Rothes was inside the first egg to be laid in 2009, on 16 April. She hatched on 22 May. Her parents are White EJ and 'Odin'.
When she was ringed, she weighed 1.646 kg and had a wing length of 376 mm. Rothes' colour-ring is white with a black 'PJ'.
Rothes surprised everyone by leaving Loch Garten before the rest of the family! Usually it's the mother who leaves first.
On 9 August, Rothes flew the nest. She travelled south-west, down the Spey valley and spent her first night away from her natal area just south of Loch Lomond.
On 10 August, she continued her SSW route towards Irvine in Ayrshire, over the Galloway Forest Park, very close to our Mull of Galloway reserve. She flew over the Irish Sea, just west of the Isle of Man and ended up on Anglesey for the night.
After briefly flying over the Llyn peninsula on 11 August, she headed strongly south-east past Dolgellau, Llandrindod Wells, Ebbw Vale, Caerphilly and west of Cardiff. Rothes crossed the Severn estuary before heading south past Westonzoyland and Chard. Next she turned south-west towards Axminster and over Beer to roost near Branscombe.
On 12 August, she continued her tour of the Devon coast, over Budleigh Salterton, west of Babbacombe and Paignton before heading out over the Channel at Torcross.
Her southeasterly crossing was longer than Mallachie's, taking somewhere around 4-5 hours, and she made landfall in Brittany, west of St Malo. That was enough for one day and spent her first night in France near Lanrelas in Côtes-d'Armor.
Next morning (13 August), Rothes continued her migration, past Redon, over the Loire at Saint-Nazaire and tracked the coast to roost south of Talmont-Saint-Hilaire in Vendée. On 14 August, she flew south-west past La Rochelle and Saintes before settling on the shores of the Gironde estuary, north of Bordeaux. There, she found a regular roost site near a sturgeon-rearing farm (though apparently the fish will be too big for her!) and explored the area around the river.
Rothes stayed around the Gironde until 24 September when she made a move south-west, past Bordeaux and roosted next to the Etang d'Yrieu near Bayonne.
Next day she crossed into Spain, not far from where Mallachie had done the same on 6 September. She took a similar south-westerly route to her sister, past Pamplona and skirting the west side of Madrid before spending the night near Toledo and the River Tajo (the same river that Mallachie found further west!).
On 26 September, Rothes continued south-west, past Villanueva de la Serena and Jerez de los Caballeros to roost in farmland south of Oliva de la Frontera, not far from the border with Portugal.
27 September was a big day for her: she flew kept south-west, zigzagging in and out of Portugal, before heading out over the sea over the fishing port of Olhão. Her route was not ideal, taking her a long way over the sea rather than keeping to land for as long as possible (lots of ospreys and other big birds head down to the Straits of Gibraltar). Rothes flew south-west along the coast of Morocco and it looks like she may have flown through the night; by 5 am on 28 September she was over the sea again (the sun doesn't rise until 6.30 am).
Eventually she made landfall and crossed a little bit of Morocco before continuing south over Western Sahara and then down to Mauritania. She spent the night of 28-29 September in the desert not far from the N1 road. Next day she flew further south-west, just clipping the corner of Western Sahara but roosting again in Mauritania, not far from the N1. By the end of 30 September, she'd made it to the coast, just south of the Mauritanian capital, Nouakchott.
On 1 October, Rothes continued her south-westerly route again, hugging the Atlantic coast and finishing for the day in Senegal. She didn't spend long there, and pressed on next day, dodging The Gambia and roosting in south Senegal. On 4 October, she commenced her exploration of Guinea-Bissau, touring the Bijagós islands off the coast for a few days, and then going back to the mainland, south of the Rio Geba, on 8 October, before returning to tour the islands.
Around 19 October Rothes flew north-west along the coast to the area around Varela, not far from the Senegalese border.