The Lady is Back!

[boxtops]

You may have heard, but I was thrilled and amazed to hear on the news last night that Lady - the 26-year-old female osprey - has returned to Loch of the Lowes, they made a definite identification by iris recognition yesterday. Stunned that she has made it yet again, after being so ill last year. Yay Lady - good on you, missus!

[albaqwerty]

I heard they're waiting to see if her mate turns up. (Hope he does)
This could be the year of her 50th chick :)

It's wonderful to see such good news amongst all the doom and gloom.

[boxtops]

I was wondering whether the two young ones who arrived at the same time, and who she apparently shooed off the next, were her two chicks from last year!

[Barmaid]

Wow, that's amazing. I thought after she was so poorly that would be the last we saw of her.

[albaqwerty]

from the SWT blog :-At the moment, we think that there could be two possible explanations for this visit from these unidentified birds. It is possible that one of these birds could be our female’s old mate, who was known last year as ‘7Y’. If it is him, he should be wearing a green leg ring, but the visit was so brief that we couldn’t see anything to indicate for sure that it was him. The other bird could then be a new female interloper, or ‘love rival’, who is trying to take ownership of our nesting site.

Another possibility is that the birds could already be pair bonded, and were looking to take over our female’s nest as a couple. Our old osprey held her ground however, and shortly after all three were seen flying closely in the skies, the two other birds retreated to the other end of the loch.

Earlier this afternoon, a bird was again seen on the nest with ‘Lady.’ She didn’t make alarm calls, but she wasn’t acting particularly welcoming either. Again we couldn’t see a leg ring, so we are unable to confirm just yet as to whether this is the male mate or indeed another male.

[seekeerz]

great news, isn't it, boxy - I tuned in yesterday am your time and there she was, starting on the housework - gee the family left a mess when they left !!

oh thought the house was on fire, he could hear me yelling from the other end of the place!!

[wendilla]

I had a lump in my throat when I read this. Unbelievable that she has returned after her illness last year. There has been a lot of activity here in Rutland .Two were in the nest yesterday morning.

[seekeerz]

just been watching rutland, wendi - great pictures from them. That's the only problem with lotl, I'm having a lot of strife getting pix through

[wendilla]

One in the nest now athttp://www.ospreys.org.uk/webcam/

[wendilla]

http://www.ospreys.org.uk/webcam/

[heathfield]

Great news about Lady. She now has to take on rivals who will want to occupy her nest. Despite being looked upon as rare birds, there are now too many ospreys in her area for the number of suitable nest sites. Partly Lady's fault for the number of offspring she has reared!!

[paddywak]

Good to see the grand old girl back where she belongs after the scare she gave all her
fans last year

[boxtops]

She's on the nest now, Cam 1 is up and working. http://www.swt.org.uk...ebcams/loch-of-lowes/

[Kleiber]

That's great news! But does anyone know if the ospreys have yet returned to the Dovey estuary in Wales? The female came back last year & started building a nest, but sadly, the male never arrived. I'm hoping that maybe she's found another male whilst in Africa as it looks like the other one didn't make it. We think they were a young pair, maybe offspring from the North Wales ospreys or perhaps some who've found their way down from Scotland. If anyone knows, it would be great. I'm about 40 miles away from the Dovey, but still very concerned. K x