TIME IS TICKING ON…

Since fledging, Jed (733) and Ursula (732) have fallen into a steady routine of eating, flying circuits, preening, exploring and eating, with more eating thrown in wherever possible. Handover of fish has become a nerve wracking and often painful experience for Samson as the two of them come racing in and fight over who gets the offering. Often, an over enthusiastic juvenile grabs his leg by mistake and tries to drag what they think is the fish off to the side of the nest.

On one occasion, Samson brought one in and his mate Juno (JW6), who was also on the nest at the time, decided that she quite fancied the trout he’d caught and there was a complete melee for a while with JW6 battling and losing to 732 who then had a tussle with her sibling 733 and he eventually won, all the while poor old Samson was just trying to extricate himself from the chaos and fly off with all his limbs still attached!

Talking of JW6, I think I can say with all confidence that she definitely maybe has left on migration. She hasn’t been seen on camera or in the feather since mid morning on the 10th. That last visit was to bring fish to the two juveniles which would suggest that she was still in her raising a family mode rather than feeding herself in preparation for migration mode and she certainly did take a break before migration last year. Nevertheless, the absence has been longer than normal and she hasn’t been seen on camera down in Kielder where she often goes during her breaks, so maybe she is well away and looking down at the French or even Spanish countryside as I write.

I expect the juveniles to leave within the next 10 days or so. 733 will probably go first. That would be expected as the older of the two anyway, but he is an extremely competent flier and has been much more confident in exploring and refining all the skills he will need. He has been seen practising fishing and seems to really enjoy flying in all sorts of conditions testing out his capabilities. On one occasion, he was twisting and turning in gusty winds and doing aerobatics that the Red Arrows would find difficult to emulate; he really seems a natural.

732 has stayed much closer to home and, as a result, has managed to obtain far more than her fair share of fish. She clearly keeps a good look out for Samson returning and is very adept, even when her brother and she are on the nest together, at nipping in and grabbing a fish from Samson before 733 can get to it. Interestingly, despite being much larger than him, she will usually defer to him if he challenges her for a fish; that 2 days difference in age still is a factor. They both will defend the nest from intruders and, in this matter, she is the far more aggressive of the two, perhaps already seeing the guarding of the nest as being her responsibility. She’s quite a scary sight, mantling and screaming defiance.

We’re not usually bothered that much by intruders but, for several days, Samson appeared to be being followed back to the nest when he was bringing a catch home. We were getting glimpses of this intruding female but nothing definite until she very graciously hovered above the nest, watching the normal battle for possession of the fish, legs lowered so we could read her ring. We were able to identify her as Blue 561, a 2020 chick from a nest near Dumfries. We were confused at first because the ring number looked like 195 but some investigation revealed that the ring had been put on upside down but, of course, the numbers could be read either way. We were also able to find out that she had intruded at Kielder and another nest near here earlier in the year, so she knows the area well.

Our second confirmed intruder was seen on the same day and was, in this case, an unringed male. We got some nice footage of him being escorted (at high speed) from the nest area by Samson. What was particularly interesting was that this male was carrying a large lump of soft nesting material. So the question is, could 561 and this male, seen only an hour or so apart, perhaps be looking at setting up home in the area? Samson and Juno won’t let them get too close but there are plenty of other potential nesting sites around and that might be an exciting prospect for next year.

The last bit of news I have for you is that I was again invited to see progress at Samson’s 2017 chick, PY0’s, nest at Kielder and I was lucky enough to see the first chick fledge. In a situation spookily reminiscent of its parent’s attempt at fledging all those years ago, this chick found itself isolated from the nest on an adjoining tree branch. Wobbling precariously, it took the safest option of returning to its nest by flying a circuit and landing back on. PY0 didn’t do that in 2017 and remained frozen with nerves to his perch, only managing to sidle back to the relative safety of his nest some 3 or 4 hours later. He did fledge successfully a few days later when his confidence returned.

I think that’s all the news from here rounded up and I will let you know when the two youngsters take that massive leap of faith in their instincts and leave on migration. What an incredibly powerful urge that must be to leave all security behind and head off, literally, into the unknown. You may all start to cross your fingers now to build up a nice bit of credit for the two of them before they set off, alone, on that incredible journey.