Blogs

I've just updated the map with Nethy's movements over the last week. She appears to be trying to colour the map in as thoroughly as she did at Lac de Guiers - ie she's in the same place as last week - it must be a particularly idyllic spot.

Meanwhile here at Abernethy three of us spent the morning out in the driving rain and freezing wind fixing a fence round an experimental exclosure plot that had been damaged in the gales. Fortunately the damage wasn't as bad as feared before we got out there and so the job didn't take all day - we were back in time for a late lunch and several cups of tea to warm up with!

Have a nice weekend,

Alice

I just thought you'd like to see this beautiful picture of Loch Garten, taken between Christmas and New Year, during which time, we had temperatures of between -10 and -15 degrees C (between 14 and 5 degrees F) every night for almost a fortnight.

During this time it "warmed up" during the days to a balmy -7! Loch Garten was completely frozen solid from end to end and thickly so, tempting some perhaps foolish folk to venture out onto the ice. If ever there was confirmation of why ospreys desert the Highlands in winter, then this is it. In cold weather fish tend to go deeper in lochs and rivers which would make fishing difficult, but ice clearly makes fishing impossible.

Since the picture was taken, the loch has now thawed, but the fractured ice gets blown by the breeze and accumulates at the end of the loch by the road, where all the shards of ice pile up and grind and creak, audible as you walk the adjacent forest paths. Not just a sight to behold, but a sound as well.

Despite the arctic conditions, it is already becoming quite springlike. On the crisp, frosty, sunny mornings of late, coal tits, great tits, and chaffinches have all been inpired to sing and become territorial. Spring is on its way.

With another Osprey season looming, it is time already to begin preparations - and it's not all excitement. It was back to basics today as Richard donned his chemical warfare suit, took a deep breath and set about emptying the composting toilets of last season's "donations", such is the lot of the site manager. Rather him then me!

Message from Richard follows (I let him go home a bit early as it's his birthday this weekend - and no I'm not allowed to divulge his age!, but Happy Birthday to him.)

After almost two months at Lac de Guiers, Nethy has been on the move lately, moving further south into The Gambia briefly, but now back north slightly into Senegal. (Nethy has spent the last week in the same place as last week - on and about a small island up a tributary, just inside the Senegal border - she's obviously making sure she explores the vicinity she's in thoroughly.)

As the days slowly lengthen as we move inexorably towards Spring, albeit feeling like in glacial time, what effects on Nethy’s movements will the longer days have in the coming months, in this, her first Spring?

Will she stay put in & around Gambia and Senegal, or will we see some partial movement back north, as those early instinctive maternal urges brought on by Spring, begin to stir within her? Certainly in Spring 2010 we can expect her to make at least a partial return migration, say as far as the north African coast/Mediterranean maybe, or will she even reach Europe? Or perhaps she will just continue to bide her time in West Africa. But just what will happen in this first year? It will certainly be great to find out.

So over the coming months, the satellite tracking data download programme has been set to deliver increased data during these exciting times when Nethy is most likely to do something unusual linked to the advent of Spring. Until the end of March, the satellite will continue to give us two fixes per day, with a weekly satellite download of data, but from 1 April until the end of May, it will gives us hourly fixes on her whereabouts, with a daily download.

Something to look forward to until the weather improves...

Have a nice weekend.

Alice

Nethy's had a pretty quiet week this week. I've added this week's co-ordinates to the map - which show that Nethy has stayed on and around the island she came to last week. There must be plenty of food in that tributary, though I'm sure after so many months of practising, she'll be an expert at fishing by now.

Back here at Abernethy we've been getting some pretty windy weather, though not bad enough to prevent an invigorating day's brushcutting. I saw 4 bull finches on my way back, which was nice.

Have a nice weekend.

 Alice

Well it's Friday and I've updated the map with Nethy's travels over the last week. As you can see when you zoom in on the map she continued south-east for one more day, travelling 20 km (13 miles), before turning to the north-east. Since the satellite only takes her location 2 times a day and the line plotted on the map just joins these points up, I'm going to assume that her actual route was along the course of the Gambia River, of which she has now travelled up a tributary, crossing back into Senegal on 4th January (Sunday).

She currently appears to be roosting close to an island, close to Fetto and Koutango (those well-known Gambian metropolises) which she arrived at on 5 January and was still at yesterday (8 January). When I checked the data earlier today, the point for this morning hadn't come through yet, but I'll add the last two points for this week as soon as I can.

Meanwhile on the reserve, we've spent much of this week iced in. With the vehicle tracks impassable and no one in the office owning any ice skates, we've been busy getting on with all those office-based tasks that often get left on the side of the desk. I've even achieved some data entry this week!

Have a nice weekend.

Alice

First things first: Happy New Year to you all, I'm back up in the frozen north (they might think it's been cold down south in London, but it's nothing compared to up here: minus 10 degrees C / 14F at 9.30pm last night when I got back to Abernethy). Fortunately today's a lot warmer (about 0 degrees C / 32 F).

The big news is that Nethy's moving - she finally got bored of Lac de Guiers (or possibly the weather there got colder like it did here in the UK) and on 31st December sometime after 9am, she headed south west, flying 195km (122 miles) to hit the coast south of Dakar (the capital of Senegal), where she spent the night. On 1st January she flew another 55km (34 miles) south east along the coast, spending the night on the edge of a mangrove area close to a large delta system. She didn't stop there though, but continued along the coast another 60km (37 miles) crossing the border into Gambia on Friday (2nd January). Over the weekend she may have continued still further - Friday's data will be interesting to see.

Meanwhile, back here at Abernethy, everything is icy (including most of the pipes in my house quite possibly, though I'm not turning the water back on to prove that fact just yet!). It is all looking very nice and wintry though. The giant feeder is going to need a re-think (maybe steel cable instead of rope!)

Tune in on Friday for the next lot of data.

Alice