalling the number of eggs laid in 2005 at the Lowes nest. On that occasion not all of the eggs hatched, but the high number this time around certainly bodes well for successful hatching in a few weeks’ time.

Only around 1% of osprey clutches have four eggs, but for a bird to do so twice is extremely rare. The female at Loch of the Lowes, known affectionately by many as ‘Lady’, has been returning to Loch of the Lowes for 23 years and has now laid an incredible 68 eggs in total. 

Emma Rawling, the Scottish Wildlife Trust’s Perthshire Ranger, said: “Our veteran osprey female has surprised us yet again. Similar to events in 2005, she has laid a fourth egg slightly later than the first three, and we very much hope to see chicks starting to hatch towards the end of May.”

Those wanting a closer look at this iconic bird are encouraged to head down to Loch of the Lowes Visitor Centre. Entry is free to all Scottish Wildlife Trust members and visitors can enjoy HD footage of the osprey nest beamed live into the Centre. For those further afield, the footage is also available via our dedicated osprey webcam: scottishwildlifetrust.org.uk/ospreycam