Female osprey repairs nest at Loch of the Lowes © Kevin Hacker
22 June 2009 Listen to the latest osprey diary
The ospreys are looking great and have been getting lots of fish over the last few days. Today the male was observed diving in front of the hide on several occasions trying to catch his prey and succeeded in catching three small fish on separate diving attempts. He ate two of them himself and the other one was given to the mother and chicks.
The youngest chick was one month old on the 20 June and even though it is the younger osprey, it is the more dominant of the two and gets fed the most fish. The oldest chick is slowly beginning to build up its muscles ready for flight by stretching its wings and flapping them and this behaviour will be done a lot more often in the next few weeks when they will really be trying to get ready for their first flight. Let us hope that it is a smoother one than last year!
The 2008 chick left the nest and took to the skies for its first flight but unfortunately had not yet learned to land properly and ended up hanging upside down at the side of the nest for four minutes when it overshot the nest. The mother returned to the nest and called to the chick several times, no doubt shouting some encouragement and reassurance for it to let go which it finally did and flew around the nest several times before plucking up the courage and landing safely on the nest. It was a bit of a hairy ride for the chick but it got through it and it did not put the chick off trying out its wings again!
Unfortunately we have yet to see any pine martens at our feeders but hopefully they will come back soon. Due to the feeders being away for a month we have not seen the pine martens in the area but now that the feeders are back we expect it to be just a matter of time before they return to feast on the nuts and treats left out for them on the food tray. A beautiful white fallow deer was spotted grazing at the side of the loch today and we have a regular visit from a jay each morning at the bird feeders which is a beautiful bird to watch. The red squirrels are still dashing around the centre and we have the privilege of being able to watch this year's young birds at the feeders and see their progress as they grow up and take to the skies. The Loch of the Lowes really is a tranquil place to be just now to sit and watch the wildlife and relax in the beautiful sun.
15 June 2009
The chicks are growing up quickly and their feathers are really coming through now so you can begin to see their patterns and colours. The oldest chick is one month old today and has started eating things he shouldn’t be like the bedding and small sticks from the nest. He was also observed coughing up a pellet of bark, moss and lichens which is a rare sight in ospreys. Like other birds of prey, ospreys do occasionally bring up food pellets which consist of the indigestible material from their prey, in our ospreys case the bones and scales from fish, but it is very rare to see this happen and the pellets are generally very small. It is therefore thought that the majority of the fish consumed by ospreys is passed through their gut and excreted.
Today we had an osprey intruder flying close to the nest alarming both the female and the chicks but the chicks instinctively ducked down in the nest and the mother guarded the nest until the intruder left them in peace. Fish have still been brought in regularly to the nest and the male even brought in another eel on Friday making that two eels in a week. Seeing a single eel being brought to the nest is rare enough for this pair but two in a week is brilliant. Our chicks are still a bit unsteady and clumsy on their feet but they are healthy and are looking great.
