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Maya Angelou, the great American poet, once said "Achievement brings its own anti-climax" - is that true for our birds?

As you no doubt know our two chicks have now fledged and flown the nest, "Nethy" a week ago today and "Deshar" the following Tuesday (Doris..... let me know who got the closest with the predictions as a fluffy osprey is on the way) - fledging is a great sight to see because we know that the birds have taken the next step in their development. The down side is that we cannot always guarantee birds on the webcam for our Internet viewers. I hope you don't feel that we have hit an anti-climax, though I know a few do. It hasn't been helped by our recent troubles with the cameras... on, off, on again then off....and now back on (hopefully)....I blame Nethy.

We have changed the camera angle to allow us to find the birds when they do decide to perch off the nest and I hope that you are getting some good (close-up) views of the birds. If there is a bird on camera we will find it for you, sometimes a little distant but we will do our best.

So what has been happening this week then? Apart from the chicks learning to fly it has been quite an interesting few days. EJ is "out-fishing" OVS by at least 2:1 ..... In the past seven days the largest fish that OVS has brought in has been about 12", that is the same size as the smallest of EJ's offerings; this morning she brought in a 20" rainbow trout which kept the chicks going for a good few hours.

Nethy does seem to hog the fish when it is delivered but that changed with the rainbow trout, Deshar grabbed it and, despite all the efforts of Nethy, kept a hold and had a good feed......He's a survivor too. We have had plenty of intruding osprey over the past few days too, at one point there were 4 birds in the air and one in the tree, so even I can work out that at least one of those was an intruder.

I hope that tomorrow will see some satellite data coming through to us for the past few days, if so we will get it into the tracking page and maybe see where our two chicks actually do go when they are out of site......my bet, just behind the nest where we can't see them, but you never know. Talking about satellite tracking, in a couple of weeks time we will start to see the start of the chicks migration..... as the "fledging game" attracted so much interest why don't we have a go at the "migration game". I would like to know who will go first and when.

Nethy to leave on 16th August (Dust off your spreadsheet Doris) - closely followed by EJ, Deshar and OVS.

It does seem strange talking about migration, It only seems like yesterday when we were putting out the cameras and awaiting the arrival of EJ, doesn't time go quickly, before long it will be Christmas. Talking of the special day.... if you are scratching your heads for a present for grandchildren, nieces or nephews, why not get then a Wildlife Explorer membership with the RSPB...... We will put together a pack and get it delivered for them closer to the time; my gran joined me when I was little and I haven't looked back since. You would also be supporting us at Loch Garten which is very much appreciated - simply put PR08 when asked for a code and we will be credited......... and you don't have to queue up for ages in crowded shops either.

I would like to take this opportunity to again thank all the people who continue to support us, your kind words, comments and gifts do mean a lot; the girls are enjoying the chocolates and I am enjoying the Glenfiddich.

The next blog will be midweek when we  will do another catch-up of the recent events...unless of course something extraordinary happens, until then....................................

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 (that is zero eight), your membership will be credited to the Loch Garten team.

I think Nethy has eaten the connector as the cameras have went down again..... I will have another go at fixing them. If I am not successful ....SORRY

The camera is now back online, sorry for the inconvenience.

More to follow soon! 

It appears that our cameras are down........ I will go and have a look at what may be the problem. Apologies for any inconvenience this has caused. I will try and get them back online ASAP but if I can't I will report our estimated time of getting back online in the round-up blog tonight.

Regards

David

Just a short blog to let you know that the staff and volunteers here are trying their hardest to locate the birds. Because both birds have fledged the nest is now often empty and as such we have to pan the surrounding trees to see where the chicks (and adults) are. If we can't find them then we may just give you views of the Red Squirrels and Great Spotted Woodpeckers on our feeders.

The birds are not flying great distances at the moment and as such their movements are not being registered on the tracking page; once they do start to venture further afield then the tracking will come into its own.

I will write a "round-up" blog at the weekend.

Until then......

Well it's been a busy here at Loch Garten today, with staff, volunteers and visitors being very excited that Deshar officially fledged at 6.28am this morning. Although a little unsteady at first, Deshar's skill at flying and landing grew in confidence throughout the day.

Nethy seems to have already forgotten at only a few day's ago she could not even fly or leave the nest.  Her flights have become longer and more adventurous, by going further from the nest each day.  Before you know it, she will be returning to the nest with her first fish to show us what a clever girl she has been.

There was another rude interruption to the day’s activities of perching, preening and food soliciting, when an unknown male Osprey flew over the nest displaying to EJ?  Obviously, it cannot have been that impressive as EJ returned to the nest alarm calling, he must have forgot to bring a fish!  The chicks obediently did as mum told them and "played dead" in the nest, even though they can fly away from intruders the family bond is still very strong.

Our new fledglings are going to have fun with us trying to find new perches to hide for the cameras.  However please be patient with us on tracking them down.  The views may not be the best as the trees have a habit of getting in the way!

Happy viewing...and Dave is back tomorrow!!

Deshar fledges at 57 days, just like his big sister Nethy.  At 6.28am this morning Deshar took his first flight to the camera tree.  

It's a very windy day here at Loch Garten and Deshar did well to hold onto the tree, he finally flew back to the nest at 7.20am.

Celebrations all round.

As the doors close on the Osprey centre for another day, a cork pops off a bottle of champagne.  The Osprey team can finally celebrate Nethy's long awaited maiden flight fifty-seven days after hatching, a very proud moment.

To be honest, she took us all a little unaware as we all prepared to open the centre.  The girls were busy vacuuming the centre, filling bird feeders, I was walking up the path after changing gas bottles, and Dave was at the kiosk.  It was only when Claire can rushing out of the centre shouting my name and saying "Nethy's flown" that I'd realised something was happening.  So don't worry folks I missed it too!

Nevertheless, what a day!  Nethy had started by teasing the volunteers on shift by flying and landing on top of the nest camera (and no this does not count as fledging!).  The ever confident Nethy was not going to stop at this, at 10.04am she flew for a minute and a half around the nest and then onto the camera tree.  Dad (OVS), no doubt praising her on her latest achievement, shortly followed her into the same tree.

However, at 10.25am a rude invasion occurred on the family celebration and an intruding Osprey few close to the nest and Nethy sitting on the camera tree.  OVS and EJ both returned to the nest mantling and alarm calling, then OVS took chase.  Nethy seemed relatively unperturbed by this all and at 11.00am returned to the nest.

Deshar then started to tease us by exercising his wings.  Was he too going to fledge today?  Big sister showed him that jumping up to the nest camera was a good first step.  I think Deshar took the hint and he did an amazing hover over the nest and 1.40pm. 

This is where the confusion started over Deshar fledging (which he has definitely not done yet!).  When Deshar landed back on the nest, he switched places with Nethy, who then decided at 1.53pm to take her second flight of the day.  Obviously, Nethy was telling little brother that this flying business is quite easy.

After a hard day of flying lessons Mum (EJ) obviously took pity on them are returned to the nest at 2.55pm with a lovely whole brown trout, which Nethy promptly nicked of her!  Only giving Deshar and Mum a look-in once she had finished.

Nethy is going from strength to strength.  At 4.45pm, she made another short flight around the nest, and landed confidently on the nest.

So what will tomorrow bring?  Will Deshar finally fledge?  Moreover, will the Osprey team be able to recognise that it is in fact Deshar flying!

Thank you for your blog comments about our camera views; we would like to thank Murray Foster - Cameraman (age 10) for yesterday’s superb views of the birds.  Murray is possibly our youngest blogger (and if the Osprey team continue to be rubbish at identifying the birds apart, will be having our jobs!)  However, nothing would have been possible without the careful production by Cameron Foster - Producer (aged 5) and direction by Jenny Foster - Director (aged 8 1/2), a grand team who we hope to see again soon.

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 (that is zero eight), your membership will be credited to the Loch Garten team.

You just watched Nethy's second flight. Several positions vacant now. We are all officially rubbish

STOP PRESS...

Deshar has just fledged at 13.52. 

Following in the footsteps of big sis' he circled above the nest before landing in the top camera tree.

More to follow later.

STOP PRESS....

Nethy fledged at 10.04am this morning.  She flew around the nest for a minute and a half before landing in the camera tree.  She was shortly followed to the camera tree by Orange VS, who perched near to her.

The Osprey team are very excited and are hoping that Deshar will follow suit very soon.  We'll post a full update later today.

Congratulations to all those who guessed correctly on the fledging day and time, you're better than us!

 

 

The webcam has changed for a short while, this is whilst we await the flight of the first chick. If the flight happens whilst the centre is closed you will have a better chance of catching it from this angle.

I will look at the camera in the morning and may possibly make this the default setting. I can swap between cameras at this end, but you may only have one angle at a time, and during the working hours you will be seeing what we thinks is the best angle.

I hope this doesn't impair anyone's viewing. If anyone does have a strong feeling against this then please let me know, and if the majority want to revert back to the old set up I am more than happy to do so.

We are trying to change the camera so that you will get a better view of the chicks first flight. I do not think they will fly tonight so the cameras will be down for a short period of time this evening whilst we attempt this.

The webcam will be down for a short period (around 10 minutes) while some changes are made to enable better viewing. Please be patient.

Both are on the nest..... one is just out of view.

Everyone relax.

It is unlikely that they will go this evening...... but with these two nothing is impossible.