It’s about 4:20 in the morning up in Scotland and in Cumbria but already it is really light outside. The chicks – or should I say Big Bob – was eating a late meal at the Foulshaw Moss Nest around 22:30. At this time of year it stays light til about 11pm and the sun is already coming up around 3 or 3:30. That makes for really long beautiful summer days.
The water in the loch is as smooth as a mirror. There is that gorgeous pink tint on everything at dawn. Idyllic. Oh, to be able to smell the freshness of the air!
Laddie came in first thing with a bit of a teaser for breakfast for NC0. That one Bob looks like it is still bursting from the last meal late last night! Gracious. Bet he wishes mom wasn’t so loud every time she sees dad coming in with a fish!
In fact, neither one of the Bobs look too interested in that small fish.
I think NC0 ate most of it herself! Good for her. She has done an excellent job raising these Two Bobs. And so has Laddie. They have made a good team and this has been a wonderful nest to watch save for the first week or so when Little Bob was being shut out of the fish by Big Bob.
They are going to ring the Two Bobs at the Rutland Manton Bay nest in the next few days. There was some discussion over this ringing being too late so I asked some questions and Tiger Mozone answered every one of them for me. Thank you! Tiger Mozone explained to me that there is a tiny window for ringing. It should not be done after the chick is 45 days old and cannot be done if the weather is bad. Tiger said the youngest he had seen ringed was 25 days old but most are in the 30s. When I wondered if all osprey chicks were ringed in the UK, Tiger said only about 33% of them. Some cannot be ringed because the tree the nest is in is not save for someone to climb. And considering all the chicks I began to wonder how many banders you would need for all of them to be ringed. Tiger also said something very interesting. Roy Dennis actually puts the satellite transmitters on the chicks when they are on the nest at 42 days! Wow. You don’t want to scare them and cause an early fledge. Is Roy Dennis an Osprey Whisperer?
Perhaps they will clean the camera when they ring the chicks! One of the Bobs did a big PS and there has been no good rain to clean that off.
The Bobs are 41 days old today. Blue 33 brought in an early fish just like Laddie. The Two Bobs are self-feeding now. You can tell the one that doesn’t have the fish is watching and waiting for a chance.
Little Tiny Bob had a good feed early this morning but Great Big Bob was in a bit of a mood at the last feeding around 22:30. Both Tiny Little Bob and Medium Bob kept their heads down while he ate. Both of them tried to raise them up and Great Big Bob just gave them both ‘the look’ and they tucked their heads down and kept still. He is a bit of a brute that one – or, more likely, she is a bit of a brute!
Speaking of brutes reminds me. I have an interest in all third hatches that were abused by their bigger siblings and survived. I am curious to find out which of that clutch survived – which is why banding or satellite trackers or both is very important. Tiny Tot is one of those third hatches. Z1 was one of those and he is now in his second season of raising a family. His sister that bullied him did not survive. Today, my friend, Tatiana, mentioned to me that Congo was terribly abused by his older sibling. Congo hatched at the Dunrovin Osprey Nest in 2018, just down the road from Iris’s nest at Hellgate. He is actually the middle chick. I am not clear on what happened to the third.
As it happens it was Congo that came to visit Iris. He might have been bringing her a fish if Louis hadn’t arrived. Tatiana sent me a link to a YouTube video that was posted showing the arrival of a fish and the older sibling actually pulling the feathers out of Congo’s head. You will see them in her beak! How horrible!!!!!
The sun is just coming up over the Dyfi Nest in Wales. The two Bobs are still sleeping. Idris brought in a couple of really large fish yesterday and these two might be as full as the chicks up on the Loch of the Lowes Nest. They sure are going to wake up to a gorgeous day!
That’s your late Thursday night check in on UK Ospreys Nests —– where they are just waking up and starting their Friday. I hope all their fish dreams come true today.
Happy World Albatross Day to everyone. Take care. See you soon.
Thank you to the following for their streaming cams where I took my screen shots: Dyfi Osprey Project, Scottish Wildlife Trust and Friends of Loch of the Lowes, Cumbrian Wildlife Trust, and LRWT.