Tweed Valley Osprey Diary 21 June

Main Nest 21st June

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 begin to break through. While wing stretching yesterday 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 very tiny, seem to have been settled and now the two chicks seem to have a more harmonious relationship.

Yesterday 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 a lovely summer day with bright sunshine meant that 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 to them.

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 over a two-hour period a staggering seven voles were brought in to feed the young 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.

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 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 and we will be arranging to ring the chicks before they go and this will be filmed. As soon as we have a date for the ringing it will go in this diary and visitors to the centre on the day will be able to watch the chicks being ringed live.

View the Tweed Valley Osprey cam here.

Tweed Valley Osprey Diary 17 June

The weather over the past couple of days has been torrential and 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 and has successfully got them through this trying time. 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 and a few warm days with plenty of good fishing and full stomachs should make for a happy family.

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 but the female got her own way in the end and he went off to do the male thing and catch a fish.

This footage is now on show at the centres in the 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.

Windows on Wildlife

Sad news.

Our swallow family, which were doing so well at Kailzie Gardens have been attacked and killed. Yesterday when the cameras were switched on the nest was empty and it was far too early for the birds to have fledged. Sadly, Emma, the RSPB Information Assistant discovered the grim reason. Little decapitated swallow chick heads were lying around the courtyard. It must have been one of the crow species that perpetrated the crime as the birds had nested on top of the security light and nothing other than another bird would be able to reach them. We will try and move the camera on to another family as soon as possible and in the mean time, keep an eye on the original parents as they will probably try again with better luck next time, hopefully.

The barn owl chicks from the Tweed Valley Nest are almost ready to be ringed and we will film this and show it in the centres. We are concerned that the fourth chick, which is underdeveloped, may have succumbed during this bad weather. We have experienced more technical difficulties with the camera and will have to wait to find out how this family is doing.

A second barn owl family, which had a dead chick in the box, has now got two new chicks. This footage will be shown once the first family have fledged. So far we have new recordings coming in to the centre every few days and this will be put together as highlights to reveal how this family is getting on.

The spotted flycatchers are growing and they have three fine chicks. This can be seen live in Kailzie Gardens.

The underwater cameras in the stock ponds at the fishery in Kailzie are giving fantastic views of the rainbow trout.