Blogs

As of 18.00 tonight (31st August) - our birds were still quite static. Deshar has found a nice lake to fly around and Nethy is quite near a river - wise birds. When will they resume their "African Adventure"? As soon as we know - you will.

The previous blog was just to say goodbye and thank you from Team LG for your support. The blog will continue in a slightly different style until it becomes a forum - it will be a short information piece about the birds location - the latter part of this blog will give an example of what information you will get; the team is still around for a couple of weeks so if you are local and wanted to say goodbye in person - your presence would be more than welcomed.

If you are suffering from blog withdrawal then there are plenty more RSPB blogs which you can visit http://blogs.rspb.org.uk/mulleagles/ is my favourite.

OK - Update on the birds. Data was downloaded at 06.26 this morning (30th August) and the birds still haven't moved much from their previous locations.

As of 21.00 on 29/08/08 - Nethy was 1.35km SE of Fairford.

As of 04.00 on 30th August - Deshar was 2.6km NW of Hythe.

The data shows that the birds are still active and flying around. It is not unusual for birds to take a few extended stop-overs on migration. As soon as they move, you will know.

An update on the Chicks - As of 9pm yesterday (28th August) Nethy was still around the Fairford area, and as of 4am this morning (29th August) Deshar was still in Kent - he had actually flown North again for a short period of time, and has spent the last few days between Hythe and Canterbury. The birds are still quite active despite their lack of "progress" south.The map will be updated as soon as they make any significant movement. 

As the season draws to a close at Loch Garten I think it is time to say au revoir from all the team - The Centre will remain open until 7th September so if you are in or around the area do pop in and say hello - even though the ospreys have flown there is still plenty to see; in the past few days we have seen the crested tit on a regular basis, flocks of crossbill and of course red squirrel and great spotted woodpecker along with the regular common birds which use the feeders.

I suppose the best place to start is a round up of the season, so for those of you who weren't around in late March, here is the season highlights in full

26th March - EJ arrives at the nest, fortunately she finds it empty and doesn't have to fight off any intruding birds
Early April - Dreadful snow arrives and EJ sits alone on the nest getting covered in snow
11th April - Orange VS arrives at the nest and immediately mates with EJ
18th April - The first egg is laid
21st April - The second egg is laid
24th April - The clutch is complete with the laying of the third egg
24th May - At 9.00 the first hatching is observed
26th May - The second chick appears
29th May - The third chick is born in the early hours of the morning
26th June - The third chick dies
5th July - The two remaining chicks received their leg rings and satellite tags - It is believed that the eldest chick is  female, she was given a white leg ring bearing the letters AY and was named Nethy. The other chick was thought to be  male, was given a similar leg ring with the letters AZ and was named Deshar.
20th July - Nethy take her first flight
22nd July - Deshar follows in his sister's wingbeats and fledges too
14th August - At 10.30 EJ arrives at the nest with a fish, she leaves it for the chicks and then circles higher and higher above the nest until she becomes a dot in the sky - this was the last time we saw her
15th August - Our last sighting of the adult male was at 13.46, he arrived at the back of the nest with a fish, ate it all himself and then disappeared, never to be seen again
17th August - 18.34 was the last official sighting of Nethy at the nest site

19th August - Deshar was last seen at the nest on 19.45, we had feared the worst after several days of absence only to be surprised when his satellite data came through 

Add to this numerous intruding ospreys and EJ bringing in two fish in 22 minutes and all-in-all we have had quite an eventful season. So what was the highlight for you? I can't really choose one, but if I had to it would be between seeing EJ land on the nest in the last week of March, the week in early June when the three chicks were harmonious or the news that Deshar had started his migration. As for the low point - we all know what that was. 

On the subject of migration may I take this opportunity to clear up a couple of things with the tracking.
1. The birds don't necessarily fly in the straight lines which you see on the map - we get a position every hour (during daylight) and these are joined together.
2. The map is not always updated daily - quite often the birds may stay in or around one place for a few days, showing these "micro-movements" will not add to the overall picture of the map, rest assured as soon as they make a significant journey from their previous location it will be reported.

I'd like to thank all of the bloggers for their comments, questions and suggestions - even those who didn't agree with what we were doing, you all added to the success which was the blog - I can remember getting the first comment from Ian Denton back in March and wondering whether the project was going to be a success or not - I think we know the answer to that question now. Over 250,000 people have viewed the webcam, read the blog or followed the birds on the tracking page - several schools have used the webcams to help in their children's education, new friendships have been formed and old ones rekindled.

One final request - If you have ever considered joining the RSPB please consider joining through Loch Garten - put PR08 (that is zero eight at the end) in the promotional code box and we at Loch Garten  get accredited - doing this does help keep our operation up and running - thank you to the 42 people who have done this for us already. The final, and biggest, thank you of the season must go to Katie Fuller at The Lodge - she has worked tirelessly in the background all year, without her input this operation would not have been the overwhelming success which it has been.

Next year will see a new team in place and I hope that they have the success which we have had this season, I hope that you all continue to follow the birds over the winter and I hope you are all back on the webcams in late March 2009 awaiting the arrival of EJ. Please afford to them the courtesy and enthusiasm which you have all shown to Operation Osprey 2008. So from Claire Ansell, Claire Foot, Louise Gregory, Rachael Hudson, Keeley Spate and myself - "Team LG" -  THANK YOU and GOODBYE

It is great to see that our two chicks are on their way South. All those fears about Deshar not fishing have been proven wrong, and Nethy, as someone has already stated, is currently eating her way down the centre of England. To be serious for a moment, this is just the first leg of a long and dangerous journey for the birds, they may at times stay in and around one location for a few days - maybe weather is preventing them from continuing their migration, or possibly they are taking an opportunity to replenish body fat. Please don't be too alarmed if it appears that a bird hasn't moved - assume no news is good news.

The Google Earth map will be updated on Tuesday

I have just checked on their positions and as of  5pm yesterday (24th August):

Nethy was in Fairford which is 10km east of Cirencester.

Deshar was near Brockhill Country Park, Folkestone 

There has been no sign of EJ since Thursday, so it looks like we can safely say she has started her migration south! The chicks have been left unsupervised since Friday, with OVS also being absent since he flew in with that fish,which he proceeded to eat the whole thing himself.

Although this may seem worrying at first, he may be employing an advanced parenting method, know as the 'starvation technique', to kick in the natural survival instincts of the chicks. This is quite normal behaviour, and actually quite understandable. After all, why would a youngster go to the bother of getting its own dinner if its parents keep on providing...sound familiar?! However, this is obviously a critical time and there is always the risk that a chick may be continually unsuccessful when fishing, become weaker and weaker and eventually starve to death. Many other ospreys and indeed other animals are taking similar risks as I type...although that doesn't make it any less nerve racking for us!

Nethy's behaviour over the last few days has been very encouraging as she has spent very little time on site and presumably has been gaining strength and perfecting that fishing technique (we hope!). The satellite data shows that she has flown over both the nearby lochs, Loch Garten and Loch Mallachie and as you already know she has returned to the nest wet and muddy. The adults don't actually fish on these lochs (they are very peaty) so we wouldn't expect her to have much success on either.

Although we are all eagerly awaiting the day when one of our chicks returns with a fish the fact that they haven't doesn't mean that they are being unsuccessful. Think of it this way.... if one of the chicks catches a fish (I imagine it's pretty tiring!) why go to all the extra effort of carrying it back to the nest AND trying to keep it from your hungry brother or sister when you could just eat it somewhere nearby?

Deshar has been spending a lot more time on site than Nethy, but from his satellite data we know he has been flying as far as Loch Garten - has he been attempting to fish here too? Over the past few days we have seen a number of intruding ospreys fly a little too close to the nest for Deshar's liking and he has successfully defended the nest and sent them on their way by mantling his wings to make himself look bigger.

Hopefully by the end of the week we will have some more satellite data and will be able to update you on where the chicks have been flying to. And please be assured that if Nethy or Deshar returns to the site with a fish we will update you as soon as possible.

In the meantime....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 expect Nethy and Deshar are feeling rather hungry today. The last time we had a fish brought to the nest was 10.20 yesterday morning, delivered by EJ (who else!!). EJ has not been seen since (has she started her migration? We are not sure but watch this space!). Earlier on this afternoon we watched Orange VS land on Henry's perch with a big trout. Our two chicks also spotted this, and promptly flew over to the nest and began to beg for a bit of lunch. However, OVS was having none of it, and proceeded to eat the trout from head to tail, leaving nothing for our two bemused chicks. You could accuse OVS of being greedy, or maybe it was a lesson in tough love. The hungrier Nethy and Desher get, the more likely they are to head off and find their own supper. And I am sure they are feeling pretty hungry by now!

So has all this food deprivation worked? Well, as yet we have not seen either chick come in with its own fish, but it is just a matter of time. Both chicks have been seen looking somewhat wet and muddy, presumably from failed attempts at fishing! This is very enouraging for us and we know it wont be long before one of the two catches its first fish. My money is on Nethy first...

The osprey nest is looking quite empty and neglected now that our Osprey family are no longer residing there However, give it a closer look and you may just spot a few new residents that have moved in.... we have been informed that a crested tit was spotted on the web cam, flitting around the nest, probably looking for insects. We also found a spotted fly catcher sitting on the top of the nest yesterday morning. So not as empty as it may seem!

The title of the blog explains the situation that we have here at Loch Garten.  Despite Deshar being eleven weeks old today, we still await the first fish being brought in by a chick!  However, Nethy did return again yesterday with muddy legs and a muddy chest, so she is obviously trying, its just that so far the fish have all managed to get away!  The co-ordinates from her satellite tracker back up this theory, showing that she has been down to the loch at least four times recently.  The main reason that she is being unsuccessful, is her choice of water to fish in.  Those of you who have visited the Osprey Centre, hopefully also had some time to enjoy the beautiful loch, and you will therefore have noticed that it is incredibly peaty, making it very dark, and therefore difficult for an osprey to spot fish in.  Indeed, our adult birds do not use Loch Garten to catch fish, prefering other small local lochs, the River Spey, and of course the fish farm.  Hopefully, Nethy will realise soon, after her failed attempts, that if you are feeling hungry, Loch Garten is not the way to go!

This morning, in the centre, we having been playing some footage of EJ feeding Nethy and Deshar when they were one and three days old respectively!  Although, we are still awaiting them catching their first fish, it is amazing to think how much they have grown and achieved in the past eleven weeks.  We had all three of them on the nest for those first four weeks, with Nethy and Deshar growing fast, from the tiny chicks that hatched out of the eggs, into their reptilian stage where their feathers came through, and it was almost possible to see a daily growth.  We saw EJ bring in the huge 17 inch fish on the 17th June, the first of many that she has brought for the chicks from her very impressive fishing missions.  We had the sad loss of the third chick on 26th June, followed by the excitement of the ringing on 5th July, where Nethy and Deshar not only received their leg rings and satellite trackers, but also their names!  Recently, we have witnessed the maiden voyages of both Nethy and Deshar, on 20th and 22nd July respectively, and they are both now accomplished at flying with a fish in theoir talons.  It is just a matter of time and practice until we see a chick return to the nest with a fish.

 VS brought in a fish at 11.20 this morning, which Deshar took to one of his favourit perches, so that he could eat it in peace, away from his sister!  However, as usual EJ had beaten VS to it, bringing in the first fish at 6.15 this morning!  As I write, EJ is away from the area, possibly fishing, whilst VS is perched underneath the nest, so just a normal day at Loch Garten!

We await the next fish...but who will bring it in, EJ, VS, maybe Nethy, or possibly even Deshar?  I know who my money would be on!

In the meantime....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.

Firstly, apologies for bringing this blog to you later than planned! We have had some issues with the internet here but they seem to be resovled now. Thank you for bearing with us and once again thank you all for your continued support and interest.

Extract from Tuesday's Log Book:

12:35pm EJ delivers 10" brown trout to the nest. Deshar starts to eat it. VS flies in and tries to steal the fish.

12:57pm EJ delivers 13" rainbow trout to the nest.

Yes, you did read that correctly...in the space of 22 minutes EJ flew off to the fish farm, caught a rainbow trout and delivered it back to the nest!!! That must be some sort of record! It is certainly the fastest time this season in which EJ has successfully fished, with her previous record being 35 minutes. So, not only do we have EJ down as a bit of a rule breaker this season, it looks like she is also a bit of a record breaker.

EJ has continued out-fishing VS over the last few days and this morning at 10:30 delivered a massive rainbow trout to the nest. Just as this happened she began to alarm call as an intruding osprey flew close to the nest. VS promtly gave chase and eventually warded the determined intruder off.

 We are still waiting for the juveniles to begin fishing for themselves and are all eagerly awaiting the moment when one of them returns to the nest with a fish. As all you webcam viewers will know they are spending more and more time away from the nest and it probably wont be long before this happens. My gut feeling is that it will be Nethy who does so first, closely followed by Deshar.

We are also keeping a close eye on EJ who we think could begin her migration anytime soon. Now that the chicks have fledged her job is pretty much done and she could head off in the coming days. The female osprey can lose condition throughout the season due to spending lots of time on the nest and therefore needs to gain weight and build up the strength and stamina that she has lost over the past few months before migrating south. Generally, the female will head off first, followed by the juveniles and then finally the adult male. However, with EJ's rule breaking behaviour it is anyone's guess who will go first!

As I said at the start of the blog thank you all very much for your continued support and interest in the ospreys at Loch Garten. We also appreciate your concern about the hobby nest in the New Forest but unfortunately we are hundreds of miles away at Abernethy Forest and can't really comment on any specific questions. General questions about birds of prey however are fine and we will do our best to answer them!

Anyway...when will Nethy and Deshar bring back their first fish to the nest? When will EJ begin her migration? And will she go first? Only time will tell....watch this space!!

In the meantime....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.

Another week has passed at the Osprey centre here at Loch Garten, with its usual dramas and excitment. Nethy and Deshar, our two chicks are now 10 weeks old and have been perfecting the art of flying. They are flying further afield and are away from the nest for longer periods of time, which makes spotting them from the centre more tricky!

There was quite a bit of excitment in the centre on Friday, when EJ arrived back to the nest with a 12" Brown Trout. As usual one of the chicks took it from her, on this occasion it was our male Deshar. Once Deshar had tugged the fish away from EJ he then managed to get the fish stuck to his foot! Ospreys have spicules on their feet, which are small spines that act like velcro, they also have sharp talons that can snap shut when they come into contact with a fish, so it is no suprise really that Deshar couldn't 'un-stick' the fish once he had grabbed hold! In an attempt to release the Trout, he flew with the fish in one talon and tried to land in the camera tree, he then circled before finally dropping the fish whilst attempting to land with it on a stump infront of the centre! He then sat in a tree for a while to catch his breath and recover from his ordeal! So although we have yet to see our chicks with a fish of their own, we had our first sighting of one of them flying with a fish!

The adult Ospreys are still providing the chicks with a supply of fish each day, with EJ still 'out-fishing' OVS quite considerably, if not by number, then definately by size! Since Monday, EJ has brought in a total of 17 fish, with a combined length of 271 inches. Whilst OVS has contributed 10 fish with a combined length of 106 inches!! That just about says it all really!

The next stage that we are waiting for now is for the chicks to start fishing for themselves. Soon the adults will start to bring fewer fish to the nest and we then hope our chicks will associate the feeling of hunger with going to get food, instead of sitting on the nest expecting it to be brought to them! Saying that, yet another bit of excitment in the centre, as Nethy our female chick has just landed on the nest with muddy legs and a wet underside, this is excting news....could she have been fishing already? We all really expected Nethy to attempt to fish first as she is a couple of days older than Deshar, is this all the proof we need? Well, it would be good to see her arrive on the nest with her first catch, then we will definately know for sure! So watch this space!

Anyway, thats about it for this week, thank you to all our visitors, members and bloggers for your continued support.

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.

Patrick Preston is in his 17th year as a volunteer at Operation Osprey. Every year he writes a poem, this year we have decided to put it on the blog. ENJOY

DESHAR'S LAMENT
Who’d have a bigger sister
you wouldn’t out of choice.
She’s pushy and she’s greedy
and she’s got the loudest voice.

I used to have a chance
when I was second in the queue.
But after titch gave up the ghost
those chunks of fish were few.

She’s only two days older
but she thinks that she’s queen bee.
“I’m bigger, better, nay – the best,
just follow after me”.

“I’ve flown across to that old tree
why don’t you have a try?”
“Give me some space to flap my wings –
I’ll show you I can fly”.

When I can fly I’ll learn to fish
before she gets the knack.
Then what I catch I’ll eat myself
and not bring any back.

When she gets older and comes back
to find herself a mate.
He’ll be hen pecked all the season
but I’ll leave him to his fate.

By Patrick Preston
Operation Osprey Volunteer

Other news...... The tracking is working and we have started putting data in, the problem is that the birds aren't going massive distances and as such plotting every point would leave the map looking like a Jackson Pollock painting. The data does show that the birds haven't visited any lochs, rivers or the fish farm yet so anyone who guesses that our chicks will leave this weekend may have to guess again.

Their will be a round-up blog sometime over the weekend, 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.

As you can probably guess from the blog title, we have been having lots of fun and games with our two Osprey chicks this week! Nearly 2 weeks has passed since Nethy and Deshar flew the nest and they seem to become more and more adventurous with each day that passes. This is great for them because it means they are out and about, improving their flying techniques and building up their muscles ready for their migration. However, it is not so much fun for us, as we seem to be playing a continuous game of hide and seek.... as soon as one osprey pops up the other disappears! So appologies for any blank moments on the webcam!

At the moment, EJ and Orange VS are still providing our young ospreys with fish, but we are expecting the amounts of food they are bringing in to start dropping off. Ospreys are born with a natural instinct to fish, and empty stomachs usually gives them the encouragment they need to kick start this instinct in to action! It will be interesting to see which osprey brings in a fish first. Will it be Nethy, the eldest of the two? Or could it be Deshar? Although he is the youngest, he often misses out on a fish because Nethy always makes sure she gets in there first. If he is feeling hungrier than Nethy, he might just beat her to it! We have had only one fish so far today - i doubt it will be long before Nethy and Deshar venture off and try fishing for themselves.

The Osprey centre has continued to be busy and it has been great to meet quite a few of our "bloggers" this week. So many thanks for your continued interest and support. We have also had many generous donations in the form of biscuits and chocolates.They are very much appreciated by all the staff and volunteers, and certainly keep us all going! So thank you!

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.