Loch Garten osprey diary

Crossbills...

2010-03-15T16:02:00Z

Rothes has had another uneventful week on Ilha de Unhocomozinho. She's staying in a pretty localised area, hanging round the west coast of the island. She seems to have a few favourite perches - at least as regards the numbers I get through from the satellite. That's about all I can say about her...

...Here at Abernethy it's gone manic. With the snow really shifting, we've been trying to get out and do all the things we haven't been able to do for months, with a deadline for getting them done fast approaching. Tracks are only just becoming driveable - but now we can we need them cleared...

The Osprey Centre is on its countdown to the new season. The new team arrived at the weekend, I'm sure before long they'll be blogging about all things Osprey. We've been installing the cameras (apparently the really good view of crossbills - one sat in the Osprey nest while Ross was still up the ladder a metre away from it) is quite normal for the day the nest cameras go up, but it was the best view I've ever had and I was standing on the ground. Richard's been doing all the millions of things that need doing before the start of the season as well as dealing with the powerline installation.

And to top it all the water's stopped working again. Hopefully that'll be back tomorrow...

Finally today is Douglas's last blog contribution - but he's had to go to get some emergency drinking water, so I'll put that up tomorrow when he's had time to write it...

That's it for now.

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As promised here's Douglas' last blog... Enjoy.

GOODBYE, SO LONG, FAREWELL

So, this is it, my farewell post. I am worried about mentioning the weather as one day after my last ‘blog’ the snow came down again! Surely, we are past the worst now.

I have been busy updating my c.v. as well as applying for jobs when they have appeared on the various web sites I have been searching; with all my newly acquired skills I have now been for several interviews and……I’ve landed a six month contract with the RSPB doing habitat enhancement work for the Slavonian grebes, I am very happy as it keeps me in this wonderful part of the world for a wee while longer.

Over the last few weeks, I have been watching a Pine marten from my kitchen window; these animals have been on my ‘want to see’ list for a long time and I have enjoyed their company on three separate occasions now. I think the severe weather had maybe forced it closer to the buildings to forage for food.

The forest is looking green again and the birds are in full song on a daily basis, I think it has been a long enough winter for everyone. The college where I gained my conservation qualification had a visit to the reserve today; it was good to see a new group of budding conservationists enjoying this place too.

So, to my thank you’s, first and foremost to all the team at Abernethy/Loch Garten for making my time here so enjoyable, to the RSPB for giving me this opportunity, to my college lecturer for his encouragement and of course, to all you people out there who care about our environment too, keep up the good work.

I don’t think my next post will involve a ‘blog’ but I have enjoyed doing these ones. I am now looking forward to building a successful career with the RSPB.

Best wishes to everyone

Douglas

Spring?

2010-03-09T15:32:00Z

Apologies for the tardy update - I was up at Udale reserve on the Black Isle north of Inverness cutting gorse with a clearance saw all day yesterday (Monday) and didn't get back until 6.30pm - by which time I hoped you guys wouldn't mind if I didn't write the update until today. It was spring up there - no snow and sunny and skylarks were singing etc etc. Back here at Abernethy we've been refering the -7oC temperatures at night as balmy!

I've updated Rothes' data - and she's spent another week on Ilha de Unhocomozinho - mainly along the W coast - but pottering around. So no change there then.

We had a bit of a thaw here at Abernethy over the weekend - the snow depth more than halved - but it's still predominantly white on the ground. Richard is spending all his time along the power line route - the contractors had to dig the snow out of the way last week before they could start digging the trench - due to the nature of the route we've got to be certain we're not damaging anything when we lay the cable - and snow rather prevents that.

I'm hoping that with Spring arriving further north, it might not be far behind for us.

More next week (on Monday this time - all being well).

More snow...

2010-03-01T15:37:00Z

Rothes has stuck on Ilha de Unhocomozinho for another week. She's flitting about, but hasn't yet found the need to travel further afield.

Here at Abernethy we've had more snow - about 2 feet more snow. The week started freezing with temperatures of -17 C, then warmed up on Wednesday night and snowed continuously into Friday. Last night it was only -8 C but it's going to get colder. It's great during the day - the sun really has some warmth in it. This is prompting some birds to sing. I woke this morning to the sound of a Starling imitating a buzzard and then a curlew. Richard has received a couple of e-mails of possible osprey sightings - which is very, very early, but not entirely impossible, though there can be an excited tendancy to have an osprey search-image in one's mind, when you're so desperate to see one, as a sign heralding the advent of Spring, that in the excitement, oh so easily a buzzard or other similar sized bird can be misidentified. Here in Starthspey, large gulls, like Greater Black-backed - like ospreys, dark on top, pale underneath, seen flying along the river, at a time when you dearly want to see an osprey , can be mistaken for one. I've been caught like that myself. Given the weather both here and further south, it would make sense, I'd say for ospreys to delay moving north for a while yet. More snow and low temperatures are forecast for us here in coming days, and weeks!

The weather is confounding our efforts to get the mains power trenching underway. The trenching line in places will run close to an exisiting buried telephone line, plus with the need to be sensitive anyway, we need to be able to see quite where we're digging, so we desperately need a significant thaw, and quickly, if we are to complete on time for the season's start on 1st April. It's all getting a bit tense. More anon.

Sticking tight...

2010-02-22T15:29:00Z

Rothes has stuck with Ilha de Unhocomozinho for another week. The last two points of the week (5pm on 19th, Friday and 9am on 20th, Saturday) caught her over the sea N of the island. On a couple of fishing trips, I'm assuming. So not much to report from her, we'll see what next week brings.

Meanwhile here at Abernethy, some idiot (ie me) wrote that the snow was getting a shift on - so we promptly got another 6 inches and it's properly cold - last night was -17oC according to Richard's thermometer. I don't think it got above freezing all weekend - more importantly my boiler stopped working resulting in ice inside every window this morning... That's now fixed - so I can enjoy the spectacular views - it's sunny during the day and everything is incredibly beautiful and with the birds all singing it's pretty fantastic to be here right now (if you can take the cold...)

More next week.

Glacial retreat.

2010-02-15T15:43:00Z

I've entered the data for last week (up until 9am on Saturday 13th). Rothes spent most of the week on Ilha de Unhocomozinho, and then on Friday 12th both points showed her over the sea to the NE (though not far off shore) - I got excited that she might be heading off somewhere - but the last point showed her back on that same island! It was probably just a fishing trip, but you can imagine her seeing other ospreys starting to head N on migration and the number of ospreys in the area slowly decreasing as the adults head N...

Here at Abernethy the power line route is cleared, so that's one job done. The snow is getting a shift on - though there's a fair few heaps lying about here and there where the tractor was used a snow plough. We're working away at getting the tracks cleared to make them passable. With miles of tracks it'll take a while.

Now since it's February - here's a contribution from Douglas.

Hello again,

It’s great to see a bit of greenery again! The snow has had a good shift up here, though there are still patches. The daylight hours are growing and the birds have found their voice again, spring is just round the corner now….great! I heard a woodpecker drumming on a tree near Forest Lodge just the other day, I mentioned this to the site manager and he said it has started nearly the same week for years, funny how nature’s clock ticks away and keeps great time.

My time here has flown by and I was not looking forward to leaving at the end of March, so was very happy when I was offered an extension to my stay via a short contract doing the Caper Watch at the Osprey Centre. Very early mornings observing these magnificent birds strut their stuff on the Lek and telling the public a bit about them. I have been applying for other conservation jobs and am at least now getting interviews, this voluntary placement and the training given to me has been invaluable. Anybody thinking about voluntary work…go for it!

The forest has taken a hammering, broken limbs and whole trees being displaced from the sheer weight of the snow. We’ve had a good deal of tidying up to do but order is returning and I am always amazed how well the forest disguises damage with new growth in the spring and summer months.

What wildlife have I seen since my last ‘blog’? Several Red squirrels in recent days, I think they have sensed the thaw too, three separate Cock Capercaillie sightings, four Hen Capercaillie, several Buzzard sightings, Bullfinches, Tits and of late, a pair of Raven have regularly flew overhead. Oh and I should mention the three small frogs found in a water filter when we were replacing it, they have been released and am sure are very thankful of their freedom.

We have new volunteers arriving on Saturday and I am looking forward to introducing them to this wonderful place. Not sure what work is on the cards just yet but I am sure Alice will keep us busy.

So thanks again for the comments, I hope you are all getting a feel for how much I have enjoyed myself up here.

Until my next piece of creative writing,

Cheers Douglas

Rothes sits tight...

2010-02-08T16:35:00Z

Rothes had another uneventful week - I've entered her data, but the satellite didn't catch her leaving Ilha de Unhocomozinho, though she has been moving about on the island. I wonder if many ospreys have already left from that area to start their migration north?

Meanwhile here at Abernethy everything's been getting a bit manic. With the snow melting enough to get out and achieve things (read that as track clearing, hung up branch sorting etc), plus getting the GO for the mains power, we've been working pretty hard. We've started clearing the route the trench will take - marking the route for the cable laying and clearing the debris from all the snow damage. Once that's finished we just have to hope for a window in the weather - apparently we're expecting more snow...

Anyway, more next week.

Still Ilha de Unhocomozinho.

2010-02-01T10:05:00Z

Well it's the start of another week, I trust some of you had a enjoyable time at some point over the weekend, counting the birds in your garden for Big Garden Bird Watch

Rothes had a pretty uneventful week, sticking with Ilha de Unhocomozinho for the entire week. She was over the sea on Sunday morning (24th January), I'm assuming fishing, but for the rest of the week the satellite only caught her dodging about on the island. Anyway, the data is in and the map should update sometime this evening.

And now for a contribution from Richard:

Hope for Mallachie?

Richard was talking to Claire Buchanan who works for us from the North Scotland Office in Inverness, who is tracking 12 red kites. What she had to say gives us hope that just possibly, all could be well for Mallachie. From early-mid Nov Claire began losing contact with some of her birds. It was as if they had simply switched off and gone all quiet for weeks on end, with only the occasional bit of no-quality data leaking through. Lately though, Claire has started to hear back from 9 of the tags which has been a good sign, though there are still 3 out there with which there has been no contact from since before Christmas, whereabouts unknown.

As well as tracking the kites and being able to literally check up on any fixes received, Claire has the luxury of being able to go and look for birds that she isn't hearing from and so has been able to determine that her birds are at least ok - she's seen them - but for some reason they are just not transmitting. The possible explanation for her birds is that the solar-powered tags just aren't getting enough battery charge given the very short, dull winter days up here in hyperborea - at least not enough to charge up to a level where they can transmit any data. The extreme cold temperatures up here will not help either.

Now this scenario would of course apply far less to Mallachie, down there in warm, sunny West Africa, but if the tag on her back has become obscured by her feathers, or perhaps mucky with mud or algae from fishing maybe, or poo-ed on by another bird perhaps - imagine if she perched in amongst a cormorant or pelican colony for example - though unlikely, I know. But who knows? It does at least give us some hope that we may not have heard the last from Mallachie.

Claire has a website http://www.eyestotheskies.org.uk where you can follow what the kites are up to.

Up-date on the mains power project.

The latest up-date on monies received from the blog towards the mains power project at Loch Garten is now a magnificent £4,975. This is a tremendous effort, thank you so much. It has helped enormously and is very much appreciated.

There's more good news too. We have been awaiting word from two potential funding pots; Cairngorm National Park Authority and LEADER+ and both have just confirmed that they will indeed be contributing to this project. Phew!

Originally we asked you to help raise £7,000 towards the project costs and so far you've raised almost £5,000 of this which is fantastic, but with these two grants, the project funding package is now in place, so thank you. However, we would like to continue satellite tagging young ospreys at Loch Garten and need to find funding for tags for this year, so any further donations can be directed towards these costs, and would be much appreciated too.

Once again, thank you for all your support, you've been brilliant. - Richard

More next week.

Ilha de Unhocomozinho...

2010-01-25T10:22:00Z

Well Rothes hasn't immediately returned to mainland Guinea Bissau and the area around Varela. She is still in the Bijagos Islands (or was as of 9am on Saturday 23rd, the latest point I have for her). She spent a couple of nights on Ilha de Uno and then headed W to Ilha de Unhocomozinho on Tuesday (19th). This might be a new island for her, I can't tell from the scribble I can see on the map. I'm sure it's the first time I've written Ilha de Unhocomozinho in the blog though... We'll see where she heads / hangs around next week.

Meanwhile here at Abernethy the access track is now passable by normal car - thanks to some hard work with tractor and quad. We had more snow on Sunday - but only a couple of cms. Yesterday afternoon Dougie and I acted as ground staff for some tree surgery at the chalets (volunteer accommodation for the Osprey Centre). It's quite a skill not to have branches hit the chalets on their way down to the ground. If anyone has ever thought about spending a week as a volunteer at the Osprey Centre working at nest monitoring and in the Centre itself talking to visitors, there are still some spaces for this coming season (though mainly at the end of the season). If you are interested, you can contact the residential volunteering department at the Lodge in Bedfordshire on 01767 680 551.

More next week.

Back to the Bijagos Islands...

2010-01-18T11:04:00Z

The data is in, and Rothes had a slightly more active week (at least the satellite caught her covering a wider area this last week). She spent most of the week near Varela (so no change there) but on Friday (15th) she headed south to the Bijagos islands. The latest point (9am on Saturday 16th) showed her to be on Ilha Caravela. We'll see if she sticks around there for a bit in next week's data.

Meanwhile here at Abernethy, the thaw really started on Saturday. The ice holding one of the gutters up melted over night and it crashed down in the early hours. Fortunately the others seem ok. The track turned to impassable slush a foot deep, marooning the pick-ups. It turned colder again on Saturday night so the track is now much worse than it was last week. Jayne commuted in by tractor this morning - the sensible choice at the moment, and she brought milk - so that crisis (black tea) is averted!

More next week.

Extra, extra...

2010-01-13T16:20:00Z

An extra mid week blog for you all - courtesy of our LTV, Douglas. I'd have published it on Monday, but he was in a snow drift and didn't get it to me in time! If you're reading this and wanting Monday's news on Rothes, please read the previous post. More from me next week.

Hi all,

Sorry I missed last month’s blog, the news of Mallachie and other matters took precedence, we are all still hoping for the best for Mallachie. Two months under my belt and it just gets better and better, thanks for all the comments to my last blog input, I am very new to publishing anything on the web.

So what’s been happening?

The first part of my writings describes November and most of December…up to the point of the big freeze …then it was human conservation as well as the trees and wildlife!

I am still learning lots and am constantly surprised by the amount of work entailed in maintaining as large and diverse a reserve as Abernethy is. I have had a few days on the hills with the guys and it’s great to see some of the Pine forest regeneration projects from vantage points. You always think trees just grow…well they do, but in certain areas they need help, by heather burning and scrub cutting the seedlings have the best chance of establishing themselves and consequently joining fragmented parts of the woodland.

Deadwood creation is an on going exercise, we create deadwood by pulling over trees with a manual winch or by ‘ring barking’, which creates standing deadwood. Our deadwood areas are usually selected around the broadleaf trees that are dotted throughout the plantation areas of the forest, encouraging diverse woodland and improved habitat for all wildlife.

I have assisted Alice on guided walks with local secondary school children, who were also involved in freeing up the dragonfly ponds of excess weed and hopefully encouraging some of them to become the next generation of conservationists.

On the 1^st of Dec I got a trip in a helicopter over the Cairngorms, Superb! four of us went to a nearby estate (the helicopter was hired by them) to help with their deer count. This is done by a line of people walking through a wood making a lot of noise, this pushes the deer out the other side, and the animals are then counted from the air.

I have been on a chainsaw training course recently and can now assist with any tree felling needed on the reserve; my practical training has been great and I now really feel part of the team. As you know we have been quite badly affected by the winter weather, so my chainsaw skills are improving quickly with tree damage from the snow causing obstructions to road networks in the area.

I hope I have more wildlife to write about in next month’s blog, but until then its back to the snow and ice.

Cheers for now

Douglas

Snow, snow, snow

2010-01-11T15:36:00Z

Well I made it back to Abernethy - and I'm writing this from our lovely warm office (not), so I'll keep it short as my fingers are freezing.

Rothes over the last week has stayed near Varela with the odd trip out over the sea for some fishing no doubt. Still nothing form Mallachie, but I'm staying positive.

Here at Abernethy, Ross et al have been busy keeping roads passable - removing branches as they snap off under the massive weight of snow - though you'd be sensible not to try going anywhere unless you are in a 4x4 or on skis! Now I'm back on site I'm getting my share of snow shovelling. Today was a balmy 0 degrees C, which was nice!

More next week.

Happy New Year.....

2010-01-05T11:10:00Z

There's been a pretty snowy start to the year at Abernethy - at Forest Lodge there's about 3 feet (that's 1m) of the white stuff. However, don't be impressed about me having battled through the snow to bring you this blog - I'm writing this from the Inverness office (eerily quiet - though that's just because everyone is working so hard...).

Those staff who have made it to Abernethy, (or have been snowed in there for the last two weeks) are battling with all sorts of chaos to get things functioning.

I spoke to Richard on the phone earlier, and he managed to get to Forest Lodge, traipsing through the snow, after 5 days snowed-in at his house since Hogmanay. He reports that apparently, it is chaotic. The snow is hampering the team getting oot & aboot, the roads are impassable except by 4X4, and even those are struggling. They are out with chainsaws clearing trees and branches that have fallen on to and across the roads under the sheer weight of thick snow. The tractor is out rescuing stuck, snow-bound vehicles, and even had to pull the Council snow plough out of a drift, and generally trying to help where we can, with ploughing neighbours’ drives and access. He says, the heating oil is almost gone and there’s no chance of a tanker delivery, probably until next week, as supplies are low and because the snow is still falling and so the tanker would have no chance negotiating the access track.

Despite all the mayhem, as a positive, Richard says it is absolutely, stunningly beautiful. Icicles 5 feet long hanging from buildings. Never seen so much snow. The walk to work was amazing, not a sound, complete silence up through the forest save for the crump, crump, crump of footfall in the fresh snow.

It looks too like the red squirrel feeder-cam is down also, either a generator breakdown or we have run out of gas. No chance there for a delivery either for a week at least I would say. Now, if only we had mains power………..? Talking of which, the response to the blog ask for £7000 towards the project (see previous posts), now stands at £3,525. Thanks to all who have contributed so far.

The forecast is for more snow and no let-up in the icy conditions for perhaps two weeks to come. We will up-date maps and blogs as and when we can but to be quite frank, we have more pressing life-support type stuff to be doing for the rest of this week, maybe for longer. Please bear with us.

Meanwhile for those of you desperate to hear news on our ospreys. I've updated the map with Rothes' latest data (still nothing from Mallachie I'm afraid), so that should go up this evening. I've added data from 20th December onwards. Rothes had a pretty relaxed Christmas and New Year break. She remained in Guinea Bissau in the area near Varela, dotting about. On Christmas day she was close to Nhiquim, and she was back in almost the same spot for Hogmanay. The latest point I have for her is for 5pm on 2nd January (Saturday), when she was close to Nhiquim.

Hopefully next time I write this I'll be back at Abernethy....

International ospreys of mystery

2009-12-21T16:31:00Z

Good evening. This is the weekly osprey news, brought to you by Katie from the Web Team.

Well, we've not heard from Mallachie again this week, so her whereabouts remains a mystery. As Richard mentioned in his last blog post, it's possible the transmitter has stopped working or fallen off, so please do not despair. Maybe she'll turn up in the UK again in a couple of years?

Rothes seems to have had a steady, rather unspectacular week - at least as far as we can tell from the 9 am and 5 pm snapshots of her location, altitude and speed. She's stayed pretty much in the same small area - near Varela in Guinea-Bissau, so I've added only one new point.

Weather forecasts for the location seem to show that it gets up to about 33 degrees C (91 F) during the day, and down to 23 C (73 F) at night.

By contrast, here at The Lodge, we're 'enjoying' temperatures ranging from +1 C at the warmest, down to about -5 C at night, with about 4-5 inches of snow still in place. Anyone for a snowball fight? (I'm sure that Scots and northerners will scoff at that, but it's making life interesting down here in t'south).

Here's the view from our office window:

So, if you're bored of winter weather and would like to see the climate Rothes is experiencing, have a look at the photos on the Panoramio website. And sigh...

Mixed news I’m afraid,

2009-12-14T16:51:00Z

Good news first…..

Rothes seems to be fine, having spent the last week (up until Friday 11th) pottering about in the vicinity of Varela, in Guinea Bissau. Might she spend Christmas there?

And more good news…..

To up-date you on the recent blog ask for support towards the mains power project, of the £7,000 hoped for by 1^st February, last Monday the total stood at £2,530, but as of today, it is £3,154 - a brilliant effort so far. Our sincere thanks to all of you who have contributed.

Now, the not such good news…..

It concerns Mallachie. We have waited for a second week to see if any data arrived, but there is still no data for her. Clearly, something must have happened, for there to be, no data for 2 weeks, but we cannot be sure quite what. Please try to be as reassured. It need not mean that it is entirely bad news. The scenarios are as follows;

The tag may have failed. It may have malfunctioned or potentially dropped off. If it had dropped off then, it ought to still be transmitting its whereabouts, unless of course it has dropped off into water. Although sealed, and waterproofed against brief and temporary wetting when the bird is fishing, prolonged emersion in water will likely cause it to stop working.
Alas, it could suggest that something has happened to Mallachie.

Tags falling off or failing has happened before. Talking to our technical colleagues at HQ, they tell me that, there have been cases where tags have stopped sending data, perhaps because the battery has got very low, or where the solar panel has become obscured by feathers and isn’t charging, and yet transmitters have resumed transmitting after quite some time. Or where bird have strayed into areas of poor satellite coverage. Also, there does seem to be satellite "blindspots" where heavy radio traffic drowns out the signals.

Examples they gave me were; a Sociable Lapwing, satellite tagged as part of a research programme. It stopped transmitting and the worst was feared. Yet a year later it was seen on its breeding grounds in Kazakhstan, identified by its leg rings, but was not carrying the satellite tag. Other Sociable Lapwings have been 'lost to the satellites” for periods of up to a couple of months.

In another case, the satellite tag, kept issuing data intermittently, and when investigated the tag was found in sand dunes, transmitting when it was exposed to the sun, but not doing so when the wind had blown the sand and covered it over.

So positive thinking please, Mallachie might just be fine, though we cannot ignore the possibility that we have lost her. Sorry to be the bearer of this worrying news in this, the season of festive cheer.

Owing to the festive break, we will not be able to check up on the birds, up-date the map or post a blog until next year – that might sound like a long way off, but in effect, it is just until Tuesday 5^th January.

So for now, Alice, myself and the rest of the team here at Abernethy, wish you a Happy Christmas and all the very best for the New Year ahead.

Richard Thaxton - Site manager Loch Garten

Latest News

2009-12-07T10:02:00Z

Well it's the start of another week. I've input the most recent data for Rothes - she stayed on Ilha de Orango until 9am on 30th Novemeber (last Monday), then headed to I. de Unhocomo for 24 hours. By 5pm on 1st December she was heading back NE, passing Ilha Carache and Ilha de Caravela on 2nd Decemeber. She continued N and was back near Varela on the mainland by 5pm on the 2nd. The latest point I have for her was 5pm on the 5th (Saturday) when she was settled back in the area near Varela. Maybe she'll have another explore next week? - tune in next week to find out.

Mallachie meanwhile - ? it's hard to say. The data didn't come through for last week. This will be due to a transmitter type problem, not a bird problem, so please don't panic. When there is a bird type problem we get data - it just shows no movement or an inability to get a 3D fix. When there is no data at all, that's because something in the transmitter or satellite download isn't working. We'll be looking into it, and hopefully get this resolved as soon as possible. In the meantime, please don't get concerned.

Now to change the subject a bit... If you are stuck for ideas for Christmas presents - have you considered giving a gift memership to RSPB? It's a great present to give because it lasts all year and it helps us to do more to help birds and the environment. If you would like to give a gift membership, go to the link below:

http://www.rspb.org.uk/supporting/join/

The last order date for Christmas gift membership is 14th December - that's next Monday, so don't delay....

Richard Thaxton Site Manager-Loch Garten