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.
In late May 2011, Rothes made a move from the coast which took her back northwards over Senegal and The Gambia and then along the Mauritanian coast. By 31 May she'd crossed into Western Sahara.
She then explored the coast of north-west Africa in a zigzagging route, crossing into Morocco on 12 June and heading towards the Mediterranean coast before getting to Tangiers on 25 June, from where she'll have had her first look at Europe since September 2009.
By 1pm on 26 June, Rothes was back over Europe itself! She was 546 m above sea-level (about 150 m above the ground), south-east of Cortijo de la Zorrilla. Like many large birds (including storks as well as birds of prey), she'd probably made the shortest possible crossing of the Straits of Gibraltar somewhere near Tarifa - the southernmost point of Europe.
She spent the night of 26-27 June near the Rio San Juan east of Baena in the province of Cordoba.
By 5 am on 29 June, Rothes was perching by the Rio Ebro, east of the town of Logroño. But she didn't hang around in Spain for much longer. At the end of the day, she roosted on the northern shore of l'Étang d'Hardy in south-west France.
At 1 pm on 30 June, Rothes was about 15 m above the ground at Biganos, south-west of Bordeaux. And by 9 pm that evening, she was back on her old sturgeon farm-stomping ground, east of the Gironde estuary, where she'd stopped over on her way south in 2009.
I have to say that I think Rothes is the "queen" of the three. Not only is she the eldest but I think she is the most dignified. She didn't really bully much and when Garten started her bullying of Mallachie she tended to distance herself from the two of them. She also has the lovely colouring around her back of neck area. She is one cool chick! Definitely graduate from "ladette to lady".
Rothes, I keep trying to write something really nice about you but it's just not appearing here so I will have one more try. I think you are the "queen" of the three girls due to your wonderful coloured nape and you seem so dignified! Although you are the eldest you were not involved in a lot of bullying and indeed you sat back while Mallachie and Garten had their disputes. You are the majestic one of the trio and so beautiful.
Her name should be "Caviar Rothes of the Gironde". What a star, first to leave & what tales she will have to tell when she eventually completes her trip.
God speed Rothes. Stay safe and come back to breed in Scotland in the future. Pru
To anyone updating this page - there is interesting info in this blog about Varela:
www.travelblog.org/.../blog-78973.html
A comment about this page, and Mallachie's too - it would be useful to have some smaller-scale maps from Google Earth, showing the route.
is there any update?
To the web team: re my post of 16th April, I have posted some Google Earth screenshots of Rothes' route, in the "Tracking Rothes and Mallachie" thread in the Forum. You are welcome to use any of these if you want, when updating the page: www.rspb.org.uk/.../99166.aspx
Aberdeenshire Quine - this an unofficial update, based on the LG blogs and info which was found and posted in the Forum:
Rothes based herself in Varela from 19th October 09 to mid January 2010. After failed attempts to transform it into a seaside resort along the lines of Cap Skirring, just across the Senegal border, Varela remains a rural community whose inhabitants live mostly by agriculture or fishing. Rothes roosted near Varela Beach, not far from the ruins of weekend villas built during the Portuguese colonial period and the rusting superstructure of a more recent hotel project, abandoned due to fighting between Guinea-Bissau forces and elements of the Casamanche separatist movement. Her roost wood may have consisted of eucalyptus and pine trees planted by the Portuguese, rather than native trees.
Rothes made a brief trip back to the Bijagos Islands on 27th November – 2nd December 2009, and on 15th January 2010 she returned there and settled on Unhocomozinho. This is one of the outer islands which are considered to be uninhabited, though they are visited for seasonal agriculture and by fishermen out of Senegal. There is also a camp on a nearby islet which receives tourists for game fishing holidays.
On 22nd May 2010, Rothes passed the important milestone of her first birthday, still on Unhocomozinho.
A New Year, and Rothes is..........still on Unhocomozinho! Willl she return to the UK this spring?
A correction to the information I posted above - in a recent episode of "Extreme Fishing with Robson Green", the angling actor stayed at Acunda fishing camp and met the 80 inhabitants of Unhocomozinho. nh.
On her second birthday, Rotrhers starts her first northerly migration. Will be gascinating to follow progress.
www.rspb.org.uk/.../on-the-move.aspx
Well Rothes started her journey north on 22nd May 2011. She has followed a strange path so far.
Richard Thaxton wrote on the main blog on 26 July 2011
ROTHES LATEST.................wait for it, wait for it........is still there! On the Gironde estuary near Bordeaux. With it being almost August, I can't see her shifting any further north now. My guess, (contrary to Tiger the oracle - nice to meet you last week Tiger (and ChloeB) and thanks for the team cake), is that she'll wend her way back south in the coming week or so.
Rothes has been photographed on 22 July near the fish farm on the Gironde estuary - the white Darvic ring inscribed PJ is clearly legible on some great photogrpahs taken by Nigel on the Photographs tab of the Loch Garten Ospreys group on RSPB Community, and there is a discussion thread entitled "Rothes" on the forum. (Sorry I can't make these hotlinks for some reason)
On 7 August Rothes was still around the fish farm on the Gironde. While the GPS positions on GE for 7 August are towards the south of region she has been ranging in over the last 6 weeks or so, they are still within the overall range for that period, so no data yet which shows she is startung to head back to Africa.