Lady Does It Again

[maggiebee]

Our lovely Lady at Loch of the Lowes has done it again. She laid her 69th egg on Sunday morning. Lady is believed to be 28 years old. Fingers crossed for a safe hatching.

[boxtops]

Brilliant news - it made the national BBC news at midnight last night! I must go and look at the webcam!

[boxtops]

h - the webcam is down at the moment - but read this: two irresponsible people wandered into the prohibited zone and frightened Lady off the nest for 10 minutes :-(

http://blogs.scottishwildlifetrust.org.uk/osprey/

[maggiebee]

Irresponsible plonkers!! Hope all is OK. Will have a look at the webcam later.

[boxtops]

Maggie - how do you pronounce LOWES/ We call it LOWS (as in Highs and Lows), but on the radio last night it was pronounce to rhyme with COWS.

[Milvus]

It's fantastic how long she has been going. Let's hope they (I expect there will be more eggs) hatch

[heathfield]

Lowes rhymes with cows. By the way, there's a local and well respected ornithologist who has doubts over Lady's true age, suggesting that she's perhaps the second female to occupy the nest over the years. A case of earlier mistaken identity.

[smurf]

what a lady , hope the eggs hatch ok, will watch webcam

[boxtops]

Heathfield - interesting (and thanks re pronunciation). The rangers identify Lady by her iris markings and other feather bandings, so it would be useful to have a link to that other suggestion.

[maggiebee]

Thanks heathfield - yes, it rhymes with cows boxy.

[heathfield]

Sorry, Boxy, I can't find a link. I saw it mentioned in a small circulation local paper that puts hardly any of its news on the net. If it's truly been Lady that's been breeding all along, then this will be her 24th consecutive year at Loch of Lowes. These days, identification methods are very reliable, but what were they like 24 years ago? (By the way, as far as I know, Lady has never had a leg ring. Certainly, she doesn't have one at present, which actually helped identify her when she first returned to her nest for only a minute or two this year).