Sad news for the 25 yr old Osprey mom in Scotland, still has chics in nest

[Donna]

She's feeding her chicks right now, she looks so much better today!  Like Peter said, for now.

[huddiecat]

Yeah!!  Glad to hear it, she looks better today!

[Donna]

Hi

Sorry was out in the hide for a while. She flew around for a wee while before landing back at the nest. Our boy just brought in a stick. He is going to have to do better than that.

Peter   

[Donna]

Latest osprey blog

22 June 2010
3pm update
Our mum continues to do well today, feeding her chicks and herself. There have been 6 (I think!) fish brought by the Laird today and he seems happy to leave mum to do all the feeding once more. Can he sense that his mate has recovered?
As happy as we all are at the improvements she has made, we know that she is still no where near 100% and probably will never be again. Hopefully she can regain some of the body mass she has lost to keep her going for the next few weeks. If her episode was caused by an illness then there is a possibility that she may relapse, but I am staying positive that she will see her chicks fly and then she can rest easy. I think that regardless of what happens, this will be her final summer on the nest, but what a season she has given us!

[huddiecat]

Thanks for posting Donna.  It certainly appears a bit more encouraging...I think.

[Donna]

Thanks for posting Donna.  It certainly appears a bit more encouraging...I think.

Have her open and the girls...she's been calling...probably for more food. They do close-ups of her and BOY, she looks much better than she did yesterday. Wonder what happened to her?  She seems to feed the bulk of it to the kids and she hardly eats any herself. Kids come first, I guess. Good mom. Funny, she calls, then the kids answer with the same call. So cute.

[Donna]

Well they were going to put a satellite tracker on one of the chics....but...

Satellite Tracking Update
June 22nd, 2010 by Osprey Team

Thank you all for your interest in our fundraising campaign to raise money to satellite track our juvenile osprey chicks, and thank you to everyone who has kindly donated via the centre or via Toby Greens website at http://www.justgiving.com/Toby-Green.
As you will all know Toby made a superhuman effort in cycling the length of the UK and raised over £4,000 for this project.

We had made enquiries regarding getting the tracking done this year, though it appeared unlikely to happen due to the short timescale.

Due to the recent amazing, sad, mournful, depressing, fantastic, wonderful, uplifting, hopeful events we will now definitely NOT be tracking any chicks this year.

I think we, you, and our ospreys have quite enough drama to contend with already!
We would hate to jeopardise any recovery ( we hope) of our female by any extra interference to the nest at this crucial stage.

However, we will definately still be satellite tagging chicks- next years brood at Loch of the Lowes all things being well. All your money will go directly to this important and fascinating scientific research at Lowes.

I also just wanted to say how amazed, and thankful SWT continue to be at the comments of support from all corners of the globe at this stressful time.

Robert Potter
Reserves Manager North East

[Donna]

For Britain's bird watchers, the final hours of the Lady of the Loch have become a real life drama which has eclipsed the most highly charged episode of EastEnders.

For the last 72 hours, tens of thousands of bird watchers from across the UK and another 26 countries around the world have been watching what may well be the final moments of one of the world's oldest ospreys, living her last hours on a her eyrie in a Highlands nature reserve.

The Lady of the Loch has already broken a series of records for longevity and breeding success, but after it emerged over the weekend that she had stopped feeding and drinking, bringing her to the brink of a natural death, the news surged around the world.

Since then there have been well over 230,000 visits to watch live footage from a Scottish Wildlife Trust webcam trained on Lady's nest, from bird watchers in Oman, Australia, the US, Finland, Japan, Peru and 20 other countries.

Tens of thousands of people have followed the trust's blog as she started to show clear signs of dehydration and advanced age. She has seemed confused, listless and in discomfort; appearing unsure how to feed her latest two chicks, both still entirely dependent on Lady and her current, 10-year-old mate.

With fears growing that she might die last night she appeared to rally. Her survival instincts kicked in. She swooped down to the lochside to drink – her first liquid in four days – and this morning, fed for the first time since last week on a pike brought to the nest by her mate.

Peter Ferns, the SWT's visitor centre manager at Loch of Lowes, in Dunkeld, Perthshire, said: "It's been a fair old roller coaster of emotions over the weekend, but seeing her flying yesterday was just amazing to watch. I was actually quite gobsmacked because if you saw her on Saturday or even Sunday, you would've thought that would be one dead bird."

Lady has been nesting at the site for the past 20 years and, thanks to the internet and wildlife blogs, is already a celebrity.

Her return to Loch of Lowes in March, for her 20th year, was remarkable. She is now 25 and has produced 48 fledglings; a British record on both counts. She has lived three times longer than most ospreys and mothered far more young. The oldest recorded wild osprey in Europe lived for 32 years, but that is extremely rare.

Ferns has been watching Lady for 17 years, and says that the past 72 hours have been a painful experience. Her brief and unexpected rally on Monday suggests she may yet live for a few months, but there are strong doubts about her chances.

"When something like this happens to any osprey that old, it's going to have a long-term effect on her," he said. "I can see other problems coming, even if she does survive this.

"She has been acting at sometimes like she's a brand-new mother; looking confused and wondering what she's going to do with that fish that's landed in the nest, but suddenly her instincts kicked in and she's doing what's meant to do, drink and feed. But she's still unsteady, closing her eyes and still looking very weak, probably from dehydration."



Good Morning all.   Todays blog entry

What a great sight to come into this morning our Lady feeding the chicks. She is getting stronger and stronger all the time and we are more hopeful than we have been for her survival. But I would like to stress that whatever happened to her at the weekend could have longterm effects on her. It could also just as easily be something she has managed fight off and we wont see a recurrence this season.

Lets enjoy what each day brings because I am sure this wont be the last drama for this year. We still have a few more weeks to go before our chicks fledge. That drama in itself is amazing to watch. Have a good day and I look forward to your posts.

Peter

I should have put this in my earlier post..

I have spoken to our vet and to other people who have been dealing with ospreys for many more years than I and they all say the same, that they have never seen an osprey like this. This down to the cameras, we are privileged to watch these birds and are learning more and more about them every day with the aid of new technology. I have no doubt we have far more to learn than we already have. I am looking forward these birds teaching us more about there lives.

Peter

[Annette]

For Britain's bird watchers, the final hours of the Lady of the Loch have become a real life drama which has eclipsed the most highly charged episode of EastEnders.

For the last 72 hours, tens of thousands of bird watchers from across the UK and another 26 countries around the world have been watching what may well be the final moments of one of the world's oldest ospreys, living her last hours on a her eyrie in a Highlands nature reserve.

The Lady of the Loch has already broken a series of records for longevity and breeding success, but after it emerged over the weekend that she had stopped feeding and drinking, bringing her to the brink of a natural death, the news surged around the world.

Since then there have been well over 230,000 visits to watch live footage from a Scottish Wildlife Trust webcam trained on Lady's nest, from bird watchers in Oman, Australia, the US, Finland, Japan, Peru and 20 other countries.

Tens of thousands of people have followed the trust's blog as she started to show clear signs of dehydration and advanced age. She has seemed confused, listless and in discomfort; appearing unsure how to feed her latest two chicks, both still entirely dependent on Lady and her current, 10-year-old mate.

With fears growing that she might die last night she appeared to rally. Her survival instincts kicked in. She swooped down to the lochside to drink – her first liquid in four days – and this morning, fed for the first time since last week on a pike brought to the nest by her mate.

Peter Ferns, the SWT's visitor centre manager at Loch of Lowes, in Dunkeld, Perthshire, said: "It's been a fair old roller coaster of emotions over the weekend, but seeing her flying yesterday was just amazing to watch. I was actually quite gobsmacked because if you saw her on Saturday or even Sunday, you would've thought that would be one dead bird."

Lady has been nesting at the site for the past 20 years and, thanks to the internet and wildlife blogs, is already a celebrity.

Her return to Loch of Lowes in March, for her 20th year, was remarkable. She is now 25 and has produced 48 fledglings; a British record on both counts. She has lived three times longer than most ospreys and mothered far more young. The oldest recorded wild osprey in Europe lived for 32 years, but that is extremely rare.

Ferns has been watching Lady for 17 years, and says that the past 72 hours have been a painful experience. Her brief and unexpected rally on Monday suggests she may yet live for a few months, but there are strong doubts about her chances.

"When something like this happens to any osprey that old, it's going to have a long-term effect on her," he said. "I can see other problems coming, even if she does survive this.

"She has been acting at sometimes like she's a brand-new mother; looking confused and wondering what she's going to do with that fish that's landed in the nest, but suddenly her instincts kicked in and she's doing what's meant to do, drink and feed. But she's still unsteady, closing her eyes and still looking very weak, probably from dehydration."



Good Morning all.   Todays blog entry

What a great sight to come into this morning our Lady feeding the chicks. She is getting stronger and stronger all the time and we are more hopeful than we have been for her survival. But I would like to stress that whatever happened to her at the weekend could have longterm effects on her. It could also just as easily be something she has managed fight off and we wont see a recurrence this season.

Lets enjoy what each day brings because I am sure this wont be the last drama for this year. We still have a few more weeks to go before our chicks fledge. That drama in itself is amazing to watch. Have a good day and I look forward to your posts.

Peter

I should have put this in my earlier post..

I have spoken to our vet and to other people who have been dealing with ospreys for many more years than I and they all say the same, that they have never seen an osprey like this. This down to the cameras, we are privileged to watch these birds and are learning more and more about them every day with the aid of new technology. I have no doubt we have far more to learn than we already have. I am looking forward these birds teaching us more about there lives.

Peter

That is wonderful! 

[huddiecat]

That is wonderful news...I keep hoping for her!  Thank you for the update.

[MAK]

   Nature is a wonder!   

[jeanne]

I can't seem to see this cam-- does anyone else have this problem??

[huddiecat]

Jeanne, I just checked again and I can't see it either.  Maybe more problems with the blog??

[Donna]

I'm watching..everything looks fine...mom there.

http://www.thewebbroadcastingcorporation.com/swt/swt.php

[huddiecat]

Yes, it seems to be working now...yeah!  I love how the adult calmly sits by the side of the nest, while the kids poke and preen!