Possible hatching dates for ospreys and herons....

The waiting game has begun in earnest as we watch the two live screens with the heron nest and the osprey nest on camera at Kailzie Gardens Osprey and Nature Watch Centre and the osprey nest at Glentress Peel Wildwatch room. The ospreys and herons at the nest are engaged in full time incubation duties and it is fascinating to watch the behaviour and different strategies adopted by the two different species towards their nesting activities and in the rearing of their young.



Glentress Peel Wildwatch

The osprey pair at the main nest behave as a very close partnership. The incubation duties appear to be equally shared and there seem to be genuinely affectionate moments between the two expectant parents. They sidle up close together, often the male will gently nudge the female until she is persuaded to rise up off the eggs and let him take a turn at incubating.


During this period a lot of nest scraping takes place and fiddling about with sticks to move from one side of the nest to the other, possibly a way to occupy the time. It is easy to tell the difference between the adults not just because the male has the leg ring white SS but he is about one third smaller than the female and has a pure white chest, whereas the larger female has a streaked chestnut band of feathering on her chest and the markings on the back of her head crest look like a chocolate coloured concorde. 

Heron adults appear to be identical to each other, the text books tell us that the parents share incubation duties but we have never witnessed a swapping over at the nest, so perhaps this only happens infrequently. We have not witnessed any interaction between parent birds and never know if it is the male or the female that is sitting on duty. Apparently the male heron is the larger of the two but only really noticeable in wing length and beak length which is not obvious at all when they are sitting incubating. Both birds are strikingly handsome with long black head plumes and sleek grey plumage with streaked black, speckled, neck feathering. They sit motionless when incubating for long periods and often we double check that the camera is still working, when suddenly, the bird will stand and reach down to turn the three blue/green eggs.

Osprey incubation takes between 37 and 42 days and the first egg was laid on 12th April, so we can expect that the earliest likely hatching date for the first egg could be 19th May.





Kailzie Osprey and nature watch



The heron eggs were laid on 20th April, 24th and 27th April and they take 25 to 26 days to incubate, meaning that we will have live hatching on camera anytime from the 16th May. Because they have nested so late this year it will be the first time we have ever seen the heron chicks when they have just hatched. We are very excited about watching the heron chicks develop this year as we get to see the family raised right from the very start. Heron siblings behave with a great deal of rivalry and there can be many dramas, often with older siblings killing off younger ones and even eating them.



Ospreys have never displayed such behaviour in the nest in the ten years that we have watched this family. The parents are very attentive to their young whereas the heron parents have a very different approach, delivering food and leaving the chicks for long periods in the nest alone.

The camera nest box became occupied with a blue tit nest building very early in April and then all activity seemed to come to a halt. The warm sunny weather seems to have kick-started the nesting imperative and the blue tit has been seen actively nest building again, although we have not seen any eggs yet. It would appear that the cold snap has caused the blue tit to delay laying which is good because they need to wait until there is a plentiful supply of caterpillars to feed any young. Last year they were caught out by laying early and the wet weather meant there were no caterpillars. We watched as one chick after another starved and the sad image of the blue tit removing dead nestlings is hopefully not to be repeated this year. Populations do fluctuate due to seasonal variations but over time should even out.

Three eggs each for our ospreys and herons!



Male brings a fish for the female and then takes a turn to incubate.

The ospreys have settled in to a routine of incubation shifts at the main nest now that they seem to have reached a full clutch of three eggs. The camera has been remotely switched on to the close up view, so we now have stunning views into the nest. Much of this month will be taken up with incubation duties and it is always a pleasure to watch the swap over as the parent in the nest stands off the eggs, gently curls in their talons to make sure that they do not accidentally pierce the eggs and then carefully backs out of the nest as the next shift is deftly taken over by the other waiting parent bird, who quickly takes up the incubation spot and continues to keep those precious eggs warm.

The appearance of the sun and a spell of warm weather will be most welcome to ospreys all around the region as when reviewing last years’ report of nesting activity in the area it would seem that one of the factors affecting nest failure correlates to poor weather. Of a possible ten osprey nest sites as part of the Tweed Valley Osprey Project, only seven were successful in rearing young last year. Of the seven successful sites, all were early returners from their migration and had time to take full advantage of the early warm spring that we had last year. The disastrous wet summer that followed made it very difficult for not just ospreys but for many invertebrate feeders too.


Male white leg ring stands to reveal 3 eggs

Our male bird, White leg ring SS is fifteen years old this year and he came from a nest in Aberfoyle originally, he is with his unringed partner and this is their tenth season together. They have raised 23 chicks in total since they got together and there will be three more to add to the list this year if all the eggs hatch out.

To date, we can celebrate that the Tweed Valley Osprey Project has raised a minimum of 160 osprey chicks since the start of the project in 2000. This is a fantastic conservation success story for the region and it is thanks to the Forestry Commission Scotland, in particular to Tony Lightley, Conservation Manager for South of Scotland and his team for creating nesting platforms to encourage the ospreys to breed here, monitoring sites and ringing the chicks.

The project is a partnership between Forestry Commission for Scotland , Kailzie Gardens and RSPB working together to provide the public viewing centres and trained volunteer staff who educate the public all about this great project and help to spread the news of the amazing story of the return of the iconic ospreys to full breeding success here in the Borders.

We are very grateful to Bill Irvine and his technicians from FCS because they do all the technical work, setting up the cameras and making the live images possible in the viewing centres with amazing new technology.



Heron turning her three eggs.

The centres are open daily from 10am to 5pm. On camera across the two centres there are the heron nest with three eggs, blue tits that are still nest building, jackdaws with 5 eggs, pond camera, meadow and river camera, and bird feeding stations as a constant hub of activity.





Golden Eagle flying over Innerleithen - photograph by Jan Lister

Another exciting bit of news for the area was the presence of a white tailed sea eagle spotted flying over Cardrona Forest in the Tweed Valley on 10th April, this was reported in the bird listings, in Birdwatching magazine, so it is a reliable record.

Last year on 13th April, a Golden Eagle was photographed by Jan Lister as it flew over Innerleithen Town and she kindly sent the photographs to us at Tweed Valley Osprey Project. This is another exciting species to add to the list for the area.





One, Two, Three Osprey Eggs!

The ospreys now have three eggs and the season looks set to be on course for early chicks again this year.



Our ospreys acan be viewed live via our camera viewing
facilities at our two Wildwatch centres at Kailzie Gardens
and Glentress

  This is in contrast to the lateness of all of our other breeding birds which have been delayed by the poor spring weather.

The ospreys are doing their shared incubation duties at their tree top eyrie, they are very territorial at their nest site and will not tolerate other ospreys coming too close. They defend their site rigorously with posturing and flights to scare off any unwelcome ospreys in the vicinity. Other ospreys often will pop over to have a look at other sites in the area, known affectionately as ‘buzzing’ the nest. Often, it is just harmless nosiness but the territorial pair need to safe-guard that it is not a serious attempt at site stealing.

The female osprey has been hunkered down deep into the cup of the enormous nest to keep her eggs safe in the high winds while the male continues to bring in fish. The weather has meant that the main rivers such as the Tweed have been in ‘spate’ and too difficult to hunt from but he seems to have secured a good loch from which to provide a steady supply of fish.

Two heron eggs

The herons have only just laid their eggs and the nest that is on camera now has two beautiful bright blue eggs with a very proud mum. When she laid her first egg, volunteers on duty at the Kailzie Gardens Osprey and Nature Watch Centre, watched and said that she stood up and peered down below and seemed surprised at the sight of an egg there. The herons are very late nesting this year and would normally have chicks by now. But the lateness does not seem to have hampered their progress in any way as mum appears to be in fine breeding condition and is settled at the nest site and has begun to incubate. They nest in a heronry, a colonial nest site with other family groups. Sometimes the female will leave the nest and take a flight to the flooded pasture to forage for food. We have been able to follow this activity on the meadow camera.

The jackdaws have taken up residence in the owl box at Glentress and this can be seen in the Wildwatch room in the Peel Centre, on the windows on wildlife cameras. They now have 5 eggs, which will take up to 18 days to incubate. It will be fun to watch the antics of this lively little family on camera over the next few weeks.

The pond camera in Kailzie has revealed that the frogs have left masses of frogspawn and the pond camera at Glentress which was showing lots of toads in the water now has long strings of toadspawn on the rocks. This will be interesting to watch as the spawn develops and the little tadpoles break out and become free swimmers.

More volunteers are needed to help to staff the two centres and if anyone is interested in becoming a volunteer please get in touch with Tweed Valley Osprey Project Officer, Diane Bennett by email on Tweedvalleyospreys@gmail.com

Two eggs now and counting!

A second egg has been spotted in the nest and this was first seen late on Monday 15th April when the volunteer on duty at the Glentress Wildwatch room realised that when the female was turning what he thought to be one egg, there were actually two! We will keep a watchful eye for more eggs over the next few days.


Proud Dad to be looks down as female reveals 2 eggs


The birds have begun their incubation duties and as ever the male bird from this pair is always keen to take his turn. Both birds appear to be relaxed and very settled. The eggs are gently and carefully turned regularly and the adult birds curl their talons in, to make sure that they do not accidentally pierce the eggs while they lean down and roll the eggs into a favoured position using their beaks.

The weather has been very stormy with high winds. The female has been hunkered down into the nest cup which she frequently scrapes and shifts about material, so that it is to her liking. The male bird has been perching above the nest looking down like the proud father to be.

More wildlife news from around Tweed Valley

The pond camera at Glentress is now showing lots of toads mating in the water. The one at Kailzie has revealed masses of frogspawn and frogs lumbering about.

Breeding condition - Bright orange base to the beak

At Kailzie Osprey and Nature Watch Centre, the ‘live’ heron camera is giving superb views of the female heron in impressive breeding condition.

Her beak has a very bright colouration with a vivid orange base and yellow tip. During rest periods at the nest she has been seen resting her long beak on the sticks in the nest. She continues to re-arrange the sticks and there is a lot more fresh grassy material which has been added to the top. There has been no sign of any mate, but she certainly gives the impression of a bird with egg laying on her mind!

The first swallows appeared hunting over Kailzie fishery today and the blue tit has begun to build her nest in the nestbox with a live camera link into the centre at Kailzie.

First Osprey Egg of the Year!

Female stands to reveal egg

At just after 3pm on Friday, the female osprey laid her first egg. Two volunteers were at the centre and spotted the egg when the female stood up.

One of the volunteers is new to the project and so this is a lovely surprise for her to be the first to see the egg and a great start to the season.

We believe that this may be the first osprey egg this year in the Scotland. The Tweed Valley birds have wasted no time since their return and have been spotted frequently mating at the nest site. We will keep a watchful eye for more eggs over the next few days. 

Male flies off with fish.



At around 5.30pm, the male was up on the perch next to the nest with a fish and taking a leisurely meal while the female took her place, to begin incubating straight away. Both birds appeared to be relaxed and very settled. 



Egg rolled into position and female begins to incubate again.

 
The male flew off with his fish and a few seconds later the female stood up, peered down between her feet and began to nudge the egg with her beak to turn it, which was clearly seen. She soon settled back down to incubate again, very satisfied that all is well and the position of the egg is just as she would like it.

Waiting for an egg to be laid as our ospreys settle in for the season

The osprey pair at the main nest have settled in to their tenth season and can be seen sitting close together at the eyrie - their massive nest on top of the Scots Pine, that will be their home for this coming summer.



New Perch at the nest.

The pair seem very settled and have been mating at the nest site. We are expecting to see an egg any day now.

 

They have taken short trips away from the nest to bring back some nest adornments of sticks and mosses and now the centre of the nest is beginning to look quite snug in readiness for laying.  

The snow has mostly melted, although it is still  a very sharp, cold spring. However, all seems well set for the start of the breeding season.

The camera has been set up high this year so that we can get a good view in to the nest. 

There has been a new perch added to the side of the nest too (see pic) which the birds have found very much to their liking. It gives a super view of the ospreys when they are there. 

The new cameras are relaying images ‘live’ into the centres at Glentress Forest and at Kailzie Gardens and the quality of the picture is excellent due to the use of high definition.

Ospreys return to Tweed Valley for a 10th season

The Tweed Valley Ospreys have returned for their tenth season at the main nest site which is viewed live on camera.

The severe weather conditions in the Tweed Valley this spring has meant a delay in setting the cameras up at the main nest site, as the snow made it impossible for the technical team to get near enough to the cabling and mast to switch on. Luckily the team had renovated the nest site in readiness for the return of the birds earlier in the month before the snow came and the cameras had already been installed but connections had not been sorted out when the weather took a turn for the worst.

Today though, we finally managed to have cameras rolling and a great sight at the nest was the presence of our two ospreys back for their tenth anniversary year together. The nest does not look inviting at all, with over a foot of frozen,compacted snow sitting on top of it! The pair were seen at the perches to the side of the nest and have wasted no time, as we witnessed mating taking place. The female was also seen eating a good sized fish while the male bird surveyed his domain from the lofty perch to the side of the nest.

It is always a huge relief to see the birds back for the first time at the start of the season, particularly after such a harsh spring. Both birds appear to be in fine form and the female as always looked very impressive as she turned to camera showing her raised crest and piercing yellow eyes.

Both centres at Glentress Peel and Kailzie Gardens Osprey & Nature Watch are now open for the public to view these magnificent pair live on camera at their eyrie and enjoy the intimate moments of family life at the nest.