Lady of the House?

It now seems very likely that the bird who turned up at the camera nest yesterday is our regular breeding female.

Unfortunately she is not ringed so we have to rely on our records and memories of her markings- which certainly seem to match- to identify her.

She spent a long time on the high perch above the nest this morning looking very much at home. The volunteer on duty this afternoon reports she was seen adding sticks to the nest, which is just what you would expect of the 'lady of the house'.

So where's our regular male? He had better hurry , because if last year is anything to go by, we may well have a couple of other passing males try to tempt our lady before he turns up.
It going to be an interesting few days!

Birds on the Nest!

Great News- we have birds on the nest for the first time this season! This afternoon there were two brief visits by single birds, followed by two birds landing simultaneously for about 30 seconds! Unfortunately the visits were so brief we could not ID the birds definitively.

One bird then returned at 4.30 and sat proprietorially near the nest for more than an hour, preening and surveying the revamped accommodation . It looks suspiciously like our regular breeding female ( judging by the distinctive markings) but we can't confirm this until we see the legs and ID rings clearly.

Let's hope it is one of our breeding pair and that soon it will be joined by a mate. Stay tuned!

For local watchers, a warning: there is a young pale breasted cormorant who is doing a very good osprey impersonation on the Tweed river at 'dirt pot' corner. So its worth checking your 'osprey' sightings twice! Happy spotting!

Baited Breath

Both Osprey watch centres are now up and running , open every afternoon from 1.30-5pm. Though birds have been seen in the area already, there is as yet, no sign of our 'usual' pair at the nest.

We expect them to return to claim it as soon as they arrive as there is so much competition for nest sites.

So it is with baited breath we watch our screens hoping to catch the first glimpses of our birds.
Over the last few years the date of their spring arrival from Africa has varied from the end of March to the 14th of April. Ospreys are turning up at other sites in Scotland already so it can't be long now!

Who knows, this year we may even catch a glimpse of one of our previous years chicks returning to its natal area- they are now old enough to undertake the epic migration themselves. Fingers crossed!

Ready for Lift Off

Welcome to the Tweed Valley Osprey Project 2008

2008 is the tenth year of nesting Ospreys in the Scottish Borders, and the new season is ready for lift off. Ospreys are already being seen in the Tweed Valley area, our nest cameras are installed and ready, and we have high hopes for another successful breeding season.

We are delighted to be able to offer great viewing this summer of Ospreys and other wildlife via our camera links at our two centres at Glentress Forest and Kailzie Gardens, near Peebles.

Both centres will be open everyday from Saturday the 29th of March each afternoon 1.30-5pm. The centres will be open all day from Mid April (depending on the activity of the birds) Watch the website and local press for details.

Stay posted for Osprey news!

Welcome to the Tweed Valley Osprey season 2008!

This year, we've decided to provide the diary in the form of a blog, so that you can add your comments and feedback to our updates on what the ospreys are up to.

The blog is held on a separate site to the main Forestry Commission Scotland osprey pages. If you've come from there and want to go back, or have arrived here from elsewhere and want to know more, just follow the link at the side of each posting.

We'll have more information here shortly.

Go to Tweed Valley Ospreys pages on the Forestry Commission Scotland website.