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Mallachie has made it to Mauritania. After we left her in Algeria at 6am yesterday morning (14th) she headed off in a SW direction getting to Western Sahara by 12noon. She continued on and reached Mauritania by 6pm. She continued on until about 8pm, when she stopped to roost. At 10am this morning (15th), the latest point I have, she was about 150km E of Bir Moghrein.

Rothes meanwhile had another fairly relaxed day movement wise. After roosting on Ilha Caravela, she spent the whole of yesterday on there, roosting there again last night. The latest point I have for her is also 10am this morning. It's probably to early to think this might be her prefered island out of all of them...

Thanks to this week's short term residential volunteers who entered all the data for me today.

More tomorrow.

Depending which direction Mallachie heads in next, she'll soon be into Western Sahara or Mauritania (or probably already is). I've entered the data and the latest point I have for her was 6am this morning (14th). She was close to Tindouf in Algeria close to the border with Western Sahara and Mauritania. I'm sure over the course of today she's progressed further. Over the course of yesterday she headed SW - so slightly out towards the coast - a good thing I think. I'll update again tomorrow.

Rothes meanwhile had a relaxing day yesterday (I assume), spending most of the day on Ilha de Carache, then heading onto Ilha Caravela to roost. The latest point I have for her was 6am this morning when she was on Ilha Caravela.

Here at Abernethy, the water is working again - no frog was found, though I'm not ruling it out as the problem! Fortunately the entire pipe didn't need to be dug up (100s of m long), which was a relief for everyone.

More tomorrow.

Well Mallachie has made it to Algeria (as of 9pm last night 12th). She flew south after we left her, passing near Boujad at 3pm on 11th, then past Chorfa, Embarek and Barrage Bin el Ouidane, roosting near Taourart, a pretty mountainous area. Yesterday morning she continued south passing Ait Hhammed and Tagmount crossing the border into Algeria between 5pm and 6pm. As of 9pm yesterday, the last point I have, she was in Algeria.

Rothes meanwhile had a very relaxing 24 hours - moving onto Ilha Caravela at 4pm on 11th and staying there to roost. She stayed there all day yesterday until 5pm when she moved onto Ilha Carache, where she roosted. Last point I have is 10pm yesterday.

Here at Forest Lodge we've had an eventful day - our water supply is not currently working - hopefully it's just a frog....

More tomorrow - unless we've had a power cut as well...

Well, just when I thought it was going to be 'no change' from either Mallachie or Rothes, Mallachie decided to move on over the weekend. She was in the vicinity she's been in for the last little while through to 11am on 9th (Friday). By 2pm on Friday she was heading south at quite a height (over 1000m at times - not to hit the mountains...) more or less following the border between Portugal and Spain. She spent Friday night near Rosal de la Frontera and then continued S on Saturday. At 12noon on Saturday she was over the sea, making landfall in Morocco S of Oulad Mahdi by 5pm. She headed inland to roost N of Sidi Yahya du Rharb, and then continued S on Sunday passing Tiflet. I've only got data up until 2pm yesterday (11th) and so tomorrow it'll be interesting to see how far she's continued on.

Rothes meanwhile headed S from Ganjetra  on Friday morning (9th) and followed the coast. At 1pm she turned W and headed back onto the islands - first to Ilha Roxa then NW to I de Rubane and then to Ilha de Bubaque where she roosted. On Saturday she visited a few more islands - I de Uracane, Ilha Carache and Ilha Caravela where she roosted. The latest point I have for Rothes is also 2pm on Sunday (11th) when she was back on Ilha de Carache.

I'll update again tomorrow. I'm sorry it seems to take a while for the map to update. The data I've talked about is all entered before I write this blog, but it doesn't get put onto the website map until the evening (and this can take a while to happen if there is lots of other stuff on the RSPB website needing to be 'updated').

Have a nice evening.

I've just enterered the most recent data for Rothes and Mallachie. I'm inputting it a bit early because I'm away this weekend down to Perthshire and I'm keen to get away on time!

Since 3pm on 7th, Rothes has headed in a SW direction across Ilha das Galinhas then briefly visited I de Enu. She then headed N onto the mainland of Guinea-Bissau between Rio Mansoa to the W and Rio Geba to the E. She crossed over the Rio Geba at about 4pm yesterday and as of 10pm (the last point I have) she was near to Ganjetra. She's still got a lot of ground in this area to explore.

The latest point I have for Mallachie is 9pm yesterday (8th). She was in the same area in Portugal, roosting close to the reservoir SE of Ladoeiro.

More on Monday, have a nice weekend.

There's not been much new data through from Rothes today - the latest point I have is for 3pm yesterday (7th). From Ilha Caravela where we left her at 6am on yesterday's update, she headed east onto Ilha de Carache and then continued towards Ilha das Galinhas. Tomorrow will bring further exploration I'm sure - there's still quite a few islands she hasn't been to...

Mallachie has continued with her daily pattern in Portugal. The latest point for her is 1pm today (8th).

Here at Abernethy it's been a good day weather wise. We've been preparing for the muirburning season checking pumps and beaters, though it's probably going to rain tomorrow...

More tomorrow.

I thought I'd start with Mallachie today for a change. She's in the same area so there's not really anything to report - except that she's obviously in a really good location or she would have moved on by now. She's still tending to roost at the more southerly reservoir and commute to the other one for the day. It's still only early October, but perhaps she'll stick where she is for the winter? Latest point is for 10am this morning (7th) when she was as the reservoir N of Zebreira.

Meanwhile Rothes has had a relaxing 18 hours movement wise. She continued N from that unnamed island (which today on Google maps has a name - Egara) and flew to Ilha Caravela (by 1pm yesterday). She then spent the afternoon on there exploring a bit but mainly sitting around in trees, trying a few different ones out for size so to speak. She roosted there and at 6am this morning, that's where she was.

More tomorrow.

Well Rothes has spent the last 24 hours or so exploring the islands that she arrived at on Sunday. After spending the night on Ilha das Galinhas on Sunday, on Monday she flew SW to Ilha de Uno, visited Ilha de Orango, then headed E, passing south of Ilha Bubaque before heading N again to roost on Ilha de Uno. So far today she has headed out W to visit a small island with no name on Google Maps and then headed a bit north towards Ilha Caravela (as of 11am this morning). Richard yesterday wrote that there were about 18 islands in the area - Rothes has made a good start towards visiting them all! Having travelled so far in quite a short space of time, she's probably happy to just cover relatively short distances exploring the area.

Mallachie is still in Portugal, flitting about.

Meanwhile here at Abernethy, we've got a new long term residential volunteer arriving tomorrow. We've been busy making a very long list of all the jobs we're going to get him to help with! I'll be asking him to contribute to the blog occasionally too so watch this space...

More tomorrow.

Could it be that Rothes has chosen island living as her winter home?  She has been on the move again over the weekend and her most recent position, at 10pm last night, showed her to be in the Bijagos Islands off the coast of Guinea Bissau.  These are an archipelago of 18 main islands and dozens of smaller ones, so plenty for her to choose from.

At 5pm on Friday 2nd October, Rothes confounded my earlier prediction that she would pitch-up at Djoudj National Park in Senegal, instead passing it by to the west near a place called Kayar.  Then at 6pm she crossed the wider end of the peninsula that has Dakar, the Senegalese capital at its distal end, passing near to Sebikotane, and then at 7pm near Mbourouk, where she roosted.

Next morning, at 8am (Saturday 3rd), she headed off-shore, south of Dakar.  It would suggest that she is gaining in confidence, to consciously opt to head out to sea, when being over land with rivers and wetlands to hunt for food might seem to be a safer bet. Yet off she went, for several hours, heading south but west of the Gambia River and Banjul, the Gambian capital.  Eventually, after several hours at sea, at 1pm she cut back east a little, making landfall in southern Senegal near Abene. Rothes continued to head south, until 3pm when she cuts away due south west to a place near Etouta.  She then  crossed the Casamance River -stopping to feed, maybe, before pressing onto the border between Senegal and Guinea Bissau where, come 7pm she went to roost, for what must have been some well-earned rest.

At 11am yesterday (Sunday 4th) she began to move on through Guinea Bissau, passing near to Canchungo, before heading back towards the coast west of the capital, Bissau at noon.  By 1pm she was out at sea again, making what looks like a crossing to the Bijagos Islands.  Could she see them ahead of her and opted to head their way, or was it just chance that they were on her path prompting her to make landfall there.  Her last fix was on an un-named island just north of another in the island group called Ilha das Galinhas.  Will this now be her final destination?  What is it that makes them either press on further, or decide to call a halt to their migration? 

Meanwhile, after Rothes long stop-over near Bordeaux, it would now appear to be Mallachie's turn to be boring  - no, I ought not say that really, but you know what I mean - yep she is still bimbling about in Tejo National Park, Portugal. Still, she is obviously fine and content there, so that's good.

Roy Dennis called by the Osprey Centre yesterday with a group of multi-national delegates on a field outing from a Raptor Conference taking place at Pitlochry. They were from USA, Taiwan, Isreal, Spain and  elsewhere, many of them involved in osprey tracking elsewhere, USA mainly.  The Centre is of course closed now, but for this far-flung group, having come so far, I opened it up for them to see and hear about what we do at Loch Garten.

In my last post, I mentioned the first skiff of snow on the Cairngorms. Well, this morning we had the first frost, it was white over at 6am today.  It didn't last long as the day dawned bright and sunny, including some warmth with it.  The clear, star-bright, frosty conditions last evening, sent the horny red deer stags into over-drive. They were gie-ing it laldie with their bellowings. Their roaring resonating all round the Loch Garten area.  We had friends staying and we stood in the darkness listening to them roar, and (a bit of a tease I know), had a bit of fun by bellowing back at them.  Our renditions were suitably similar to then get them to roar back at us in response, with what sounded like five or six all starting up. Just slightly alarming was the feeling that they were getting louder and thus closer, sensing us as rivals and spoiling for a challenge.....at which point we chose to stop our teasing, as discretion is the better part of valour and instead we took to our heels!

The data is in and yesterday (1st October) Rothes continued south down the coast of Mauritania reaching Diawling National Park by 6pm. As of 10pm (the last point I have) that's where she was, having explored the area a bit. She has slowed down a bit, but is still covering a good distance each day. It'll be interesting to see where she gets to by Monday when I next put the data in.

Mallachie is still in Portugal, continuing with her daily pattern of moving between the two reservoirs. Perhaps this weekend she'll move on?

Meanwhile at Abernethy it's been drizzling/raining most of the day, and looks set to be similar or wetter most of the weekend. However it just makes it feel a bit more autumnal - very different from the weather in Mauritania I'll bet.

More next week.

Alice is off today, recovering from her wasp incident, (don't worry, she's fine), so you've got me.  I've just checked the data and Mallachie is still in the same area of Portugal near the border with Spain.  It will be interesting to see how long she stays there now, given her steady progress up to the point of arriving there. Maybe it's her turn to bide a while in one place and replenish her resources.

It is an interesting comparison between their respective strategies.  Rothes left Loch Garten very earlier remember, and was off like a bolting rabbit and then appeared to have hit a wall near Bordeaux, where she spent several weeks before eventually moving on.  Did she leave too early, regret it and then run out of puff?  Mallachie on the other hand, left on time, well, when we expected her to, made steady progress reaching further south than Rothes but has now come to a stand-still herself.  Hares & tortoises spring to mind.

Rothes though presses on further.  Her most up to date fix at 10pm last night (30th) gave her position as just south of Nouakchott, the capital of Mauritania, near the Atlantic coast.  Having come inland from a spell out at sea off Morocco (phew!), at 11am on 29th September was close to the border between Western Sahara and Mauritania.  At noon she was near a town called Zouerate where she seem to spend a few hours before continuing on her way due south west.  At 4pm she crossed the very bottom right hand corner of Western Sahara near a town called Choum before proceeding back into Mauritania and finding a roosting spot.  The next day, (30th) she was on the move by 10am, presumably once the heat of the desert day was up, to give her lift, and she seem to be following the N1 road towards Akjoujt.  By 5pm she was east of the capital and went to roost at about 7pm just south of Nouakchott, within sight of the sea, handy for fishing.  It's always good and reassurring to see them somewhere close to water.  My guess is that Rothes will drop further down south now and pitch up at Djoudj National Park on the border with Senegal, that I mentioned last year for Nethy.  We shall see, more tomorrow.

Meantime here on the Rez, it's a beautiful time of year.  As the temperatures begin to drop, the autumn colours are beginning to show. There was even a fresh dusting of snow on the high Cairngorms this morning. It's a great time to visit, if you are in reach.  The Osprey Centre and facilities are closed, but the wider reserve area is open at all times.  In fact, it's a great time to visit Strathspey in general, there's just so much autumn going on right now.

Yesterday, I went out in the late afternoon sunshine to try and see hen harriers going to roost.  Once in position, I sat back in the heather to wait.  Eighteen whooper swans passed overhead, fresh from Iceland - that's our north Atlantic neighbours you understand, not the supermarket - flying against the darkening leaden sky, yet somehow spot-lit by the last rays of evening sunshine, they looked magnificent.  They were heading to Loch Garten to roost I think. Skeins of pink-footed geese (also from Iceland) passed overhead too, but way, way up high, picked up on call,  determindly heading further south.  But flocks of greylags were to-ing and fro-ing, back and forth all over the Strath, as the dusk descended, undecided whether to roost on Lochs Garten, Mallachie or Pityoulish.  Add to all that, the distant horny bellowing of red deer stags resounding in the hills behind me, and the sense of autumn was complete.  No harriers though, bah.  Still, cannot have everything.

More anon.

Well Rothes has reached Mauritania. She continued over the sea from 5am on the 28th, hitting land near Tidergit in Morocco at 9am on the 28th. She continued south crossing the border into Western Sahara at 11am on 28th. Not keen to halt much she has carried on south into Mauritania by 2pm on 28th. The latest point I had this morning when I downloaded the data was 10am yesterday (29th) when she was still in Mauritania heading south, but at a slower pace (between 7pm on 28th and 9am on 29th the speed she's been travelling when a reading was taken was 0). So she's obviously finding perches to stop on, but continuing south to find a suitable location to stop for a bit in.

Meanwhile Mallachie is happily moving about in the same place in Portugal.

I know from your comments there's been a bit of concern because we didn't update the map or blog yesterday. I had a bit of a workparty wasp nest situation to deal with which kept me out of the office. Rest assured both chicks are fine.

If Richard has time he'll update the data again this afternoon and stick a bit more onto the blog.

The weekend's data is now input. Mallachie has stayed put but Rothes has spent the weekend heading steadily south. From 10am on Friday (25th) she flew in a south westerly direction passing such places as Souraide, Beintza, Ayllon (North of Madrid) and roosted near to Toledo. Come Saturday she was on the move again flying past Castilblanco and Zafra (can you tell I've been spending quality time on Google maps?!). She roosted on Saturday night near Oliva de la Frontera close to the Potugese border. Then Sunday saw her continuing her journey heading past Paymogo. At 1pm on Sunday (27th) she headed out over the sea from near Faro. From 1pm on Sunday until 5am this morning she didn't hit land, flying continuously down the coast of Morocco (NB there is a gap in the data between 9pm and 5pm so she might have had a sneaky rest for a bit, but the distance on the map looks like she might have just kept going.).

I'll have a look at the data tomorrow to see where she's got to. She wasn't far off shore at 5am and so as the sun came up I'm sure she will have seen the land (if she couldn't anyway with the lights and her osprey eyesight).

Tune in tomorrow for the next update.

Rothes is moving...

I've just entered the most recent data and Rothes has made a move. She left her beloved sturgeon farm yesterday morning (24th) around 9am. Heading south over La Gironde, past Soussans, and to the west of Bordeaux, she continued south near Parnetis-en-Born to the west of Parc Naturel Regional des Landes de Gascogne and on past Uza until reaching an area east of Ondres with an area of water called Etang d'yrieu where she roosted until 8am this morning, possibly catching some fish?

Then it was on again - the latest point that I have for her was 9am this morning (25th) when she was south of Bayonne near the border with Spain.

Meanwhile Mallachie was also on the move - she went slightly east along the reservoir north of Zebreira - so no real change for her. At 10am this morning that's where she was.

Rothes obviously decided to not do anything too strenuous before Richard got back from his holiday so that he wouldn't miss anything. But now he's back let's see where she goes next...

More next week.

I am just back from a week away and I have caught up on the news from Alice that both Rothes and Mallachie are both still in their same respective spots in France and Portugal.  I really thought that by the time I returned, they might have moved on a bit by now.  Still, the important thing is that both seem to be doing ok and presumably like it just where they are, and are in no hurry to press on.  To get back into the swing of entering data, I just took a quick look at the latest and sure enough, Mallachie is still dotting about between the two reservoirs as reported by Alice.  Similarly, Rothes remains on La Gironde river and continues to roost at Dr Jones sturgeon farm. Had we known they would stay put quite this long, we could have perhaps popped down to see them. It is all the more autumnal here now and so it presumably will be where they are too, so perhaps we will see a shift in position sometime soon.

I did see some ospreys last week though.  I was in New York visiting friends, but as fun as the City was, being from the boondocks, after a few days I needed some space and to escape the throng.  So I took the subway out of town to a place called Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge, a wetland out near JFK airport.  Almost the first bird I saw when I got off the train at Broad Channel, was an osprey, right at the moment when it dived into a tidal creek to fish and it caught one!  How lucky was that? In all my time of working with ospreys, the number of times I've actually seen one catch a fish are precious few, so I was well pleased.  There were several ospreys in the area, seen on and off throughout the day, and the weather was still hot & sunny over there, so it seemed like I'd gone back in time to July here. They are of course not nesting now, but I did see some nest platforms on poles.

If you are ever out there, I can recommend Jamaica Bay - lots of birds, including wildfowl and waders, herons & egrets too, plus bushes full of an array of warblers.  It's a perfect oasis to escape to, when the City becomes too much.  The highlight was seeing a Lesser Yellowlegs crash-land into a bush (!), in a desperate attempt to escape the clutches of the stooping Peregrine bearing down on it from above at high speed.  The falcon missed, but I never did see the wader emerge from the undergrowth,  it walked away unseen, embarrassed yet relieved, I suspect.

I can recommend Central Park as a birdwatching hot spot too, especially at Spring and Autumn (Fall) migration times - heaving with various species of warbler and thrush, woodpecker and nuthatch.  Osprey-sized Red-tailed Hawks nest on nearby city buildings and hunt the park.  I saw one perched in full view, just 25ft above a park path, ravenously ripping up a grey squirrel, prey which presumably sustains them in that location, yet it went unobserved and unappreciated by all the focussed joggers, roller-bladers and dog walkers passing back & forth beneath it.  I just couldn't help myself but slip into RSPB warden mode, stopping some of them to point out the spectacle they were missing just above their heads. Most of them seemed appreciative, though it didn't occur to me to think that I'd be interfering with the joggers' timed running routines, oops.

.........anyway, Alice or I will check on Rothes & Mallachie again tomorrow and keep you informed.  My thanks to Alice for doing so in my absence.