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Thank you Alice for the good news re R & M. Also thanks Richard for describing the GRW. Shame about the lack of geese but it was a good turn out on a cold day.

Thank you from me too!!!  Great to hear about your Goose Watch.  Shame they hadn't been told about it though!!!  Can't believe it is soooo cold and it is only November!    Looking forward to your report next Monday.

Thanks, Alice for the latest news.Thanks, Richard for the lovely report of the Goose Roost watch ... or should that be Non-Goose Roost Watch!! The description makes it sound so beautiful ... and a great turn out ... wish I lived a bit nearer.

Good to here the girls are fine, been looking forward to the News all week.

Its gone really cold/damp here on the south coast today but not as cold as Loch Garten. I would like to ask Richard how much snow is on Cairngorm mountain and what week the usual ski season starts?

Also as you have completly different work to do in the winter what sort of work you will be doing in the forest/lochs etc, during November and December as I am sure others would be interested to read it as well.

JILLIAN

Aaahhh Richard - I am sure no-one minded, nature will do what it wants! Thanks Alice for the update. Good to know they are safe.

Alice, trailer wheel brake issues AND a salmon count! Starting work outside at -8c and you always sound so cheerfull. So a very big thank you for the update. I am sure most of us would just want to go home and not to then sit down at a computer.

Richard, what can I say. Your description is very picturesque but I guess the Geese got the date wrong.    

Thanks so much, Alice, for news of R & M.  I think having to wait longer makes it more exciting when we do get news!!  Do you have to go "electric fishing" to count the salmon, or is this just counting by eye as they swim by?

O Richard, your reporting is always so interesting - you obviously have a bit of the story-teller in you!  I am sure the goose-watch people had a great evening - and as you say, at least it was dry this Sunday.  I can imagine the geese having a laugh somewhere though!

Thanks a lot Alice, and Richard.Would love to have been at LG even without the geese!! Looks like both girls have settled more or less - they know where they're warmer and obviously there's plenty of good fishing around them.  Take care M & R and look forward to hearing your news next week. x

SO good to hear from both of you - lovely reports that make me feel in touch with our Girls and Loch Garten, not forgetting fellow bloggers who now feel like friends.

Had to laugh about the geese - reminds me of my trip on the Rutland Belle to see the Ospreys in July.  Not an osprey in sight....  But it didn't spoil my enjoyment at all...booking again next season.  Thanks to you both, and looking forward to hearing more next week.

Thanks again Alice.  I was just browsing Cachuma Lake's blurb on winter eagle cruises and wondering when might be the best time to see any. But, as folks already pointed out, you can't depend on critters to abide by our schedules. A great turnout though - 85!  

Thanks for the update, Alice.  It's good to hear  all's well with the girls.

Sorry your goose-roost  watch was minus the geese, but goldeneye, goosander, mallard and widgeon sounds pretty good to me!  Sounds like  a fun evening was had by all - wish I could have been there.

Looking forward already to next week's update.

Richard, how do you do it? I can see it now: geese feeding in a moonlit field  and the people on the banks of the "loch" sipping their hot drinks  in the Scottish gloaming.  My first ancestors came from London more than 350 years ago, so why do I get a feeling of homesickness  when I picture these Highland scenes?  Thanks, Alice & Richard, for sharing your birds and your experiences and your beautiful countryside with us.    June from Ohio, USA

It sounds really beautiful, if cold! Thanks for the update, glad R and M are doing well.

We have had some very noisy geese on the reservoir near us for the past few days.  Great to watch, and listen to!

Thanks Alice, well at least they are staying put in their respective areas and as you say, enjoying the winter sun.

Glad to hear the goose roost (minus geese) went well and that it was a spectacular sunset etc. Lovely crisp evenings and perhaps days as well up there. A wee bit colder down in Northants but not nearly as cold as up there.

Look forward to hearing next weeks data update.  

Thank you for the update Alice and Richard. Good to hear our birds or settled/settling.  OK, so we had no geese flying in but wasn't the loch just magical?  A perfect setting.  Thank you Alice for the hot beverages and thank you Richard for keeping us entertained.

Why not combine a goose roost with a goose roast next weekend? Lovely in cold weather with mulled wine and it will keep everyone happy if the birds don't turn up.

Thanks for the updates Alice and Richard great to hear both girls are well .  And Richard you can never use the word disappointing when talking about Loch Garten I am sure everyone enjoyed themselves just taking in the wonderful place and hopefully realising just how lucky they are to be within reach of visiting it , never mind the geese perhaps they all went home via Pityoulish if they wanted a goosing !!!! Take care all

Thanks for the uodates Richard and Alice and so happy to hear our girls are doing well and have possibly chosen their respective areas to languish now.  

My word you have had some low temperatures but I expect LG looked absolutley stunning.  I am sure nobody minded about the lack of geese as there were a lot of other things to watch.  Wonderful description Richard.

Looking forward to next week now, keep warm at LG if you can.

Thank you Alice and Richard for the up dates about M&R. A pity about the geese not turning up but if you saw the Life programme last night the photographer was in his hide for 21 days to get the shot he wanted and it only lasted seconds in the film so the geese not arriving in the time slot alloted was not as bad as there was quite a lot going on with other birds. How is the dead wood work coming along?  

Rothes - I wonder what Varela is like now? This is from August 2006.

The next morning we walked around the little fishing and agriculture village that is Varela, and went down to the beautiful empty beach. the Atlantic waters were warm and calm..............

All the portuguese colonials houses' along the water were abandoned in the 70s, and were still empty and overgrown. There was also an abandoned resort project that had been funded by world bank and then left unfinished during the war.............

www.travelblog.org/.../blog-78973.html

oooOOOooo

Mallachie's location near Dasilami (very near).....see page 4 of this Oxfam booklet, for some background info. The Gambians are felling trees for fuel and income and Oxfam are concerned that Gambia could become a desert. Baobabs...that takes me back to schooldays and geography...I still remember, thinking, that if I ever got stuck for water in Africa I made a mental note to look out for a baobab tree, so that I could get a drink! I think I even drew a picture of one!

issuu.com/.../name3569d4

Thank you Alice and Richard. I should have liked to have been in that moonlit brightness and calm calm loch, geese or no geese.

Enjoyed the travelog, thank you jsb, but really do hope they are leaving enough trees for Osprey to roost in!!

Thanks for the update on our wandering Ospreys...Bet they are glad they are not still at LG wit -8c !!!

Over here in France I am now settling into our new home and enjoying the local wildlife here...Loads of Red Squirrel, a little baby stoat that visited us on our terrace and Hundreds of Cattle Egrets now arrived so every French Cow now has 2 or 3 following it around which is very funny to see. We have hundreds  of Magpies so I have given up doing the rhyme !! and the blackbirds are back, but I am missing the Robins I must say. Hunting season has stated here so any pigeon is taking his life in his hands if he flies near a hunters lodge like the one we have next to us !!

Thanks for the update. LOL at the goose roost watch, brilliant.  Thought you might have had snow up there by now, think it was the end of October last year you had your first ground covering, (will check the blogs),  Anyway Thanks again for taking the time to keep us up to date.   take care n stay warm .

Soosin

With my friend were up in Boat of Garten for the weekend, but because we had to come back to Edinburgh for Sunday evening we did a private goose watch on Saturday... sat in the car for 2 hours... there was another car parked next to us. We sometimes switched on the engine at the same time for a few minutes against freezing... but as you probably guessed no geese or no goose even. Towards the end of our adventure I got out of the car to see the stars at least (they were good enough even without the silly birds...) The passenger in the other car opened the window near me and asked: "Are you waiting for the geese too?" My answer was "What geese?" :-)) This surprised her so much that I had to tell her that it was supposed to be a joke :-)) They were a lovely couple, expecting their firat baby in a few weeks time, so all the best to them and to the baby! There is a saying: "It is never too early to start watching the birds" (Maybe there is no saying like this?) Anyway, we also had a great time!

Now the Osprey blog is quiet and our girls seemed to have settled down in their Wintering grounds I thought some you might be interested to read this.

We visited Loch Garten by accident last April whilst on a tour round Scotland.  We do a bit of bird watching mainly whilst walking in The Lakes.  We have never been to Northern Scotland we usually prefer to take our hols somewhere warm.   I looked on the Internet where to see Eagles in Scotland only to find you had to purchase tickets and then realised that was the band not the feathered variety - doh.  Unfortunately  me and boats don’t agree so a trip to Mull was out of the question.  We had some good wildlife sightings, including Buzzards and Red Kite, wild deer and even Dolphins at Chanonry Point. Then it all started, in a hotel in Inverness, we picked up a leaflet on the Ospreys at Loch Garten, never heard of Loch Garten or Boat of Garten, what does Boat mean in this context anyway?, never really thought about Ospreys  - vaguely knew that were big brown and white birds that fed on fish. So in the absence of Eagles we found ourselves at Loch Garten, what a fascinating experience - but at that time I had absolutely no idea how important this little family, bear in mind when we were there no eggs had even been produced, would become in my life.  Well that was the start of the roller coaster that I now know to be Osprey watching.  I cried when Odin went missing in the fishing line incident,  cried when he came back, cried over Big Rabs videos and laughed at the Superman outfits, stressed over intruders, the number of fish coming in, the weather and had to walk away when pecking order was being established between the chicks. I held my breath every night when I put the Computer  on to check the tracking  and felt deeply for those of you out there who watched last year when the outcome was not so favourable.

I have been shy about joining in up to now but I would like to send my heartfelt thanks to all of the staff at LG and all the bloggers out there who have contributed to one of the most fantastic things I have witnessed in my life.  I hope the news long continues to be good for all our Osprey family.

Dors

Dors, thank you for your lovely story of your introduction to Ospreys. Don't be shy any longer and join in on the chat page and any of the many threads. We would love to hear from you.

Hi, Dors ... lovely story ... welcome to the Osprey Community! And I would echo what Brenda H has just said ... join in the chat ... I have learned so much from fellow bloggers about birds ... and other things!!

Dors : You have put into words what every one of us have felt and enjoyed over the last few months. It has been so addictive and so enjoyable. A rollercoaster ride of emotions. I also followed the ospreys last year and the outcome was sad but this year it has exceeded all our expectations and long may this wonderful osprey family continue to thrive.

Dors - you asked what "Boat" meant in the context "Boat of Garten"  In times of yore there used to be a ferry across the Spey and the village gradually came into existence as time passed.

Glad that your experience at Loch Garten has hooked you too- these blogs (and the weekly chat ones on the Loch Garten group) keep us all going over the winter months and you can learn a lot about everything on them as well.

Hello Dors.  Loved reading your blog just now - so glad you've joined us in print.  I'll look forward to reading your posts in the future.  Know just how you feel about the rollercoaster - I couldn't live without our birds and this lovely Osprey community now.

Dors lovely blog and glad you have joined us.  As you can see we are absolutely besotted with ospreys and especially the wonderful family this year.  Roller coaster it may be but this year was just fantastic and it appears Rothes and Mallachie have settled down at long last.  The whole story this year has given me so much joy and can't wait for EJ and hopefully Odin to return next year.

Well done chicks.

Am shocked to see a grey squirrel on your feeder.

Hello Dors- welcome!  Loved your blog, and so glad you've become hooked on the ospreys - who could help it?    I, too am terrified of being on the sea, and the first time I braved it over to Mull I was sick with fear, but now I don't know what I was worried about. We usually go in June/July and lucklily each time the sea has been like a millpond, and I'm so busy wildlife spotting  and admiring the scenery on the way, the journey takes no time at all!  Believe me, what you see when you get there is well worth it!

Wonderful place!

Hi Loch Garten Bloggers

Thank you for so many warm welcome messages it is greatly appreciated.

Thank you also to Liz LFW for the info on the "Boat of Garten" as they say "you learn something new everyday".  Thank also to Wee Jeannie re the trip to Mull it has given me confidence to try and pull this in when we are next up in the North.

I was so glad to read that our girls are still doing very ok and long may it continue.

The goose roost without geese sounded amazing....wish I was able to come.

Welcome to Dors...I wonder how many people there are, lurking out there:)) who haven't yet made themselves known?

All come in and join us you are more than welcome..... the more the merrier :)))))

Brr it's cold in Skye too - but we have geese! About 45 landed on our croft, and left a load of pooh -- great eh?

There was great footage on Autumnwatch last night with Simon King visiting Africa to film Ospreys in their 'winter' quarters. No satellite birds seen and no rings either but great shots of the birds.

Thanks for letting us know, Simon.  I'll have a look on i-player.

The said Autumn Watch on tv RIGHT NOW due to see Osprey fishing in a minute!!!!

I also loved Autumnwatch and seeing where many ospreys spend the rest of the year. Lets hope they do some footage when they arrive in our country on Springwatch. Can Richard or anyone remember whether it was Sunday night Countrywise that were filming about the 50 years at Loch G a couple of months ago?

Didn't see many birds on Saturday not even sea gulls as the sea at Bournemouth was terrific, Iv'e only seen it that bad a few times over the last 20 years.

JILLIAN

I was looking at the feeder video this morning when it was switched to a view of the loch. Unfortunately Ihad looked away and only glimpsed it before  it returned to the feeder. Can you show it again please? The colours were fantastic.

Hi everyone, did you watch Autumn Watch on Friday. Lovely report from Simon in Senegal on ospreys. Lots of them in the region where they winter so perhaps Mallachie has met one of them, who knows!!!!

Waiting to hear where they are tomorrow from Alice - probably still in the same area.

As one of the Speyside locals who was drawn by the description of "wiffling" geese arriving on Loch Garten in their thousands to attend Richard and Alice's No Goose Roost on 8th November, you might be interested to learn that I tried to repeat the experiment on Sunday 15th.  The signs were good.  There were still geese a plenty in the fields down by the River Spey.  The full moon that Richard suggested might allow the geese to feel safe enough to overnight in the fields had gone, so the water should have been beckoning them again.  And it wasn't so bitterly cold for standing about on the banks of Loch Garten.

So I saw a small group of Goldeneye, half a dozen bats flitting over the shallows, more gulls and crows than I cared to, and twelve, count them, twelve geese.  They waited until it was too dark to see anything but their silhouettes, and were quiet as mice, so I could not identify them beyond that, but at least they were geese.