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Welcome Douglas! You guys are pure gold. And thanks Alice for the update; nice to know things are going along okay with the girls.

Thanks for the update as usual Alice.  It looks as if your training your LTVs well.  Hope Douglas continues to enjoy his work when the severe weather kicks in.

Thanks very much Alice and Douglas.  I am glad that R & M are continuing to enjoy the fishing in their respective areas. Douglas that must have been amazing seeing the Golden Eagle. I have never seen one in the wild.

Good afternoon Douglas , how lucky are you to be helping at at LG and how wonderful to see that goldie at close quarters , enjoy the hills tomorrow .  Thank you Alice as well for update on the girls glad they are safe and well .

Thanks for the update Alice and a very warm welcome to the Highlands to Douglas..

Excellent Blog, how lucky you were to have the opportunity of surprising a Golden Eagle, always a great sight to behold but always remember Douglas NEVER give away positions, however vague...There are4 still those moron egg thieves out there !!!

If you have never experienced a Highland winter then do be prepared for the odd -25c so stock up on your thermals too...

Over here in La Belle France we are surrunded by wrens which is a joy as we didn't have them in the Highlands were I lived and I didn't recognise the song !!Also the Robins are here now too...and Hoopoos think I have spelt that right ?? which is the most extraordinary bird and sits on our lawn looking for worms...

Anyway Douglas, enjoy the autumn sunshine and the wonderful nature around you. You will never forget this experience..

Much appreciated, both Alice & Douglas, and thanks for vivid descriptions of your work, Douglas, you were indeed lucky to have such a magical experience with the golden eagle. Hope you have more exciting chance meetings during your work which sounds very interesting and varied.

Thanks Alice and Douglas for the update.  Douglas I am very jealous, having never seen a Golden Eagle in the wild.  What a great memory to have.

Thank you Alice for the update.  Great to know our birds are still enjoying their winter sunshine.  Thank you Douglas for telling us all about your work and experiences - sounds amazing.  Worth all the toil, Iam sure.

Great news all round - thank you Alice and nice to get to know you too Douglas.  You have a good name - that was my Dad's name :o).  The girls obviously know where they are better off and who can blame them for not moving very far.  x

Thanks Alice and Douglas for the updates on our ospreys and the work going on at LG. Douglas hope you have more special times as the one you have had seeing a Golden Eagle at very close quarters. The wardens you have with you at LG have an abundance of knowledge about LG as we bloggers can verify as the things that we have learned from them on this blog is something we are all thankful for. Hope you have a happy time at LG Douglas.

Thank you for the update Alice. Great to know that both R & M seem to have found places to settle down for now at least. Simon King's report for Autumnwatch from the Senegalese coast illustrated just what a great place it is for ospreys to over-winter.

Thanks also to Douglas for the descriptive account of your work at LG. You are fortunate indeed to have had such a memorably close encounter with a goldie.

Welcome Douglas - you are very lucky as well you know to be in a position to view so many amazing scenes on a daily basis ... and you should be there when EJ returns to LG ...... enjoy your stay !

Thank you for the update on the girls Alice and a warm welcome to you Douglas. You sound as if you are having a wonderful time as well as working. I am sure that you will learn a lot and that you will be a valuable asset to the team at Loch Garten. Look forward to hearing more of your news in the future!

Hi Douglas,

I hope that things are going well there for you. See you at Loopallu next year with the efest crew eh!

cheers,

Pete

Most enjoyable read Douglas, I know the Blog is called the LG Osprey diary but its great to hear about all  aspects of the reserve. Bet your day was a happier one after seeing the Goldie at close quarters, fantastic Hope you enjoy the rest of your time up there,It really is a wonderful place, wish we could get up more than a couple of times a year but hey ho, that's life : )

Thanks Alice and Douglas for the update. Can't add much to what has already been said:)

Thank you Alice & Douglas for the update and the details of the work carried out at Loch Garten. So much goes on we didn't know about.

Wow - Douglas how green am I.. not only for your sighting of the Golden Eagle and Capercallies - but the fact that you are there in LG till next April. No doubt what wonderful sights and experiences you will have. Are you allowed to give us any of your background? I await with great enthusiasm for your next report. ... Oh and good to hear R & M still cruising around.. keep up the good work girls ;-)

Thanks for the update Alice and Douglas - and welcome, Douglas.  We 'out here' think of you all as friends.  Will look forward to hearing your further adventures as the season progresses.  How wonderful to have seen an eagle at close range.  Will you be sharing your.point and click' picture with us?

Thanks for the latest on our girls Alice, they sound as if they are staying put now..... at least for a while.

It is great to hear from Douglas at last......a very well written report too :))

It is magical to see a Golden Eagle at close range....this happened to my husband and I on our second trip to Scotland in 2004.

We were moving along in our car very slowly, enjoying the beautiful view, when suddenly a huge brown bird swooped in and landed about twenty yards from us, with wings as wide as a barn door..... we looked at the bird and it looked at us, before it soared off over the mountains......we were instantly hooked on raptors from that moment.

It was so close, we were never in any doubt what we had seen and we have never foregotten the experience.

Thank you Alice and Douglas.  Great to hear such a lovely story tonight!

Hello and great to meet you, Douglas. How I wish your encounter with the Goldie had been mine. Simply super for you.

A wonderful Blog, Douglas,  and Alice thanks so much for the morsel of news re 'our' girls. Much appreciated.

Thanks for the update Alice- good to know all's well with the girls!  Welcome, Douglas - sounds like you're doing a grand job up there -  hard work I guess but what better reward than seeing a Goldie at such close quarters! How I envy you!  Hope you continue to enjoy your time at Abernethy- maybe  come April you'll want to stay on for the Osprey season?

Hi  Thanks for all the updates.  It seems the chicks are doing OK, watched Autum Watch the other night and Simon King was in Africa and there seemed to be hundreds of ospreys.  It was funny seeing them try out there fishing skills.  How I envy you Douglas, I guess it's pretty cold and wet right now but to see a golden eagle WOW!  I am desk-bound and far from Bonnie Scotland but how I do wish I was there.

Thanks Alice for the update as always.  So pleased Rothes are Mallachie are more or less staying put and hopefully they will stay there.  Always seems like a long time between updates but we have receivd only good news and long may it stay that way.

Welcome Douglas, I too am filled with envy.  What a sight that must have been for you and a real treat to boot.  Good to hear about your other sightings as well.  Have a great time until April next and you should hopefully see EJ and Odin arrive.

You are lucky Douglas what a sight that must have been I would think all my birthdays and Christmases had come at once if I seen one in the wild

Alice, thank you so much for your update.

Douglas, I too, am so jealous of your close encounter with the Golden Eagle and thanks also for your observations of the other birds. You sound as if you are doing some really hard work, but it must be great to enjoy what you are doing and in such a lovely place.

Great news or our two little friends. They must be content with sufficient food available if they have decided to stay put.

Amazing that they are able to fly such a long distance learn to be self sufficient in such a short period of time.

A wonderful sight Douglas.......we had a similar experience this past summer, certainly one I shall never forget, when one dropped onto the road ahead of us to pick up a dead rabbit. (Farr to Whitebridge)

Alice, you may be not too surprised to hear that you are appearing elsewhere in the blogosphere, in the US, in this case.  Looks like their bloggers are hanging on your every word, as of course we do too! They say too, that you are always right!

www.peregrinefalcon-bcaw.net/viewtopic.php

They are an enthusiastic bunch, so maybe they are already amongst us? Anyone care to come forward?

Thanks for the update Alice, always good to hear our birds are still safe and well. Equally as nice is knowing what else is happening at Abernethy in their absence. Thanks for a most enjoyable blog Douglas. The more I read it the more I wished I were there too :0)

Just read your first blog, Doug, we are really jealous and would love to be back with you all.  Seeing the Golden Eagle must have been breathtaking.

Thanks Alice for update - it looks like they are staying in the same areas for wintering. Welcome to Douglas and hope you enjoy your experiences with the team.

Did anyone see Autumn Watch last Friday and Simon King's report from Senegal on Ospreys. It was quite informative. So many ospreys congregate around the area he was in and the villagers keep watchful eyes on the birds and work side by side with them. He may even have seen Mallachie or Rothes, who knows!!!!

Its nice to know they are safe and in areas where other ospreys congregate.

Just getting around to catching up on the news now..............hello Douglas - lucky you seeing the eagle so close.  I never have and I am consequently green with envy.  On the other hand I have been to Senegal and the parc du Saloum where Simon King was filming the ospreys.  It is just like the film, ospreys all over the place.  All the birds seem to be doing ok in their chosen places dont they.  

Alice, have you had Waxwings yet this year?

Hi can anyone help me please - is it just me or is the feeder video not working? Thank you

Thats funny Maggie I just came over here to say is anyone else having problems with the bird feeder cam so its not just me and not just you !! thats nice to know but I am missing the red squirrels and the coal tits etc makes me feel closer to LG so perhaps they will let us know what the problem is .

Looking forward to update maybe later