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It's not only the Capercaillie that are showing off here in the Strath. Having made The Times, Guardian, BBC and been the subject of a quiz question on the radio we were wondering whether Henry would be satisfied with his humble dwelling at Loch Garten. All this media coverage and comparisons to Wayne Rooney could have distracted him from the task in hand. Fortunately for us he is doing a grand job of satisfying EJ.

The past few days have seen a number of lone Osprey attempting to have their wicked way with our female. One unringed male gave visitors a stunning display dance, complete with fish, above the nest. Despite leaving EJ unimpressed this stranger then had the audacity to land on 'Henry's perch' in clear view of our birds and consume the whole meal. However, now that EJ has bonded with Henry she is not entertaining any of these males! Anyone who is given a live 19" Rainbow Trout has got to be satisfied! In fact she has been having trouble consuming these feasts, sometimes perching in a tree for hours, crop full, ready to burst.

Many successful matings between Henry and EJ have occured and the nest is growing in size every hour. This, and standing together side by side on the nest whilst intruders attack, indicates a strong pair bond between the two. Will EJ have enough energy to lay a second clutch?

We've had yet another cracking day at the Osprey Centre! 

The day started with EJ laying her third egg at 8.50am, this was amazing to see another egg in the nest, but how would Henry react to this third egg? Would he send it flying like the first two?

EJ was being very cautious around Henry. But then the golden girl broke the rule book again and laid a fourth egg within two hours of the third egg. The tension in the centre was palpable.  The real test came at 11.30am when Henry landed next to EJ with a headless fish. She stayed sat on the nest for a further forty minutes, the fish being almost waved under her beak. Then EJ gave into her hunger pangs, taking the fish off Henry and flying to the camera tree opposite the nest. 

Henry was left in the nest on his own...was he going to incubate the eggs?  He turned his talons in and moved around the eggs. He fell forward onto his chest, as if settling down, but then got up again and moved round so him rear was facing the camera. Again, he fell onto his chest mantling his wings, but this time he frantically started scraping trying to kick the eggs out... then it happened, both eggs went flying past the nest camera.  Everyone was in shock, Henry had done it again!  He just sat in the nest, his bum in the air facing the camera. The epitome of dignity. Nearly everyone in the centre wanted to kick his white fluffy end! 

EJ returned to the nest minutes later after finishing her fish and discovered the horrible loss of her eggs.  She knew what he'd done again, but spent the rest of the day sitting in the nest as if she were incubating eggs. Henry kept building up the nest, bringing in huge sticks which he had to jump on to break down, and sitting on the edge like royalty.    

To date Henry has now kicked out eight eggs, four in 2005 and now a further four this season. Dawkins would be proud! The staff however are mortified!

Will EJ be able to move on and produce a second brood? If she can produce four eggs on a Size Zero diet surely with Henry spoiling her she can lay a second batch? The signs are promising; they are both in peak condition, she's incredibly fertile and it is still very early on in the season.

Yesterday evening two males were heard fighting above the nest, presumably Henry and Orange VS. Given the complete absence today of Orange VS we can only assume Henry, once again, was the more dominant male. Henry is in fine condition, having brought in a 16" Rainbow Trout before the Centre had even opened, another during the day and is presumed to be on his third fishing trip this evening. In between these feasts for EJ, he has been bringing in sticks (of characteristically impractical sizes!), moss and bark throughout the day. Using his now reknowned leg muscles Henry has also been scraping out the nest cup with gusto. This bonding process was more or less absent between Orange VS and EJ and Henry's actions appear promising for the forth-coming days. Will EJ lay a third egg and Henry assume it's his own? Will she lay a fourth egg as she did in 2005? Will Orange VS, as one visitor questioned, have already returned to his concubine down the glen?!

We had a promising start to the day with Orange VS bringing in a large live Brown Trout, an exquisite showing of a male capercaillie strutting his stuff and Goldeneye eggs freshly laid in their nestbox. A calm then descended.

The storm arrived at half two with a high-pitched peeping call above the Centre. The visitors rushed out to see a male displaying to EJ. Moments later the male landed on the nest. So from the title can you guess who it is yet?! All eyes were on the close-up monitor, the orange eyes and lack of coloured leg ring gave the game away. Henry was back! Staff and visitors were ecstatic.

So why was EJ not happy to see him return? Our feisty female mantled her wings and forced Henry off the edge of the nest. Determined to impress her he returned a while later to once again perform a sky dance, this time with a fish in his talons. Henry was initially reluctant to hand over the fish but EJ eagerly snapped it away crucially exposing the eggs. To the visitors excitement Henry started moving sticks around but the mood quickly changed as he began to scrape the cup out. Visions of 2005 returned as we watched Henry kick both eggs from the nest. One shot clear over the side whilst the other balanced precariously on the edge. There was shocked silence in the Centre and hands over mouths in disbelief.

Despite this EJ and Henry stayed side by side on the nest. Within the hour he had disappeared to return with a freshly caught fish. Two fish within a matter of hours means Henry is already proving himself with his fishing prowess and putting Orange VS to shame.      

We await Orange VS' response.   

At 11.45am today EJ stood up to stretch her legs and turn the egg as usual, but hold on a second, something had changed. On closer inspection she wasn't turning one egg but two! So our pair have now had two eggs together and EJ has been incubating them patiently waiting for Orange VS to bring in the next meal.

Despite reports of further Osprey crossing the Channel with sightings in the South there have been no intruding Osprey around the nest today. Even Orange VS has scarcely been seen, bringing in just one 8" Rainbow Trout at 7am this morning. Let's hope that he brings in more fish soon, come on Orange you can do it!

Will this be Orange VS' first successful season with EJ at Loch Garten? Henry has still not returned and EJ is due her second egg. With VS repeatedly disappearing for many hours at a time and bringing in only one or two fish a day we are getting concerned for EJ.

What is the reason for this behaviour? Well, a female has been seen at Orange VS' other nest. Is this the reason for his long periods of absence and his inability to regularly bring decent-sized fish to our female?!

What we need is Henry!

Or is it?! Although Henry is a fabulous fisher, a great nest builder and generally unique Osprey we only need to look back two years for some disturbing actions. Once he returns will he kick out Orange VS' eggs? Will he return before she lays a second and third and accept these once they are laid? We cannot predict the next few days.

Several intruding Ospreys have been seen over the nest in the past few days. None have caused much upset so far but will Henry be the next to make a visitation? Will he have a fight on his hands or will Orange VS slink back to his other nest?

Poor EJ. Our night shift volunteers gave us the news that she hadn't eaten since 4pm the previous day. Orange VS hadn't even called in that day to mate! This is not the way to impress a female! At 9.30am an unringed male landed on EJ's back. Now re-read that sentence. An unringed male? Ring any bells?! Was this Henry? The staff were literally jumping for joy at this prospect.

Despite EJ not allowing him to mate he continued sitting on the nest for a few minutes before flying off into the distance. This gave our staff the chance to look at recorded footage of this newly arrived male. Visitors to the Centre will be aware that Henry only has his BTO ring and, unusually for an adult, has orange eyes, neither of which this male possessed. We had jumped the gun!

We waited with baited breath for either bird to return. EJ waited. The visitors waited...

.......at 12.30pm EJ was sitting low in the nest. We were mid-presentation when a visitor piped up, "Isn't that an egg?". We were so hoping that Henry would turn up before any eggs were laid. A few confusing moments followed as we thought that the visitor may have got mixed up with last year's footage, but no. They were spot on, EJ has laid her first egg!

Mid afternoon, Orange VS arrived for the first time that day with a juicy pike in claw, and resentfully handed it over to our hungry female. Unsurprisingly, given his years of experience, he took over incubation duties from EJ. Soon after he brought in a second pike. Is our rakish male settling down to role of provider? Has he finally pulled up his socks, (over his reversible outer talon)?

Will EJ get any more visitations from newly arrived suitors? Will Henry turn up before the full clutch appears and kick them out or will he accept them as his own?

Will this emotional rollercoaster subside?! Given the history of our birds we somehow doubt it! Could the Coronation Street scriptwriters have come up with a better storyline?!?

Keep a close eye on the webcam to see the up and coming twists and turns. We will endeavour to keep you updated with the latest news from Loch Garten.

The first Swallow arrived on the reserve this week; and that’s not the only treat!  To the delight of many visitors and a thoroughly over excited osprey team, a male Capercaillie displayed in front of the hide at 4 o’clock in the afternoon! 

This reflects the tremendous success of Caper-watch, which runs every morning from 5.30am to 8.00am until 20th May.  Today, four male and three female Capers were seen from the hide, the highest number recorded this season, well done to the Caper-watch team. 

We have also had sightings of Otters, Red-breasted Mergansers, Common Sandpiper around Loch Garten and Cresties and Lizards being seen along the paths in Garten Wood.

Visitors to the Osprey centre have had the added spectacle of Red Squirrels and Greater Spotted Woodpeckers on the feeders.

So to the bit you’ve all really been waiting for…Is Henry back?

Well it is definitely the most asked question from every man, woman and child in the Osprey Centre!  But no sightings of him yet in the area. We’ve had reports of a fresh wave of Osprey being seen over Southern England. Is Henry one of these late-comers? We’ll keep you posted!

To EJ and Orange VS, is he a worthy male? 

Well she doesn’t seem that convinced herself.  The bonding between her and Orange VS when nest building….well, isn’t there.  Fish are few and far between, could he support a mum and chicks? 

And Orange VS… where does he go?  He leaves EJ for long periods of time on her own, and returns with no fish. What has he been doing? Does he have another bird on the go?!

Perhaps it’s time we tied some yellow ribbons ‘round…..the ole Scots Pine.

Wednesday proved very quiet until 16.55pm. There had been no sign of Ospreys, despite news of some sightings around Aviemore. Visitors as well as volunteers were getting agitated: "Where's EJ? She's late!". Finally, half an hour to closing-time, our patience was rewarded. With no fanfare EJ landed gracefully on the nest. I do believe there were tears in the Centre. Our female was safely back from her wintering grounds, and looking amazingly healthy.

Thursday morning saw staff and volunteers all getting out of bed just that extra bit earlier. Would EJ still be around? Or even more important, would she have been joined by Henry??

Our volunteers coming off night shift greeted us with two words, Orange VS! We knew this osprey had been spotted in the area a few days previously, and was possibly the individual seen overflying the nest. There were hefty sighs and groans on watching him, once again, impressing EJ.  Now, the writer is generally a fan of the underdog but Orange VS has been a bit of a wimp in previous years. We try not to show favouritism, but Henry has always proved himself the ideal mate.

This is now the fourth year Orange VS has arrived back before Henry and true to form, mating occured straight away. Granted he performed an impressive sky dance, but she was just a little too quick to accept his advances if you ask me!  Our fear is a repeat of what happened in 2005, when Henry returned to freshly laid eggs and with a kick that any footballer would be proud of, the eggs disappeared over the side of the nest.

However, given EJ's late arrival this time Henry should turn up before any eggs are produced. Or will he? Maybe we should give Orange VS the benefit of the doubt?.. Both birds have been nest-scraping, and Orange VS has been delivering moss and sticks in earnest. The following days should prove very interesting!

Three days the Centre has been open and still no Osprey have claimed the nest! This is the first time we have opened our doors to the public with no birds yet inhabiting the nest. Where is EJ?!

By now we would have expected an Osprey to have begun scraping out the lush sward of vegetation that has grown on the nest over the winter period. Instead the only activity it has seen in recent days has been the playful antics of crested tits. We are not concerned because Osprey have been slow generally to return to the Spey area this season.

We have had three or four fly over the Centre but, until today, none have ventured near the nest. Are these males scouting the area for females? We know that our aged rogue Orange VS is back in the area for another season. Will he be throwing yet another spanner in the works this time round?!

Excitement built this morning when a female approached the nest looking as though to land but she soon disappeared without so much as a by your leave. Luckily, our visitors have been kept amused by male Capercaillie popping their heads up and down amongst the heather. No one has yet suspected the Warden and her suspiciously Capercaillie-like glove puppet....