Scottish Osprey webcam

[MAK]

 

[Bobbie Ireland]

From the Scottish Wildlife Trust...

One year ago today
Posted on March 23, 2011 by nmcgovern


Dear bloggers,

As I’m sure you’ll all remember, one year ago today we were delighted to confirm that our resident female osprey had returned for the 20th year!  Needless to say, we were gobsmacked.  Most readers of this blog are, of course, very familiar with the bird now commonly known as ‘Lady’, however a quick recap of this individual osprey’s ‘lifetime of achievements’ never fails to impress us.

So, exactly how impressive can one old bird be?  We say – let the statistics speak for themselves:

Species: Osprey (Pandion haliaetus)
Estimated age: 25 years (the average lifespan of an osprey is 8 years)
Number of eggs lain in her lifetime: 58
Number of chicks fledged from her nest: 46
Estimated number of miles travelled in her lifetime: 120,000 miles (3000 miles x 2 (from West Africa to Perthshire and back again) every year for approximately the last 20 years)

It might be interesting to note that, despite being thought to be 25 years old, ‘Lady’ has migrated back to the UK (or at least certainly back to Loch of the Lowes) only 20 times.  This is because young ospreys make their first migration to West Africa when they fledge from their mother’s nest, and they don’t return until they are sexually matured between three and five years later.   

Last year, our osprey was seen landing on the nest at 2 pm so the eyes of our staff and volunteers are turned to the skies at Lowes for any sign of a magnificent bird in flight.  Our HD nest camera is currently under repair, but please rest assured we are doing all we can to fix this problem and identify any other alternatives so that people can view the nest as soon as possible.  Although we can’t be sure, we expect an osprey might return in another few days.  In 2009, she returned on 20th March.  In 2008, she was back on 30th March.  And while we remain hopeful of her return, we must of course prepare ourselves for the fact that she might not be back.  She is an incredibly old bird after all.  Last year, she suffered from an illness on the nest and experts thought she was unlikely to recover.  Although she did rally her spirits and go on to complete the breeding season, leaving for Africa on 4th August, her fate remains unknown since then.

At Loch of the Lowes, we remain hopeful, but it could be that we welcome a new bird to the nest this year – to begin a new era of osprey breeding here.  As always, we will keep you up-to-date as events unfold.

[Donna]

Amazing "Lady"! I hope she returns.

[MAK]

   God speed! 

[Bobbie Ireland]

The webcam is now live as they await the return of the ospreys... any time now, they say, but whether The Lady will be among us again, no one knows. We can but hope...

http://www.swt.org.uk/wildlife/webcams/loch-of-lowes2/

[MAK]

  for the link!

[Bobbie Ireland]

Unidentified osprey pays a visit to the nest

Posted on March 28, 2011 by lotladmin


We’re excited to let you know that within the last two hours an unidentified osprey has paid a visit to our nest.  At around 12.10 pm today, an osprey popped up in view, landing on the nest for a few short minutes before taking off again.

Unfortunately, as the visit was so brief, we are unable to make a positive ID.  However we are hopeful that it could have been our resident female osprey, known by many as ‘Lady’, because the bird did not appear to have a leg ring.

As always, we will be watching over the nest and we hope to make a positive identification of any bird which arrives and then proceeds to take ownership of the nest, occupying it for a prolonged period of time.

[MAK]

   Fingers crossed! 

[Donna]

Come on "LADY" luck!

[Bobbie Ireland]

Osprey update – 29th March 2011, 8am
Posted on March 29, 2011 by jonathan

We’re all on the edge of our seats this morning at Loch of the Lowes, as the events on the nest since my last post yesterday have made for some really exciting bird watching.  After we closed up the Visitor Centre last night, we received reports to our dedicated email address ospreys@swt.org.uk from web cam watchers that a bird returned back to the nest at 5:55pm.  According to these reports the bird stayed on the nest, enjoying a fish for over an hour.  We’re looking back through our recorded footage to get the exact times and watch this bird’s behaviour.

We know that some of you out there are hopeful that this bird could be our resident female osprey, ‘Lady’.  We hope so too, however while this bird looks like and is behaving like our female  we cannot confirm the identity of this bird until we get a close-up image of its right eye.  As our resident female is not ringed, she is identifiable by a distinctive mark in her iris.  This morning we arrived particularly early to the visitor centre to try and achieve a positive ID, however just as we were adjusting the camera the bird flew off the nest.

[Bobbie Ireland]

This is absolutely amazing! The Lady of the Lowes has returned! I can hardly believe it. I am so excited! (Did you guess?) Never even saw the place or the Lady, but she has got into my heart somehow. Here's the update...

Osprey update – 28th March 2011, 9:50am
Posted on March 29, 2011 by jonathan

Hi all,

I am delighted to tell you that after detailed inspection of close-up images of the bird’s iris via the HD camera, we are able to confirm that the bird currently on the nest is indeed ‘Lady’.

All the staff and volunteers here at Loch of the Lowes are overjoyed at her return and we look forward to bringing you news of her progress throughout the season.

We now eagerly await the return of her partner.

We are aware of the ongoing problems with the picture quality and lack of sound on the webcam, and hope that these will be rectified soon.

Jonathan

[Bobbie Ireland]

Forgot to send the webcam link, so excited was I - and there she is on the nest right now... woo-hoo!

http://www.swt.org.uk/wildlife/webcams/loch-of-lowes2/

They do seem to be having the odd camera prob but things do not look bad at the moment (GMT 09.27, Tuesday 29 March 2011)

[carly]

She is truly phenomenal!     

What a wonderful surprise! 

[Bobbie Ireland]

She is truly phenomenal!     

What a wonderful surprise! 

Isn't it, Carly? She sure is. I hardly dared hope she would make it back for one more year, but she has.

(DO mind re keeping their webcam on, everyone. I left it open and suddenly heard this weird noise coming from my nice new Big Mac - only the webcam buzzing, phew! So just have little peeks and then click it off... if you get me.)

[MAK]

    This is wonderful news!!!