Nest Cams

A fidgety female osprey sat in the nest incubating her eggs yesterday, she will be aware that it is not long to go until the arrival of the little chicks. I wonder if she can hear them inside the eggs?

The other nests on camera at Kailzie Gardens are doing well, the blue tit has finally begun to incubate her eggs. The nest is a cosy, snug little cup, adorned with swan feathers under which she covers herself and the eggs. She regularly wriggles about and turns the eggs during which time we can view in stunning detail, this attractive little bird.

The heron camera is now back to full working order and the nest has three big, not so cute chicks! Watching herons on the nest is like watching a scene from Jurassic Park.

Nearly time to hatch.

We are all eagerly waiting for the first hatching this week. Any day now we should see the first of the chicks hatch out. The parent birds were very early arriving back from migration and settled down to mating, egg laying and incubating soon after their arrival. This has given them a head start on the season and they could possibly be the first osprey chicks to hatch in the UK this year.

Cheeky intruder osprey.

On 19th April both birds were at the nest when a cheeky intruder osprey joined them The bird landed briefly on the edge of the nest and was chased off by male bird SS. Who was the mystery intruder? Could it have been a previous offspring popping in to say hello, or was it a stranger checking out a desirable residence?
Both birds are taking turns to incubate the eggs. They are fishing for themselves and eating away from the nest, we presume this strategy avoids attracting scavengers such as crows.

Keeping warm

Sunday 18th April.


The male SS brought in a large clump of moss to the nest and tucked it around the female while she was incubating. On such a cold day, a welcome windbreak for the incubating bird!


3 eggs where revealed when the female stood up. ( Image taken from the CCTV film footage).

Some work is due to be carried out on the main osprey transmitter to fit a new cable for sound, this may mean a temporary disruption for viewing the picture. Once done this will be a very welcome addition to viewing the nest, as we will be able to hear the birds calling.

At Kailzie a blue tit has been busy nest building revealed on nest box cam.

3 eggs confirmed

Just to let you all know that we now have three eggs, confirmed yesterday and probably laid yesterday morning as that was the first view of them.


All is looking good at the nest and both parents-to-be seem very settled. The male bird (SS) is doing plenty of incubating shifts and the female had a break for a couple of hours while he sat on the eggs. No fish have been brought back to the nest so we presume they are taking it in turns to go off and hunt and feed then return to the nest.

First egg is lost - but looks like another's been laid

Just as we were celebrating the arrival of the first egg in the Tweed Valley (the first from an osprey in the UK, we thought), reports came in that the egg had fallen from the nest.

The egg was laid on 5th April and it was confirmed missing yesterday (7th April). However, all the signs are that the female has laid again so everyone on the project is keeping optimistic.

Diane, our Osprey Information Officer said:

"This was very disappointing but we are pleased to report that our volunteers have seen the female sitting on the nest again so we are quite confident that she has laid another egg....fingers crossed!

"A lot of work had been undertaken to help build up the artificial nest before the ospreys returned from their long migration. It appears that the birds had continued to add more and more material on top of about 12 inches of snow which had fallen very recently.

"Unfortunately this may have resulted in a loose nest and with high winds the egg may have ended up at the edge of the nest. We think the parents then tried to roll the egg back into position but failed to do so.

"The good news is of course that we think that the female has laid again and that ospreys have continued to build up the nest further and it looks much stronger."

We'll have more details when get them.

Our first egg!

The strong winds have gone, most of the snow has melted too, and our pair are back and have given us an Easter egg treat!  They only arrived in the Tweed Valley on the 21st March and have already laid an egg.

Diane, the Osprey Information Officer, has the story:

"The ospreys had a bit of a battering with the recent bad weather but they've come back to a sturdy nest - thanks to the Forestry Commission Scotland and RSPB rangers - and things are looking promising.

"We think the first egg was laid yesterday [5th April] as that is when our volunteers spotted it for the first time.  The female is taking a real interest in the egg, rolling it around and getting it into the best position for incubation.  This is all good news and we just need to keep our fingers crossed now that everything falls into place and we get more eggs."

It's possible this is the first osprey egg laid in the UK this year. You might catch a glimps of it via the webcam - there's a small version of it on the right of this page and you can see a larger version on the main Tweed Valley Ospreys site.

Both the Glentress and Kailzie visitor centres are now open.  Details of opening hours on the main site too.