Herons and more nest site news from Tweed Valley



Waiting and hoping Mum will bring some food.

Herons. The two heron chicks are fully fledged and flying off to feed themselves and to explore their surroundings. They return to the nest and spend quite a time sitting and resting ever hopeful that one of their parents will pop in and bring some food. The parents have not been seen at the nest for some time though and this is a deliberate ploy to make the chicks leave the nest and hunt for themselves.

Blue tits.

Both blue tit families which were live on camera have now fledged, four chicks in each nest which is a low number, considering some years a single brood can consist of at least 10 chicks. The weather caused a lack of food and some nestlings died of starvation but it is good that some of them have made it.

Swallows.

At Kailzie, a small camera is now revealing life in a swallow nest. The swallows have been seen building the nest up and we were aware that there was at least one egg in the nest at the weekend but now the female appears to be sitting more in the nest, so perhaps she has laid her full clutch now.

Oystercatchers at Glentress.

Oystercatcher eggs in the scrape nest.

Sadly, too much disturbance from people passing the nest meant that the female oystercatcher was away from her eggs for too long.

A smashed egg was first seen with two eggs remaining but a little later all three eggs were smashed. We don’t know what smashed the eggs but presume a crow has attacked while the female was disturbed and away from the nest.  Very disappointing and next time a vulnerable nest appears we may try to cordon it off to allow the parent some peace to incubate without disturbance.

 It was too difficult where this nest was positioned because it was right next to the main path leading to the wildwatch and washroom on a main thoroughfare.

Pied Wagtail

We may prove to be lucky yet though, as it appears that a new nest is being constructed within the structure of the osprey demonstration nest. A small pied wagtail has been seen working away and if she does settle we will move a camera over to watch her and hopefully be able to witness her incubate her eggs and raise a little family.

Good weather brings out an abundance of bird life in Tweed Valley

The good weather has meant a surge in good blue tit food with the emergence of caterpillars and we have 4 chicks left in the box which are now looking like they will thrive. Good news after the unfortunate loss of chicks earlier in the month. They are well feathered and it will only be another week before they will leave the nest and head into the woods. Hurry down to the centre at Kailzie before you miss them!

The starlings have left their porch nest at the centre at Kailzie. We never saw them leave as they often go at dawn, we can only hope that the young birds outwitted the crows waiting to pick them off! The parent birds have been popping back to the nest and we are hoping they are going to try for a second brood. If they do we will be able to pop a camera in to watch them.



Oystercatcher nesting on the stoney ground
at Glentress

There is an oystercatcher nesting on the bare stoney ground outside the Wildwatch Room at Glentress. You may think this is a particularly stupid place to nest with so many people wandering about and disturbing her but is there method in her madness? The presence of so many people around prevents the crows from coming down and is actually helping.

A note to all mountain bikers and pedestrians please keep to the paths as there are quite a few oystercatchers nesting in vulnerable places around the centre buildings.


Our two heron chicks

The two heron chicks are really big now at two months old and they flap about and wander around the nest tree, we haven’t seen any purposeful take-offs yet, so it is doubtful if they are flying yet. The parents are still bringing food to the nest where they are feeding.

Blue tits have a new family as eggs start to hatch



Our blue tits are now proud parents

 Yesterday at the centre at Kailzie we were delighted to see 8 tiny little wide open mouthed heads reaching up out of the nestcup begging for food. Mum is intermittently still incubating , so we have 2 more eggs still to hatch. Dad was very busy diving into the nest box with green caterpillars for the brood and bringing food in to mum.

Both birds were in and out of the box all day and bringing back food to satisfy their little ones. They will be fed a diet of green caterpillars as super high protein rations to enable speedy growth.

Twitchy Ospreys await the day

 

One of our ospreys guarding the nest

The soon to be parents are becoming a little restless, they are old hands at this family game and have raised 8 broods of chicks to date, with this year being their ninth brood.

So understandably they must realise that the time is very close now for hatching out their first 2012 youngster.
We are hoping to have this years first hatched osprey chick in Scotland too, so hurry up parents and incubate those eggs!

Today on the nest the male brought a huge fish in to eat and this became a shared meal.



Our male osprey brings home the dinner

The backdrop of forest sounds was delightful as a song thrush has taken up residence close by and was practising his triple song phrases with gusto.

We are expecting hatching soon and as there is news we will post it on the blog and via our twitter feed.

Nine years of watching this osprey pair raise their family and yet the excitement at hatching time never fades.

They are magnificent birds and we are all looking forward to see how many chicks they will have.

A foray of feathered activity around Tweed Valley



Our developing heron chicks at the nest



The heron chicks at Kailzie are really big now and they are becoming adventurous. The nest is a midden of rotting food at the bottom and white splashes of heron droppings all around the edges. This is such a contrast to the tidy and clean nesting ospreys.

The precocious chicks are beginning to wander through the branches of their nest tree to explore their world and possibly to escape the stinky reaches of their home.

While the chicks had gone walkabout we think a chick from one of the other nearby nests in the colony wandered on in to have a nose about and see if there was any free food scraps to be had.

This bird seemed much further advanced in feathering, with the pin feathers broken all along the shafts to reveal almost full primary and secondary feathers.

After a good rummage about in the bottom of the nest, the chick then stalked off to continue wandering though the branches.

The two heron chicks return to the nest when they are hungry and mum is due back to feed them.

When their mum returns to the nest with a full crop of fishy food, both chicks violently descend on her and begin tapping at her beak to regurgitate the food. It is like a wrestling match with both chicks competing to win the prize! Most often it is the largest heron chick that wins and gets a satisfied full stomach and the smaller skinnier chick has to take any scraps dropped into the bottom of the nest. We are hoping that this smaller chick will get enough to survive.

The blue tits have now completed their clutch of eggs and it looks like there are 10 eggs in the nest. The female carefully covers the eggs when she leaves the nest but she has now begun incubating and turning them regularly. When she stands up briefly we get a glimpse of the eggs.

The feeder cameras at Glentress are bustling with hungry forest birds such as flocks of siskins tucking in to the peanut feeders. The camera is set to capture, in superb detail, these little finches teasing the food from between the mesh of the feeders.

Male Osprey taking on his role as "Man of the nest"



One of our Ospreys incubating at the nest

 Things are going really well for our parents to be in Tweed Valley.

The pair have spent the first part of the incubation season going off to hunt for themselves and then taking it in turns to incubate the eggs.

They seem to have a system all worked out and operate a rota which keeps the whole egg incubation period running as a slick operation.

Things have changed this week though - a slight shift in behaviour - the male (White leg ring SS) has started to hunt for his lady!



Female osprey sets of with
our male's latest catch



He has been spotted bringing in headless fish and delivering the substantial body to

the female at the nest.

He must be catching the fish, then perching up close by and feeding on the nutritious brains before passing his bounty over to the female once she is ready for a swap over at the nest.

She takes the fish and flies off with it while he settles down into a spot of incubation duty.

Signs of a great team at work as we edge closer to the appearance of some new chicks.



Ospreys reveal two eggs (at least....)



Osprey at the nest in Tweed Valley



The ospreys have been keeping the number of eggs that they have as a closely guarded secret until yesterday when the female stood up and began to turn the eggs, revealing two, possibly more, but definitely two.

They are taking turns to incubate and seem very settled in their lofty eyrie. This pair are in their ninth year together and have raised 20 chicks to date.

They have laid their eggs very early and so we can expect hatching to be in mid May which are likely to be the earliest chicks to hatch in Scotland this year.

The centre cameras are providing the greatest opportunity to watch them continue their family life in peace in the forest, so that we can really appreciate how they live their lives and raise their families during their annual summer visit to the Tweed Valley.

The great thing about having such a remote nest relayed through camera is that we are seeing totally relaxed and natural behaviour at all times and the only disturbance they generally encounter is another passing, intrusive and nosey osprey on occasion!

Incubation time for our ospreys

Male and female ospreys on the nest yesterday

The camera was working again today and we are relieved that the technical teething troubles seem to be getting resolved .

The High Definition images on the live nest today revealed that the male was incubating a mystery number of eggs. He was in the nest for a considerable time before the female returned and encouraged him to move over, so that she could take her turn to incubate.

We cannot see the eggs, but the expectant parents are turning and moving them, scraping deep down into the nest cup, which takes them further from view but is doing a good job of keeping the eggs safe and warm.

The new equipment allows us to take pictures and video clips of the nest which we will update on the blog and web pages.

The quality of the nest pictures really shows just how good the new equipment is. We hope to have any initial issues sorted soon so we can bring you top quality images throughout the viewing season at the Osprey Watch Centre .

The First Egg at Tweed Valley for 2012?

Osprey nest in Tweed Valley

There are a few teething problems with technical equipment at the moment and the technicians have been working over the bank holiday weekend to solve the camera issues.

During a short spell when the camera was working, a keen volunteer David, observed the following and this is what he said:

"In the short time I was able to observe the female on the nest, I think by her body language and manner, that we may have the first egg. She was sitting tight on the nest for most of the time. However, when she did move about she moved very gingerly in little circles, tucking her head down underneath herself as if she was turning the egg. The male also made an appearance. When he landed, they both stood in the nest together looking down at something that was just out of sight, before the female quickly shuffled back down onto the nest. It may be a false alarm, but it looks very likely that there is an egg to me."

This is great news and we will be keeping a sharp look out to see how many eggs that she has.

Looks like it could be an exciting season and well worth a visit. We have two Osprey Watch Centres in Tweed Valley, we look forward to welcoming you along.

Blue tits

The blue tit cam is relaying stunning images of the little parent nestled down in the nest incubating her eggs. It was at first thought that there are 8 eggs in the nest but when she turned them earlier today, up to 11 were counted and possibly more!

osprey dates

The incubation period for osprey eggs is approximately 37 days long. The pair at this nest seem to have an incubation period of around 39 days and we think that the first egg was laid on 5th April which means that hatching at the very earliest date could be 11th May but more likely from Friday 13th May. It has been an uneventful incubation period so far with both parents appearing relaxed and settled. This pair are in their 8th year nesting and raising a family together and little ruffles their experienced feathers!

Ospreys and Blue tits

The ospreys are keeping their clutch size a close guarded secret this year! The way they have built up the nest to secure their eggs means that we cannot see into the nest, to determine the number of eggs. We are guessing between 2-3 but it will be a nice surprise once hatching occurs. Viewing into the nest once chicks hatch, will not be a problem, because once hatched the parents stand at the nest edges in order to reach in and feed the young and it is at this stage that the nest flattens out and becomes a flat platform. We will be able to see right in and view the chicks very clearly. It is estimated that hatching will occur in the third week of May.

The blue tit female in the nestcam at Kailzie has finished laying eggs and today she sat down to begin incubation. The male was bringing lovely caterpillar and spider treats in for her to eat and as this nest now has live sound, it was so lovely to hear the interaction between the couple as food is passed to the expectant mum.