Author Archives: Rosieshields

As we approach the final third of the incubation period, everything seems quiet although fish supplies to 500 have been rather hit and miss, mainly as a result of the dreadful weather which has limited Samson’s fishing options. On a couple of occasions, she hasn’t waited for him to come in but has flown toContinue reading “ALL RELATIVELY QUIET”

Blue 500 (Augusta) wasted no time in completing her clutch of eggs when she laid her third, and hopefully final, egg of the season at precisely 1100 this morning. She has spent longer this morning on the nest perch than the last few days, allowing Samson the luxury of incubating, although he did go fishingContinue reading “THE FULL SET”

Augusta (Blue 500) duly laid her second egg at 1421 yesterday, 6 May, realising that the laying of her first egg overnight when the camera was off was not going to endear her to her new fan club. She was attended by a pair of jackdaws but whether or not that speeded the process I’mContinue reading “EGG NO 2”

Oh, I can see that this one is going to be trouble! Blue 500 has kept me dangling on a bit of string all this week about when she would lay her first egg. First of all, she started rejecting Samson’s advances for a day, so I thought perhaps there’s an egg on its way.Continue reading “AT LAST!”

As we wait to see whether/when Blue 500 decides to lay an egg, I just wanted to write a few words about JW6, nicknamed Juno, our previous female who failed to return from migration this Spring. JW6 burst onto the scene at Border Ospreys on 20 Apr 2021, the fourth year that we hadn’t hadContinue reading “JW6 – A SHORT LIVED REIGN”

For those of you who follow several osprey nests, you will know of Joanna Dailey from Kielder, who is an encyclopaedia of osprey knowledge and is brilliant at keeping track of all the Kielder nests and who is mating with whom there and who is intruding, how many eggs each nest has and when chicksContinue reading “SEEING DOUBLE”

Well, it took 48 hours from writing the blog expressing my concern about the non-arrival of the birds, but the ploy worked and Samson duly arrived this morning, in torrential rain and pursued by the local jackdaws. He was soaked, and I struggled to see him properly (see the picture below) but eventually he driedContinue reading “I TOLD YOU….”

Several of you have been in contact asking whether our birds have returned yet but I’m afraid that there is no news yet. I am particularly concerned about JW6 (Juno) who is 16 days’ late from her 2023 arrival date and 6 days’ late from her 2022 arrival. It’s not beyond the realms of possibilityContinue reading “NO NEWS”

Well, that’s that, then. The nest is redundant; the almost constant noise from food begging female and chicks has ceased; the final fish catch of the season has been delivered. The area seems weirdly quiet and empty, despite other birds and animals being around and doing their thing. None of them has the same impactContinue reading “THE END OF THE SEASON”

I DON’T KNOW WHY I BOTHER; I really don’t! Yesterday evening I wrote that JW6 had definitely maybe left on migration. Not been seen, longer absence than normal…blah…blah. I downloaded yesterday’s recordings as I do each following morning, came home to review the footage…and guess what? JW6 brought a tatty tail end of a fishContinue reading “YET MORE HUMBLE PIE”