NOTHING TO REPORT

I’m getting quite a few queries from people concerned about whether Samson has arrived and I’ve not told you, or he’s late, or what is happening, so I thought I’d give you an update to say… there’s nothing to update.

Samson has a “window” of normal arrivals dates and we are right in the middle of it now. I’m hoping that writing this blog saying that he’s not arrived will prompt his immediate arrival, as you know he loves to prove us wrong, but there’s no need to worry if he isn’t there tomorrow, just yet.

In the meantime, JW6 has surprised me by her patience. We see her for about 3 hours each morning before she disappears off to do whatever it is that she does. She eats in that time as we’ve only seen her bring a fish in once so far, a nice juicy pike, and I think she’s just wandering the area, perhaps checking out other local nests (she’s been down to Kielder at least 3 times so far this season) and keeping an eye out for passing males. She has done a bit of work on the nest but needs to curb her enthusiasm for the size of sticks she brings in.

While we are waiting for Samson to return, I thought you might be amused with this video of JW6 tussling with a stick that clearly would have been more than happy still being attached to a tree and wasn’t giving up without a fight.

In the meantime, just stay calm and I’ll update you when we have any progress, whatever shape it may take.