Time for female osprey to fly the nest as season ends
The female osprey at a popular Perthshire nature reserve has flown the nest, marking the end of another breeding season.
LF15, the resident female osprey at the Loch of the Lowes nature reserve near Dunkeld, is thought to have left for her winter migration to West Africa on Tuesday, August 7.
The dedicated team of osprey watchers at the reserve saw her leaving the nest that evening, and have not seen her since.
This comes after yet another successful breeding season for LF15 and her male partner LM12, who have bred chicks at the Perthshire beauty spot for the past four years.
The two have successfully bred another two chicks called LN1 and PT0, which are believed to be male and are now nine and 10 weeks old.
Emma Castle-Smith, assistant manager at the visitor centre, said: “As many of you will have observed via the webcam, our resident female osprey LF15 has not been seen by staff since the evening of Tuesday, August 7.
“As always we like to delay announcing her departure as we never can tell whether she’s just fishing in other lochs or has truly left us. In 2017 the last time she was seen was August 5, so the timing seems to fit.
“However, the consensus now is that she has begun her migration and rightly so. Last time we saw her she was in fantastic condition and stealing fish from the juveniles.
“This season she has managed to successful overcome intruding male and female ospreys, herons Canadian geese and even loud music.”
She continued:“We are delighted LF15 has left the Loch of the Lowes for her West African migration Picture by Scottish Wildlife Trust
by the ospreys good fortune this year and we greatly admire their tenacity and resilience.
“Many of the high profile nests in the country have had difficulties this year, all of which were down to normal natural circumstances but we are humbled by the fact that the success of the nest is entirely out of our control.
“We’re lucky to have such a fantastic pair of dedicated osprey parents.
“We still have LN1 and PT0 visiting the nest daily. Although we have observed them to be absent from the
reserve occasionally, which indicates to us that they are beginning to become more inquisitive about the greater surrounding area.
“Fortunately, LM12 is still here and is continuing to prove them with the occasional fish.
“However, our juveniles have been seen to be practising their fishing technique on our loch.”
The reserve team currently do not know when the two young chicks or the male osprey will leave the nest, but say they will keep an eye on the webcam until they do.