Many thanks for all of your comments on the blogs so far. I think it is about time that some of the questions and speculations were answered. Before I answer the questions raised I thought I would give you some information on our birds and a little bit of recent history – hopefully this will answer many of the most frequently asked questions.
The Birds
The three main players in our blog are EJ, Henry and OVS. Both EJ and Henry were ringed as chicks – EJ in north-east Perthshire in July 1997, Henry just north of Inverness, on the Black Isle, on 9 July 1998. OVS, on the other hand, was caught and ringed at Rothiemurchus fish farm on 16 August 1994; he was considered to be a two-year-old bird at the time; this makes EJ almost 11, Henry almost 10 and OVS approaching 16 years old.
The History
In 2001 EJ paired up with OVS on his then established nest in Rothiemurchus Forest, they bred there until 2003 when EJ lost her nest to a more aggressive female, forcing her to find new accommodation, which happened to be our Loch Garten nest.
Our 'resident' pair – Henry and EJ first got together on 16 June 2003 – too late for eggs but they did stay together at the nest site pair-bonding. In 2004, EJ and OVS mate at the Loch Garten nest before Henry arrives, OVS leaves the scene and our couple fledge three chicks, they are given yellow leg rings with markings 27, 28, 29 – Yellow 28 was a male whilst the other two were deemed to be female.
In 2005 EJ and OVS mate at the Loch Garten nest - EJ lays an egg, OVS disappears. A four year old Strathspey bird comes to the nest (Red 8T) but proves to be inadequate at providing food for our female. She lays two further eggs before Henry arrives on 25 April, he is covered in oil and almost skeletal. He succeeds in chasing off Red 8T and then kicks the eggs out of the nest, a fourth egg is laid but that is also ejected by the male, no further eggs were laid.
The pattern repeated itself in 2006, EJ and OVS mate before Henry arrives. On 10th April he returns, chases off OVS and re-establishes the bond with EJ. Three eggs are laid, three chicks fledge – they are all considered to be female and were given yellow leg rings 8U, 8V and 8W.
2007 – History repeats itself once more as EJ and OVS mate yet again before Henry arrives. EJ lays an egg on 18 April and another on 21st. Henry arrives on 22 April and kicks the eggs out of the nest. On 23 April, OVS appears above the nest and is seen off by Henry. On 24 April EJ lays two eggs in two hours, Henry kicks these out of the nest too. This year was remarkable as our couple went on to produce a second clutch, eggs being laid on 11, 14 and 16 May – all three eggs fail; two eggs hatch but the chicks die within 24 hours, the third egg seems to have failed mid-hatching.
2008 is well chronicled in this blog.
Now to answer some of the many questions that the blog has raised so far.
Many thanks to Katie from our web team and the members of admin for answering some of these questions. I will attempt to answer the rest of them here. If you do have a specific question please e-mail me directly on david.gascoigne@rspb.org.uk and put in the subject box 'OSPREY BLOG QUESTION' thus leaving the message board for comments only.
Sue asked – how high is the nest
The nest is approximately 50 feet from the ground, the confusion with it being 60 feet comes from the commentary in a DVD saying we use a 60 foot ladder.
Kathyj was concerned that OVS was looking at the eggs strangely and wondered if one of them was cracked.
The eggs are fine; OVS could have been doing several things when you saw him looking strangely at the eggs. He could have been tidying around the nest cup or maybe just taking a rest from incubating. We will be the first to comment should something untoward happen to the eggs.
Carol asked if the chicks were calling from the shells.
There is usually a contact call from the egg to the female just prior to hatching, it is a little early for that to be happening at this present time.
Tiger was worried that the eggs were laid after only 8 days and asked whether some off camera matings had taken place prior to 11 April.
It is highly unlikely that any matings took place prior to OVS’ arrival. Eight days is not out of the ordinary from first mating to the laying of eggs, a lot depends upon the frequency of mating and the condition of the female.
EJ had been back almost a fortnight, had fed herself well and had fully recovered from her migration before the initial matings started so I have no worries about the timings. Infact several other nests which we observe had similar timings this year.
Wild Freckle asked 'how long is the incubation period'
As Katie from our web team stated the usual incubation period is 37 days, however it can be as short as 34 days or as long as 43. This is dependent upon several things, how well the female is, weather conditions, the amount of food the female is getting.
John B (not the sloop) asked if we were going to give OVS a proper name
I think we are more concerned with the raising of chicks this year. If it is a success and OVS returns next season it is something we could consider.
Maureen McCann asked if there is still time for Henry to come back
At this stage I would suggest that Henry will not be coming back, it is exceptionally late.
Gareth C asked how we can distinguish male and female.
The female has a brown bib on her chest whilst the male is a lot whiter.
Year 5 Gamesley Primary School are very avid viewers and have asked several questions
How will all the birds fit on the nest when the chicks are born?
The nest is almost the same size as a double bed. When all five birds were on the nest in August 2006 it looked very crowded, but they managed it.
What would happen if Henry returned after the chicks were born?
The chicks will hatch at the end of May, if Henry is not back by then he is not coming.
Why does EJ sometimes fly off and leave the eggs?
The female often takes exercise flights; she is rarely away more than 30 seconds. On occasions when she leaves the eggs for longer, she is sitting close by in the camera tree taking a break from incubating. The eggs are quite safe as the female is close by to defend them.
Do we know what colour leg rings the birds will have?
Very good question….. As yet we are not sure what colour leg rings the chicks will have. We will mention this in the blog when we hopefully ring three chicks.
Apologies if I have missed anyone out.
Please help us keep the blog running smoothly by only posting Loch Garten-related comments on the blog and sending specific questions to me. Many thanks.
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.