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Yesterday (Tuesday 29th) was a tense day in the centre, EJ had last fed at 6am the previous day and we were getting worried. Orange VS (OVS) had not been seen on Monday night, he didn't roost in his usual spot, and only popped in briefly for a couple of minutes on Tuesday morning before flying off again. Speculation was rife. Did he roost is a different tree or was he back at his old nest? Why had he stopped delivering fish to our female? Why is he spending more and more time away from the nest? The good thing about working in the Centre is that every visitor has a different angle on the facts. The majority of people were in the "He is back at his old nest" camp, whilst I was quite firmly on the other side.

As the morning passed, and she didn't get a fish, I was wavering. I remembered back to 2005 when OVS abandoned her and after 36 hours without food she stopped incubating the egg(s). Surely that wasn't going to happen again... He has been so attentive up to now. At 2pm the questions started to come thick and fast. "How long will she go without food?", "Where is the male?", "Will she fly off and feed herself?"... I was beginning to doubt my own faith in OVS until 2.30pm when he suddenly appeared at the nest with a very large brown trout. EJ had difficulty flying off with the fish initially but did manage to get to the camera tree to eat. PHEW...... The sense of relief in the Centre was plain to see.

Why did he take so long to feed her? Where had he been? Where did he roost? To be honest I don't know the answers to those questions. But what I do know is that he stayed at the nest site on Tuesday evening and has been doing his incubating duties this morning. Panic over.........for now 

I'd like to end this blog by thanking everyone who has left comments for both myself and my team. It is so rewarding that so many of you are enjoying both the blog and the live streaming. Thank you once again.

AND (for those who asked)...... yes it was a cuckoo.

If you want to specifically help the Loch Garten Osprey Team 2008, you might consider supporting the RSPB. You can do this online via the RSPB website: http://www.rspb.org.uk/join, if you add the code PR08, your membership will be credited to the Loch Garten team.

Monday morning and still no Henry; he has never been this late before and even his most ardent of supporters are fearing that he isn't coming back. In his absence Orange VS is doing a grand job in keeping our female well fed. This morning, as day broke, he delivered a 15" pike to the nest. VS is delivering a lot of pike at the moment, he obviously doesn't like going to the fish farm.

That is about all I can say on the osprey side of things..... not very exciting I know, but with no intruders and no Henry I think the next few weeks are going to be very much the same, and I for one am not going to complain. Egg kicking and second clutches are great for making the news but not so great for our season. I am look forward to three chicks, three ringings and three fledglings.......... Henry permitting. 

If you want to specifically help the Loch Garten Osprey Team 2008, you might consider supporting the RSPB. You can do this online via the RSPB website: http://www.rspb.org.uk/join, if you add the code PR08, your membership will be credited to the Loch Garten team.

STOP PRESS...

We were greeted by exciting news this morning when we arrived at the centre.  As you will have realised from the title of the blog, it was not the return of Henry, but the arrival of a third egg!

 We believe that the egg was probably laid just after 8.00am, as the volunteers watching the nest had the first clear sighting of it at 8.11am.  We are all very excited, especially us first time Osprey Information Assistants, as this is now a full clutch. 

This egg is pale and dark pink in colour, and looks very different to the other two eggs at the moment, but don't be worried by this.  The pale pink should fade as time passes to the cream colour of all the other eggs.  The darker egg colouring is due to the time spent in the egg tract, the patterning of the egg is made from the way that the egg moved through the egg chamber. 

Orange VS has been very supportive.  Providing EJ with an 18 inch Pike yesterday morning followed by a 16 inch Trout for supper, a good supply of fresh fish is essential for EJ while she lays eggs. 

This morning he was on hand to chase off an intruding osprey, who passed by the nest shortly after 9.30am.  As I write (11.30am) Orange VS is away from the nest, and EJ and I hope that he has gone to get her a fish!

As regards Henry, it is still just alot of questions as Dave mentioned yesterday?  Will he come back?  When?  What will he do?  Will Orange VS stay?  One thing is for sure, it is going to be a very exciting and nerve-wracking few days or weeks as we wait to see what happens while the eggs are incubating, nevermind a TV soap, this is becoming more like a Hollywood film!

As I write this (10.44pm on Wednesday 23rd April) there is still no sign of our resident male, Henry. Where is he? Will he come back? Is there still time for him? What will he do when he arrives? These are just a few of the questions which I get every day from visitors to the Centre, via e-mail and from blog readers. I do appreciate everyone's interest in the subject and only wish that I could answer these questions for you. There is still time for Henry to arrive, we know that there are still a few ospreys migrating North as we speak.... Is he one of them?  All I can say is please keep an eye on the blog and we will let you know if and when he arrives.

To the second egg..... This was laid at approximately 8.30 on 21st April. EJ had been showing all of the signs of laying and she didn't let us down; I fully suspect a third egg in the not too distant future. Despite previous blog entries maligning Orange VS I do have to admit that he is treating EJ a lot better than he has done in the past, this is probably due to the fact that he seems to no longer have his second nest (see previous blog entries). This morning a 15" pike was delivered to the nest, which EJ scoffed down in half an hour....She is feeding quite well and Orange VS is doing a lot of incubating duties..... Do we want Henry back? An emotive question.

Part of me wants to see him return in all his glory, another part hopes that he finds another nest with a nice female far enough away from Loch Garten as to not disturb our season, and another part isn't too bothered as to who is on the nest so long as we get chicks. Do I want Henry back? Not sure, my opinion changes hourly. One thing I do know for sure though is, as previously stated, there are a few more twists in the story before the season is through. 

If you want to specifically help the Loch Garten Osprey Team 2008, you might consider supporting the RSPB. You can do this online via the RSPB website: http://www.rspb.org.uk/join, if you add the code PR08, your membership will be credited to the Loch Garten team.

Firstly I need to apologise for the delay in updating the blog and sharing the very exciting news that EJ laid her second egg early on Monday 21st April. 

We have been experiencing some technical difficulties with our internet connect, which has only just been repaired.  So thank you for your patience.

The story is beginning to look very much like last year's tale, one egg laid on the 18th, the second on the 21st..... but today has proved that history has not repeated itself as Henry is not yet back.  Last year he arrived on this day and kicked the eggs out of the nest.... as of yet.... NO SIGN.

A full report of events will follow shortly...

If you want to specifically help the Loch Garten Osprey Team 2008, you might consider supporting the RSPB. You can do this online via the RSPB website: http://www.rspb.org.uk/join, if you add the code PR08, your membership will be credited to the Loch Garten team.

As reported yesterday the first egg of the 2008 season has appeared. Last season our fermale, EJ, laid her first egg on the very same date, followed by eggs on the 21st and 24th ...... Those who followed last year's story will know what happened next. The resident male, Henry, returned and chased Orange VS away, kicked out the eggs and the rollercoaster ride of 2007 started. Will the same thing happen this year?

We did promise twists and here is another one..... last year Orange VS was not too bothered about losing out to Henry as he had another nest some 25km away. If the truth be told, if Henry hadn't returned and Orange VS had two broods to feed he would have probably abandoned our nest in favour of his own; especially last year because the weather conditions were not conducive to fishing and he would have had difficulty feeding one family never mind two. Many osprey broods failed last year due to the weather.

So where is the twist? Well Orange VS no longer has his other nest. At 1.10pm on Friday there were two birds mating on his nest, however, at that very same time, Orange VS was sitting it the camera tree relaxing after delivering a fish to EJ; he has lost his nest. Has he been replaced by a different male or is it a completely new pair? As of yet we don't know the answer to that question, but as soon as we do we will let you know.

So the situation has changed..... If (and when) Henry returns will Orange VS just fly off as he has done in previous years? I think that as he has no where else to go he will stay and fight to the bitter end; and if he was kicked off his other nest by another male he is not likely to want to be usurped twice in as many weeks.

Will Henry return? Will he be victorious in his battle for the nest? When will EJ lay the next egg?

There are many more questions that need answers and I think this next seven days will provide some of them.

If you want to specifically help the Loch Garten Osprey Team 2008, you might consider supporting the RSPB. You can do this online via the RSPB website: http://www.rspb.org.uk/join, if you add the code PR08, your membership will be credited to the Loch Garten team.

At 10.30 this morning EJ stood up from the nest to expose an egg.

The full details will be posted tonight.

Yesterday (Sunday 13th April) we had a new twist to our story. A rogue female landed on the nest and stayed there for quite a while, Orange VS returned with a fish and delivered it to the rogue female who proceeded to eat this fish on the nest (with Orange VS by her side) whilst EJ watched from the camera tree. The male had not, up to this point, fed EJ but instead gave the fish to the intruder.  The situation was resolved when EJ eventually decided that this was unacceptable and chased the intruder away. At one point we had these three birds, another passing osprey and a buzzard all in the sky at the same time....... our visitors were very happy indeed; even more so when the crossbill and capercaillie appeared.

Later in the day Orange VS did return with the tail end of a fish and delivered it to EJ... he has fed her again since and they are still mating frequently. The clock is ticking for the arrival of a suitable male. Let's see what today brings.

If you want to specifically help the Loch Garten Osprey Team 2008, you might consider supporting the RSPB. You can do this online via the RSPB website: http://www.rspb.org.uk/join, if you add the code PR08, your membership will be credited to the Loch Garten team.

I was writing a blog on Friday afternoon explaining how the bad weather was still affecting the migration of the ospreys but that things were about to change. We had seen skeins of geese heading North as well as Whooper Swans, the wind direction had obviously changed and we were hoping for good things. The blog was going to be quite short and to the point, basically, nothing has happened but "watch this space"....THEN, there was a buzz of excitement from the centre. A male bird had landed straight upon EJ's back, there was no alarm call from the female, there had been no aerial display from the male, no fish had been delivered. She obviously knew this bird and for a few seconds people were believing that it was our resident male Henry, alas, a brief glimpse of an orange leg ring shattered everyone's dreams.

Orange VS is back. We knew he was in the area as he had been seen on his own nest with his regular partner Green 7B, he had been back a week and we still hadn't seen him at our nest, until Friday. The birds mated successfully seven times in their first fifteen minutes on the nest. The mating has been regular, though not that frequent, since then. The male spends several hours away from the nest before returning (empty handed) to mate. Under normal conditions, the male spends hours away whilst trying to fish, but we suspect that Orange VS is spending time away on his other nest.

The male has, as yet, not provided any fish at all for EJ who, yesterday (Saturday 12th), brought in a 17+" rainbow trout for herself - if he fails to provide food for her and she has to go fishing for herself will she lay eggs? I'm not sure but I would suspect not. We can never predict what is going to happen in the Henry, EJ and Orange VS saga - this is the fifth season for this threesome and each season has had a different twist to it. The only thing we can say is that these birds are predictably unpredictable.

History would suggest that we need a reliable male to take over the duties of looking after EJ, if it is Henry then sobeit but any male will do, so long as it isn't Orange VS. The next 7-10 days will be vitally important, as we do not want another season like last year - so, as I was going to suggest in the Friday's blog  "WATCH THIS SPACE"

If you want to specifically help the Loch Garten Osprey Team 2008, you might consider supporting the RSPB. You can do this online via the RSPB website: http://www.rspb.org.uk/join, if you add the code PR08, your membership will be credited to the Loch Garten team.

Yesterday's excitement of a male landing on the nest has been followed today by the arrival of a yellow ringed female osprey. The bird had the leg ring "SN" and turns out to be a 12 year old Scandanavian bird which is now nesting in the Aviemore area. She only stayed on the nest a few minutes and then flew off again. As for yesterday's male...... still no sign.

We are not too concerned just yet about the absence of a male as it appears that a lot of the birds seem to be being held back in Spain by bad weather. A lot of the local nests are still unoccupied and it is believed that only 25% of the ospreys are back to their usual sites, so there is still hope for EJ yet. We will let you know when the situation changes.

If you want to specifically help the Loch Garten Osprey Team 2008, you might consider supporting the RSPB. You can do this online via the RSPB website: http://www.rspb.org.uk/join, if you add the code PR08, your membership will be credited to the Loch Garten team.

I think this morning's blog tempted fate because at 11.40am we had a male visit the nest. He didn't stay very long, infact it was less than a minute before he flew off again. How did EJ react? Well she wasn't here to witness the arrival because 40 minutes prior she flew off to the South, presumabely to catch a fish, and missed his grand entrance. 

We thought the male may have went off to get a fish of his own before returning to put on an aerial display for our female, but at the time of writing this he still hasn't returned. It is getting dark now so we will have to see what the morning brings.  We will keep you informed of any developments.

If you want to specifically help the Loch Garten Osprey Team 2008, you might consider supporting the RSPB. You can do this online via the RSPB website: http://www.rspb.org.uk/join, if you add the code PR08, your membership will be credited to the Loch Garten team.

It has been over a week since our resident female, EJ, landed on the nest. In previous seasons she has had a visit from a male (though usually not our resident male Henry) within 24 hours of landing...... this year, nothing. 

The only other osprey to visit the site since the last blog has been an unidentified female; she divebombed the nest, tried to drag EJ off by the wing and then, after a short and rather physical battle, flew off, pursued by EJ. Many of the visitors at the Centre had never seen such scenes before and left with happy faces. We'll be happy when a male arrives. There are reports of large numbers of osprey heading north over the border so it shouldn't be too long before a male arrives....... Will it be Henry? That, I'm afraid, is another story. 

If you want to specifically help the Loch Garten Osprey Team 2008, you might consider supporting the RSPB. You can do this online via the RSPB website: http://www.rspb.org.uk/join, if you add the code PR08, your membership will be credited to the Loch Garten team.