Our young ospreys getting to grips with the art of hunting

Osprey Talons

The young ospreys are now proficient flying hunters. They have had a few weeks to explore the Borders terrain and discover all of the fishing hot spots with their parents.

The weather has finally given them a break to practice hunting and spotting fish in the water from a good height and then aim their plunge dive technique, to lock on to the unsuspecting fish below and pluck it from the water.

The fish are caught in their mighty talons and then they manoeuvre their toes to face the fish in a forwards direction to carry it off in a streamlined fashion. This is quite a skill to master and to be able to fly with a live wriggling fish between their talons too. The technique is naturally aided by the birds finely designed feet, sporting growths called spicules, which act as sticky pads onto the fish, so that it doesn’t slip from their grasp.

We have seen chicks recently landing on the nest with fish and we are assuming that they are catching this prey for themselves, although we have also witnessed the parents drop in with an occasional fish also. So, it could be that they are still being supported by their parents as well as catching some of their own.

The adult birds will be leaving for their long haul migration to Africa soon. The female is usually the first to break up the family unit and may well have already left. She was last seen on Friday 10th August. The chicks are still coming to the nest, so we are confident that the male is still around because the young birds wait and hope that he will pass a fish over to them. The nest stands empty for quite long periods of time and then suddenly a chick will fly in and land and will begin calling excitedly, which must be because an adult or a sibling is nearby with a fish.

One of the young ospreys looks to be smaller than the other two chicks and at the time of ringing, it was thought that all three chicks were female because they were a good weight and size but possibly now that they are grown, the smaller one may turn out to be a male bird.

You can view footage of these magnificent birds before they head off on their long journey via our webcam .

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Osprey Centres and Cameras

Please accept our apologies for the intermittent problems with the osprey nest camera over the last few days. Its seems the constant work over the summer has exhausted the solar batteries and they are draining quickly. In order to preserve them we have shortened the timer to 10.30am to 4pm. There have also been some clarity problems but hopefully these have now been sorted.

Our twin centres at Kailzie Gardens and Glentress forest will be open 10am-5pm until Monday the 31st August. After this time, as there is no longer any activity on the osprey nest, our centres will go into an 'off season' mode. Both will be open but unstaffed during September, with highlights of the 2009 season on display but no live camera viewing. They will of course still have information on local walks, wildlife watching etc available.

So pop in and see our friendly volunteer staff before the months end to hear all about our fantastic season, ask questions, or share your own osprey stories.

Soggy

Our poor Ospreys have spend a rather soggy weekend here in the Tweed Valley, with intermittent downpours of heavy summer rain. Some of you have no doubt noticed that mum seems to be a little less vigilant on the nest than earlier in the season, but before you criticise her, let us explain.

Now the chicks have a decent set of adult feathers coming through, they are much better at thermoregulation ( maintaining their own body temperature) and have gained an amount of waterproofing as well. This means mum can now take breaks sitting nearby, without having to sit on top of the chicks all the time.

Secondly, the chicks are now much less vulnerable to predators, being a) well camouflaged ( as some visitors will be able to tell you!) and b) big enough to be too much of a meal for almost all predators.

Thirdly, you will probably have noticed the chicks have started their wing stretching and exercising, which can be rather vigorous and make the nest a bit crowded and uncomfortable for mum- better to give the chicks room for their aerobics!

So if mum is absent from the nest- don't panic! It is most likely she is just a few feet to the right or left of the camera on a perch, nearby if there's any trouble or threat- as you can see from how quickly she appears when food arrives!

Apologies For Poor Picture Quality

Our apologies for the occasional poor picture quality on the web link to the live nest camera. The problem occasionally crops up in the early season every year, and is caused by condensation misting on the camera screen at the nest. Unfortunately we can't just pop up to wipe it off!

It happens due to the low angle of the sun at this time in April in the nest valley, but always disappears after the first couple of weeks of the season as the suns angle gets higher.

We know it is frustrating when your view is hazy , but please bear with us! Many thanks, The Osprey Centre Team.

Webcam now on the blog

If you look to the right of the page you'll hopefully see images coming from our main nest. You can see a bigger version of the web cam on the main Tweed Valley ospreys pages on the Forestry Commission website - but it will give you a taste of what's going on.

You might need to refresh the page from time to time to update the image, but in the main there will be a live feed between 10.00am and 5.00pm each day.

The best images, of course, are available at our osprey watch centres, so do pay us a visit if you can.