Tweed Valley ospreys - archive entries from the 2007 diary

 

22nd June

The main nest

The chicks are growing well and the male is bringing super-sized fish in to feed the family. The soft grey down is beginning to lessen on the chicks’ bodies as proper feathers start to break through. Whilst wing stretching on Wednesday, one of the chicks revealed the growing stubby feathers which will become their flight feathers in such a short time.

The chicks are now three weeks old and are developing at a terrific pace. Thankfully, the sibling squabbles which were witnessed when they were tiny seem to have been settled and now the two chicks have a more harmonious relationship.

On Wednesday, repeated visits from another osprey startled and upset the family, and the male bird eventually gave chase to drive the intruder away.

The weather picked up and turned into a lovely summer's day with bright sunshine.  The chicks were seen clearly instead of sheltering beneath their mum. Later though, a thunderstorm bringing more rain served as a reminder to us that the pair still have a long way to go before their young are independent and capable of coping with whatever weather is dealt them.

At the back-up nest

The back-up nest chicks continue to thrive and all three are healthy and strong.

Windows on Wildlife

The Tweed Valley barn owls have now been ringed and we are delighted to report that even our tiniest chick has made it through this bad weather. There are three female chicks and the little one is a male.

After the chicks were ringed, the cameras were set for filming from 10pm to midnight at their nest to see how the family were doing. This latest footage revealed that over a two-hour period a staggering seven voles were brought in to feed the brood!

The technical problems which we reported earlier have been sorted out now. No wonder we couldn’t connect the camera - the wires had been completely destroyed due to being chewed by cows!

The latest DVD of the barn owl ringing and the voles being fed to the youngsters is now on show at the osprey centres.

Meanwhile, at Glentress Osprey Watch we are very pleased to present a superb film called Forests of Butterflies, which was filmed by Osprey Watch volunteer Harvey Robertson and is narrated by Walter Elliott. The film has tremendous footage of close-ups of butterflies set in the beautiful Tweed Valley Forest, with lovely views of the landscape forming the backdrop.

At Kailzie, the cameras have been moved from the sad swallow site (see previous entries) and put onto another swallow nest, which is still in the process of being built. We hope to see the nest occupied shortly.

Next door to the new swallow nest we discovered a wren nest, which is newly built as well. We will keep a watchful eye on this and pop a camera on it, if the birds take up residence. The male wren often builds a few nests and then the female chooses the one she likes best. Let’s hope she likes this one. It’s in a fine location with commanding views over the Kailzie Fishery!

The spotted flycatchers are growing well and there are four chicks in the nest, not three as we thought. These will fledge in about a week’s time.  We will be arranging to ring the chicks before they go and this will be filmed - footage of this will be shown in the centres once available.

19th June

The main nest

Our ospreys are finally enjoying some decent weather, with the female at last able to take a break from sheltering the two chicks from the torrential rain.  She’s been spending an inordinate amount of time preening after all that drenching.

The male bird has been bringing in an average of three fish a day now, with his chicks growing very fast indeed.  The large dark grey chicks with the white ‘racing stripe’ down their backs are so different from the tiny white fluff balls of only two weeks ago.

Windows on Wildlife

CSI Kailzie Gardens!

Our Crime Scene Investigation continues.  After discovering the tragedy of the stolen swallow chicks, further investigation of the nest revealed a dead adult bird as well.  Theories about the culprit include a crow, or perhaps even a hungry squirrel.  Unlikely as it may seem, we can’t think of anything else that could climb to that inaccessible nest – perhaps we should get out the finger/paw print kit!  The good news is that our other local swallow families are doing well and another swallow pair have even been seen nest building again in the same area - let's hope they have more luck!

18th June

The main nest

Over the weekend of 16-17th June there was torrential rain and it was very cold. Prolonged weather like this is a serious threat at this vulnerable stage of the chicks' lives. They have not developed their full feathers yet and rely very much on their mum to keep them warm.  She is such a good parent and has shielded the youngsters, getting them through this trying time successfully.

The male has managed to bring fish to the family despite the weather, and although the frequency of his offerings dropped due to poor fishing conditions it has been enough to sustain the brood. Let’s hope that the weather improves - a few warm days with plenty of good fishing and full stomachs should make for a happy family.

At the back-up nest

Recent footage revealed the three charming chicks in this nest at family feeding times.  The male became a little too nest proud and began a stick tidy in the nest, much to his wife’s disapproval. At one point he had one end of a stick and was trying to push it one way and she had the other end pushing it back. Domestic bliss being interrupted with a bit of a feng shui disagreement!  The female got her own way in the end and he went off to do the male thing and catch a fish.

Footage of this is now on show at the centres on our new 'Back-up Nest Highlights' DVD. 

We have ongoing highlights from all of our nests from the windows on wildlife and the ospreys.  Please ask the volunteer on duty if you wish to see any specific highlights when you visit.

14th June

The main nest

On tuesday, the male was again seen feeding the chicks during the morning. The day was very cold and misty and for most of the morning the female was keeping the young chicks warm. Once the mist lifted, superb views into the nest could be seen as the family were feeding.

As they were feeding we could clearly see the third egg in the middle of the two chicks.  This is probably an infertile egg and unlikely to hatch out. It is likely that it was the first egg which was laid, as this was due to hatch around the 26th May. The chicks which have hatched emerged on the 1st and 2nd June, which suggests that they were chicks from the last two eggs laid.

Images from the buzzard ringing

An image from the recent buzzard chick ringing (see 11th June update).  Photo by Iain Mackay.

Windows on wildlife

The spotted flycatcher chicks began to hatch on Monday past. On Tuesday, two tiny young could be seen in the nest and there are still some eggs in there. The parents have begun to work hard to bring juicy flies to feed the young chicks.

We have another camera in a barn owl nest with four young (pictured below)and this will shown in the centres very soon.

House sparrows have moved into one of the boxes at Glentress and we are hoping to record footage from this family once the eggs hatch.

11th June

The main nest

The weekend just past began with the female sitting at the nest feeding the two small chicks. The high protein diet of raw fish has meant that the chicks have almost trebled in size in only a week.

The two youngsters seem to have a bit of an uneasy relationship and the larger chick has been seen frequently pecking at the neck of the smaller chick. The response to this has generally been a defensive one in a bid to stay out of the way of more raining blows.

Later on Saturday morning the male brought in a good-sized fish and the female fed her brood again.  Afterwards, the chicks settled down for a nap while the female preened and then relaxed for a short while. Following an hour or so of relaxed behaviour, the female began calling and then flew off.  The chicks were left alone for five minutes and during this time the larger chick seized the opportunity to start another scrap with the little sibling.  Luckily there seems to be no serious consequences and they were behaving themselves by the time their mum returned.

In the afternoon the family were joined by the male on the nest. He began finishing off the remains of a fish brought in earlier. The chicks soon became alert as food was available again and began begging from their dad. He firstly began offering the morsels up to his mate and eventually leaned into the nest reaching down to give titbits to the chicks. We have never seen him feed the young at this early stage before. Usually the female feeds them and he only takes over when the chicks are virtually adults.

Meanwhile, at the back-up nest

The three chicks in the back up nest appear strong and healthy. The recorded footage will be edited and shown in the centres shortly.

Ringing the buzzard chicks

We had a fantastic day watching the buzzard chicks from two nests in the Tweed Valley being ringed by Forestry Commission Ranger Tony Lightley. His brother, Graham, climbed the trees where the birds are nesting and lowered the chicks to the forest floor.

Tony ringed the chicks and demonstrated to the public who attended the event how the ringing was done and explained all about how to identify the young males from females.

He showed us the birds which had eaten that morning with a full crop, and the difference in the little ones, with an empty crop. The whole event was filmed and is now on DVD at the osprey watch centres.  We are hoping to record some footage from the buzzard family at the nest before they fledge.

6th June

More great news!

After our wonderful weekend with the main nest hatching two healthy and delightful chicks, the news gets even better: the latest footage from the back-up nest, recorded on the 4th of June, shows three beautiful new osprey chicks.

These were probably also hatched over the weekend and are now being well tended by their parents. This brings the total number of chicks on the two nests to five - a wonderfully successful tally for such a rare, large bird of prey.

Footage of the back-up nest will be available to view in the two osprey watching centres from Thursday 7th June, with updates every few days, whilst live images from the main nest with its two wee ones is of course always available. They are truly delightful to watch and already growing before our eyes!

4th June

The main nest

Two chicks have now hatched. We were kept waiting patiently this year for the first sight of any tiny osprey heads in the nest. It looks as though the first egg, which was laid on 21st April, was infertile, as the first chick hatched out on 1st June and the second chick hatched on the 2nd June. We will be keeping a close watch though just in case a third tiny chick appears.

Both chicks appear strong and healthy and the male has been bringing in really big trout to the nest. He has been feeding the female and she has been reaching down into the nest and feeding the chicks.

The views into the nest are really spectacular and we have been able to zoom right in and see the tiny chicks being fed.  You can see images live from the nest here online.

At the back-up nest

There have been some camera problems at our back up nest, meaning that we have only reduced footage available. We have not seen any chicks yet, as each film we have just shows the female sitting.  We hope to resolve the situation soon and collect footage of the family at this nest.

22nd May

The main nest

The osprey chicks are due to hatch at the main nest this coming weekend, Saturday 26th May.  With less than a week to go there is a sense of anticipation at the centres in Kailzie Gardens and Glentress Forest. Will all three eggs hatch? We'll have the hatching live on camera.  Come and watch at either the Kailzie Gardens or Glentress Osprey Watch centre.

21st May

High drama at the nest

Who said incubation time was boring?  Our ospreys are spending long, patient hours sitting on their three eggs, steadfast through rain, hail and gales (lovely spring weather!)  Both the male and female are taking breaks for fishing trips, but they never leave the eggs alone for long.  Just as well, as today two carrion crows approached the nest, obviously looking or an easy meal of eggs! 

Luckily both the ospreys were on the nest and were able to unite in defence of their young. Perhaps surprisingly this wasn’t overly aggressive, but took the form of a lot of very determined staring and wing shaking. The bold crows were perched on the outer nest and even cheekily stole a stick, all the while waiting for the parents to make a mistake and leave the eggs vulnerable. Thankfully our ospreys are wise to this kind of intelligent attack and the male stayed firmly put on the eggs whilst the female made a few short flights to see the crows off!

We all held our breath while this drama unfolded over half an hour. Our ospreys and their eggs are thankfully safe but we hope this will be the last time this season we have a scare like this.  The crows are one of the few predators ospreys have to contend with, but eggs and young chicks are particularly vulnerable.  With only a week or so to go until we hopefully have chicks hatching, it’s a time for vigilance.

At the back up nest

The season also continues to go well at the back up nest, with three eggs being faithfully incubated.

14th May

The main nest

The weather has changed dramatically from the lovely sunshine spring days we had in April to long, wet days with heavy showers and a cold chill.

This is a testing time for our ospreys and the cold snap represents a threat to the developing embryos. The female osprey is sitting tight on to the nest and frequently turning the eggs to ensure her body warmth spreads evenly through the eggs in order to incubate them. We hope that this cold spell will not last overly long.

Fishing is more of a difficult task in the rain as visibility is reduced and raindrops on the water surface make it difficult for the ospreys to find fish. The male has taken turns incubating to allow the female to go and stretch her wings and fish for herself but she has not stayed away from the nest over long.

At the back up nest

The back up nest pair of ospreys have three eggs, and although we do not have a definite hatching date for this pair, their chicks will hatch before the main nest chicks.

The first egg was seen in the nest on 20th April and the laying date was between 17th April and 20th. This means the first chick could hatch from 23rd May onwards. We will be able to record the activity at this nest and capture the moment when they hatch. This will be shown in the osprey centres prior to our main nest chicks hatching, although lucky visitors to the centres might get to witness the main nest chicks hatching live on camera.

Windows on wildlife

The next instalment from our owl box is at the centres and footage taken on the 8th May has revealed the three chicks growing fast. They look like cute, somewhat spiky owls now and not just fluffy blobs!

8th May

The main nest

On Sunday 6th, the female stood up from her eggs in order to turn them and it was revealed for the first time that she has three eggs, not just two as we had thought. 

She had been digging out the nest scrape, making a deep cup for the eggs, and we could no longer see them, however, there appears to be a new layer of soft moss in the cup and this has raised the eggs back into view. We are really pleased and are looking forward to the chicks hatching.

The first chick is due to hatch on 26th/27th May, but the other two eggs may well be a few days after this as we are not entirely sure of the laying dates.  It will be a nice surprise for us and will make hatching week all the more interesting.

The mystery bird

An exciting visitor to the main nest was a black-ringed male bird with 07 lettering on it. He was at the nest on 16th April, the day before white leg ring SS returned. We have managed to trace this bird as being from Forestry Commission land in Fochabers Forest District.

He only stayed for a day and we haven’t seen him since, so he has presumably made his way further up north to his breeding territory. But it was good news for Roy Dennis to hear that this bird is alive and well, as he ringed him when he was just a chick in the nest on 6th July in 1999.

1st May

At the main nest

Things have finally settled down at the main nest and the long process of incubation has begun.

If our calculations are right we should see the first chick hatching on 26 or 27th May, and would hope to see the arrival of siblings in the days following. We know there is at least one other egg in the nest scrape but this has been dug down deeply into the nest - so deep in fact that male SS fell in, head first, in true comedy fashion. Most undignified for a mature bird about to become a father!

Moss gathering seems to be this year's particular hobby and the nest looks very cosy and well lined thanks to the efforts of both birds.

25th April

The birds have settled in to a routine of taking it in turns to incubate while one goes off to feed. A cheeky male intruder osprey (unringed ) caused a bit of alarm to the couple as he swooped in and landed on the edge of their nest. The male SS protected the female and eggs and stood over them mantling his wings. When this didn’t do the trick he chased the intruder away and flew after him.

It has been an exciting spring so far with so many different ospreys turning up and checking out nest sites and attempting to pair up with our established female. It was lucky for SS that he turned up when he did on 17^th April as only the day before Black leg ring 07 was looking a likely suitor until he ruined his chances by trying to steal her fish.

Back Up nest

Recorded footage has revealed that there are three eggs in the nest. This is yet to be confirmed.

23rd April 07

At the main nest

On Sunday 15th April, a black ringed male 07 appeared at the nest, where the female was sitting with a fish. He cheekily tried to take it from her and as romantic gestures go, this certainly did not impress her much. She did not let him take it and sat on the fish for the whole afternoon. We have no idea where the black ringed male is from and we will try to find out, as we have not seen him before.

On Tuesday 17th April, the white ringed male SS returned. We are so delighted to see him take his place at the main nest. The pair mated and the season for this couple has now begun.

Saturday 21st April.  Today the female was sitting down into the nest, suggesting that she is sitting on eggs. When she got up for a stretch it was revealed live on camera for the first time that she has one egg - and possibly two!

At the back-up nest

The birds at this nest have now got at least one egg.  Further film footage taken recently will reveal if there are more.

19th April 07

There's been a slow start to the season this year, with the absence of male birds in the area heightening our sense of anticipation, although Green 7h (pictured right) has returned to the back up nest.  As reported previously, a female osprey (our ‘usual’ female?) has been seen at the main nest site, often looking agitated and restless. Occasionally she has settled and fed at the nest.

Rival females?

An unringed osprey arrived at the nest site on 12th April. One of the birds was eating a fish at the nest when the second bird arrived, and after some posturing and mantling the second bird took the fish. 

At first this attitude seemed to suggest that it was a pair rather than a rival male, and so we thought that it was last year’s male – but after carefully replaying the recorded footage, it can be seen that neither bird is ringed.  Furthermore, both appear similar in size, with quite a lot of chestnut colouring in the chest. Could this be two rival females?

The male from this site has a white leg ring, with the letters SS on it. This identifies him as a male bird, ringed when he was a fledgling at Aberfoyle in 1999. He has been with his partner for 3 years, and the pair are very well bonded. He has proved himself to be a strong hunter and provider for his family and the female is confident in his abilities.

This is a good reason to keep the partnership going for another season, but the longer the delay in his arrival, the more his position at the nest site will be weakened. Her motivation to breed will be strong, and if he doesn’t show up soon, she could move on – or wait for another osprey male to show up to take his place.

Friday 13th April was a very quiet day, with very little osprey activity on the nest. A couple of times a fleeting glimpse of a bird flying from a lower branch could be seen.

On Saturday 14th April the female was been present at the nest for most of the morning, looking relaxed and preening.  She did a spot of nest tidying to occupy herself in the absence of a partner.

At the back-up nest

The latest footage taken at the back up nest revealed a squabble between two unringed females.  A great deal of mantling, posturing and agitated behaviour between the birds could be seen. The two females flew off and it looked like a third female flew in. There was a lot of coming and going of birds flying on to the nest and then leaving quickly in a state of agitation and was quite confusing to watch.

We do not know why this was happening, but there was a lot of moor burning across the whole region and agitated birds were possibly checking out each other's nest sites. We cannot know for certain and can only speculate as to why the females were squabbling.
 
On 10th April the male (green ringed 7H) turned up at the nest and presented a fish to an unringed female.  Mating later took place.

This is the established male from this nest site and it is good to see him back. However, we cannot tell if the female is his same partner.  At least two females have been at the nest and both are unringed - one even seems to resemble our main nest female. Could it be that she is straying over to this nest as her mate has not turned up at the main nest? This year’s Osprey Watch could soon become Wife Swap!

9th April 07 

The female bird is far more relaxed at the nest and settled - but there is still no sign of her mate.

Meanwhile, at the back-up nest

On our second osprey nest with cameras (which has become known as our back-up nest), the footage so far has revealed another lonely female waiting for her mate to turn up.  At this rate, osprey lonely hearts ads are going to have to be posted for the Tweed Valley girls! It is a risky time for the late males, as an opportunistic early male has a chance to come in, mate with their partner, and thus deny them the chance of rearing young with an established partner.

This has happened in the past, where, in a flurry of rivalry, returning mates have found unwelcome suitors hanging around the females.  Sometimes even eggs have been laid as a result of new birds mating with the established female.

This is a stressful time for ospreys and the sooner birds pair up and defend their rightful nest sites, the better the chances are for a successful season.

8th April 07

The unringed female we have been seeing for the past few days was present for a good deal of the time at the nest. With the excellent zooming facility of our cameras we were able to have a really detailed look at her to try to determine if she is last year's bird.

Her behaviour suggests that she is, as she is staying at the site and waiting expectantly, and after after scrutinising last year's footage and looking at her head patterning, we are more convinced than ever - Tom, one of our volunteers, pointed out that the distinctive pattern on the back of her neck looks like a brown concorde.

The male bird has not been seen yet and it is likely that poor weather systems somewhere en route from Africa have held him up. We hope that he has survived and will make it through.

7th April 07 

Today, a far more relaxed female osprey was seen at the nest.  She arrived and settled down into the nest, appearing to be very tired.  Eventually she flew off, but returned some time later with a large fish and ate this on the nest. It was good to enjoy superb views on camera of the bird gearing up for the hectic young rearing season by building herself up with a good dinner.  She was more alert and constantly scanned the skies - it is likely that she is watching out for her partner to return.

6th April 07 

No birds were present at the nest for most of the day until at 2.15pm a female osprey visited and stayed for only a couple of minutes before flying off.  She was very jumpy and agitated as on the previous day and was not seen for the rest of the day.

5th April 07

A female osprey was seen for the first time this season at our main nest site.  She visited the nest fleetingly, seemed fairly agitated, and flew off again before we had a chance to try to identify her - is she the same bird from last year?