Osprey blog

The time has come, well almost.  We plan to ring and satellite tag the young ospreys on Monday 6 July at c.8 am.  This is somewhat dependent on weather.  If conditions are not right, then it will be postponed until that evening possibly or even the next day.  But as it stands just now, Monday is the day. Osprey expert Roy Dennis will be ringing and tagging the birds for us.

Many of you I know will be watching, so I thought I would explain what will take place and what you will/might see.  I'm afraid that you will not see very much.  For safety reasons, both for us involved and of course the birds, ringing and tagging takes place on the ground, not at the nest, so all you will really see is when the chicks are removed from the nest and then a little later, placed back.

Firstly, you will hear EJ give her alarm call and leave the nest.  The chicks will respond to this and slump down into the nest and remain motionless.  This is a survival strategy whereby their camouflage is such that they might go unnoticed by any airborne predators like crows flying overhead.  We though aren't that easily duped.

Next you may here our voices - and before any of you ask, no, we will not be giving anyone a name check over the microphone into cyberspace!  The ladder is already in place, left there from a few weeks ago when we had the fishing line incident etc.  We ought not need to alter its position, but you might hear the clunking of ladders.

A mysterious pair of hands will then appear.  Each chick in turn will be carefully bagged up to be brought to the ground.  Our plan is to satellite tag only two of the three chicks, the third chick will be ringed first and promptly, and replaced in the nest complete with bling.  The other two will be taken out of sight of the nest, for the longer proceedure of having tags fitted, this will give EJ the chance to return to the nest and the third chick. If EJ doesn't return to the nest, please do not be alarmed, she'll be there, but may well just be perch in the nearby dead tree 10m from the nest, where you will not be able to see her.

Once tagging is complete, the two chicks will then also be returned to the nest, ladder removed and we retreat from site.  Whilst we are at the nest we'll have a further opportunity to check for and remove any fishing line, and buff the camera lens.

All three birds will be ringed, weighed, measured, sexed..... and named.  I know you've all been clamouring to know the names and thank you for all the suggested names and suggested naming- threads that we might follow.  There have been some good suggestions, some.... less good, shall we say.  But thanks all the same.

They are to be called:

Rothes (pronounced Roth-es).  This is a primary school north of us here, and both last year and this we received a significant contribution towards the project from someone connected with the school.  The third chick last year, that died in the nest in mid-June, pre-tagging, was scheduled to be called Rothes, so we are going ahead with that name this year.  The other two are to be called Mallachie and Garten, the two lochs here at the reserve.  All names are effectively unisex so the, as yet undetermined sexes of our brood does not matter.

I trust you approve.  Yes, I know, there'll be those of you out there, who like these names and those that don't, others that wanted Norse names, relatives of Odin etc, but there you have it, Rothes, Mallachie and Garten are this years' birds.  The ref's decision is final.  Please do not harangue us about these names, it's a done deal.  Dissenting, name-debate blog comment will not be published, sorry, but I just envisage heaps of them and we will not, in any case change the names now.

The ringing event is not a public event - the osprey staff team and volunteers will be present, so please do not be tempted to turn up to join us.  Ringing and tagging is carried out strictly under-licence and it is not a public event, sorry.  Later that day or the next day we will post some details of the sizes, weight and sexes etc plus some photographs of proceedings.

Can I please ask you all again to be patient with all things blog, whether awaiting comments to be published, answers to questions, latest news and up-dates.  As if we haven't been run off our feet already so this season so far, July and August are our busiest months, plus staff have annual leave to take which can leave us short-staffed at times, yet with no let up in all that we have to do, servicing the blog included.  So bear with us folks, please.  Many thanks.

Super Odin, Odin the Magnificent, Odin the Great, Odin the Fish Dude, Fishy Odin....... ok so maybe not the last one but whatever way you look at it we could not have asked for a better male! He seems intent on breaking every and any record we have, just last night he brought two fish to the nest within 15 minutes of each other, 15MINUTES!! Here we were all thinking how amazing it was that he had brought in two fish within an hour of each other a couple of times and then he goes and does this!

So including that burst from last night the overall total for the past week is 51 fish, an average of over 7 a day! Quite an achievment when you imagine all he has been through over the past few weeks, no fishing line can stop this osprey. I think the Superman 'S' would quite suit Odin at the moment.

You would think therefore that EJ wouldn't have to worry about anything apart from looking after the nest but she's been at it as well! Yesterday EJ went off fishing herself again (twice!), there is certainly no need for her to be fishing (unlike last year) but perhaps she was just a bit bored on the nest. All the more fish for the chicks which has to be a good thing.

The result of all these fishing shannanigans is that we now have three healthy chicks on the nest, in fact the chicks seem to spend most of their time sleeping off the last meal. If this keeps up then we certainly have a good chance of three chicks fledging the nest in a couple of weeks time. I am sure you will be joining us in keeping everything crossed in the hope that all three chicks will be flying off to Africa in late August.

Unfortunately have to finish on a slightly down note, we seem to have run out of cake..............

Patrick Preston is volunteering at Loch Garten this week.  Patrick has been making his annual volunteering trip here for more years than he can remember, and over that time he has become something of a poet laureate for Loch Garten and the osprey.  He penned this poem this week, and I thought that today would be a good day to publish it here on the blog, after Odin's fantastic fish total of nine yesterday!

Odin's Ode

They call me Odin, wise Norse god

I'll live up to that name

I'll break all records, fish like mad

We gods must play the game

To keep this reputation

In a tolerable state

Isn't always easy

As I shall now relate

Our nest is in an ideal spot

A des-res - what a catch

So many other osprey

Come intruding on our patch

I haven't got a ring on

So they can't tell who is who

and even my mate EJ

Sometime puzzles what to do

I came upon some fishing line

It was no use to me

But as I flew about

It nearly tied me to a tree

I felt a little poorly

For two days I stayed away

When I returned two fish were there

And a Tesco's bill to pay!

As mentioned earlier, Odin brought in nine fish yesterday, equalling his personal best.  As I type, EJ and the chicks have just finished the second fish of the day.

We await the next fish..... 

I just took a phone call from Mrs Mckintosh a teacher at Quarryhill Primary School in Aberdeen.  "Just to let you know", she said, "that you're on speaker" and I found myself talking and listening to the pupils of her Primary 4/5 class.  They wanted to tell me some news.

At the count of three from Mrs McKintosh, in unison the children yelled out very loudly "£345".

This was the amount that the children had raised for the Loch Garten ospreys, the proceeds from an art competition and sale.  The children were given blank canvases and created art in the style of Jackson (Jack The Dripper) Pollock.  Their works of art were then sold to over 100 people who attended their exhibition including staff, parents, friends and family of the children, raising this amazing sum for out work here at Loch Garten.

So, Primary 4/5 of Quarryhill, I know you'll be reading this, so from all of us here at Loch Garten, a huge THANK YOU to you all for this fantastic fund-raising effort on our behalf.. It was a very kind, thoughtful and wonderful thing for you to do for the Loch Garten ospreys.  We appreciate it very much and the staff here are very proud of what you have acheived.  You should all stand up in the classroom right now and take a very well-deserved bow.  You're brilliant.

So, when EJ was out of sight for a couple of hours yesterday lunchtime and then again in the evening... we had our suspicions as to what she might be up to! Our suspicions were correct, and EJ returned with a fish!

In 2008, when EJ went fishing, it was clear that Orange VS was not bringing in enough fish to sustain the brood and of those that he was bringing in, he was definitely eating more than his fair share.

In 2009, the chicks are looking amazing, Odin is bringing in an amazing amount of fish, plenty for three chicks, so why did EJ go fishing? I guess we'll never know, maybe she was just bored; she has, after all, been on or around the nest constantly since Odin arrived on 3 April! Maybe it has become learned, pre-emptive behaviour after what happened last year.

One thing is for sure, each year EJ does something to surprise us and rewrite the osprey manuals, whether it is fishing before fledging or laying a whole second clutch as she did in 2007.

I have made a chart of fish deliveries for 13-21 June, comparing Orange VS and Odin's deliveries, as well as EJ in 2008 and 2009. Please remember that not only were many of Orange VS' fish smaller than those that Odin is delivering, he also often ate much more than his fair share, bringing the tail end (quite literally!) to the nest.

As I type, Odin has just delivered the fourth fish of the day. So far, EJ has remained firmly at the nest today, as the weather has been rather inclement.

We await the next fish... but who will deliver it?

PS - Richard says 'Thanks' to Diana for the card and donation.