A short blog to let you know that things on the nest are proceeding nicely and egg no 2 arrived at 1713 yesterday. There was further disturbance by a female intruder in the morning and early afternoon but she never got close enough to see a ring number. 565 intruded after the first egg was laid and, although we haven’t seen her in the intervening 3 days, I would expect it to have been her again yesterday.

Anyway, it wasn’t enough to stop Augusta and she very quickly stood up after laying and backed off the eggs to show Samson the latest arrival. He was less excited than 3 days ago but his quick circular flight from the nest perch to the nest was enough to show him a far more interesting sight; Augusta had left some of the large trout he’d brought in earlier and he quickly grabbed it and flew off again to consume it away from the nest.

I think she was rather assuming he was flying around to come in and take over incubating while she recovered from the discomfort of laying the egg, hence her standing up. She probably wasn’t best pleased to find that, not only had he not done so, but he had also stolen the remainder of the fish (I think Samson likes to live life on the edge)!

The third egg is due on Tue and I expect that will be the completion of the clutch. Occasionally, a female will lay 4 eggs but that is usually when nests have a guaranteed good supply of fish and, as regular readers will know, that has not been the case with this nest. Nevertheless, things are looking better so far this year as far as fish supplies are concerned, so fingers crossed that remains the case. We then will settle in for the long wait on incubation with hatching not due until the first two weeks of Jun.

I was waiting until an egg appeared before writing this blog but was getting concerned that time was passing and I was still waiting for the event. So yesterday I announced that I wasn’t going to wait any longer and would have to write and cover the egg arrival on a later blog. I jest not but, 2 and a half hours after I made that announcement to the people I was with at the time, Augusta (Blue 500) laid her first egg of the season! Why do they constantly make me eat my words? It’s hardly a challenge these days for them but they still seem to get enjoyment out of it. When will I learn not to make pronouncements that give them these opportunities?

Anyway, the first egg was laid on 30 Apr at 1544, with Samson in attendance, and we had our first view a few minutes later. As ever, Samson has shown a great deal of interest in its arrival and has been eager to take on incubation duties right away. 500 is more than happy to oblige and spent much of the rest of the day sitting up on the nest perch or standing beside Samson on the nest. She took over incubating overnight and they took turns with the egg today, either incubating it, guarding it, or shielding it from the heat (that doesn’t happen very often in Scotland!).

It’s been quite an eventful time since the last blog, with Samson and 500 re-establishing their bond after the traumas of last season. Thankfully, fish seem to have been in greater supply than they were last year and Samson has been able to bring decent sized trout and grayling back to the nest on a regular basis, and has kept 500 well fed.

However, he has been doing a lot of “teasing”, which is seen more frequently with brand new rather than established pairs. He flies in with a fish, sometimes overflying the nest or landing briefly, but any attempt by her to grab it results in him flying off and sitting in a nearby tree, sometimes but not always eating bits of the fish. This is repeated several times until she manages to grab and hang onto the fish or he gets bored and finally offers it to her. It has led to a number of wrestling matches on the nest and a couple of instances of one of them being dragged across the nest by the other with both still hanging on to the prize. She is certainly not as vocal as she was last year, so perhaps he is confused by her lack of food begging but I hope that that behaviour will stop now because we certainly don’t want any risk to eggs.

We have had three osprey intruders since Samson returned. On 15 Apr, we had a left leg ringed male osprey do a couple of low level attacks on the nest but without stopping. He came in so fast that it was impossible to read the ring number but he did not land as both resident birds successfully guarded the nest (even though Augusta fell off after the second pass).

On 22 Apr, we had a visit from male blue 680 who landed on the nest and then attempted to mate with Augusta. She shrugged him off and he disappeared. He visited us last year and was hatched in the local area in 2021 but clearly has yet to find a territory of his own.

The third ringed intruder was far more persistent. Blue 565, a female hatched at Threave in Dumfries and Galloway in 2021, attacked Augusta at about 0430 on 28 Apr while it was still dark, knocking her off the nesting perch, and the attacks continued on and off until about 0930 that morning. On several occasions, she landed on the nest when Augusta was also there, and they spent minutes staring each other out or waiting for one of them to make a move. In the end, Augusta completely lost patience and took flight, using the breeze to hover into position and she launched a fierce attack on 565 from directly above. 565 finally got the hint and disappeared, intruding at Kielder some 2 hours later.

The only downside over this period was that human intruders twice disturbed the birds from the nest. Both were dog walkers and I was able to stop one before they got very far because I was there. The second person walked right under the nest, causing Augusta to fly, and got to one of my notices (the walker had ignored my first notice). It was clear the notice was being read because he then turned and walked back but further out into the field (!), although the damage had already been done by then. I was too far away to call him or inform him of what he had done. I have large notices both ends of the tree line and in the fields both above and below; it couldn’t be clearer that people should not walk there but, I suppose there will always be those that don’t look or just ignore information. It is very frustrating.

The next egg is due to be laid on Sat, all things being equal but, with immaculate timing as ever, the computer is being a bit temperamental and refusing to download the videos. I’m hoping it’s my lack of techy know-how that’s to blame and that Jain, my IT whizz, will sort out the problem for me without any loss of service. Whatever happens I’ll be in touch with news next week.

Driving down the track this morning to where I park my car by the nest, I was feeling pretty despondent as Samson had only been this late once before and that was when a weather system over southern France and Spain had held up many of our migrating birds. I looked across the field to see an unusual silhouette of a bird. Was it? Could it be? The bird then dived into the field margin and came up with a large clump of dead grass which it proceeded to carry back across the field and I was sure. It was an osprey and I would bet money on it being Samson. I raced into where I could see the nest camera view and, sure enough, not any old osprey but my beloved Samson was sitting proudly on the nest clutching one of several piles of nest material he had already collected.

Scrolling back through the morning’s recording, I saw that he had arrived at about 1050 and, after a brief look round to see if his mate was around, had set straight to tidying and bringing more material for the nest.

Just before noon, he came back onto the nest and was keenly watching something above him which seemed to be circling and getting closer. He took off as it approached but circled back immediately when he realised that it was Blue 500 (Augusta), who hadn’t been seen on camera since 8th April but clearly had, as I had speculated in my last blog, been wandering around but keeping a close eye on her home nest.

She immediately started fish begging in that inimitable style of hers (if he had any doubts as to her identity, that would have dispelled them!) but he had more material gathering to do and kept her waiting for a while before finally disappearing downstream to do some fishing. I didn’t stay to see when he came back but I expect anyone in the vicinity when he returned would have been witness to a lovely sky dance from him to let everyone know. The boss and his lady were back.

I hope that writing blogs at past my bedtime as has been the case with both this one and the last one is not going to become the norm but I didn’t want to waste any time in telling you all that Blue 500 (Augusta) touched down on the nest at about 1230 yesterday. I made the error of taking a day off and she must have known this and sneaked in confident that I wouldn’t check the recording footage until this evening.

She hung around for a while and then disappeared for several minutes before having another short visit, just to check that Samson wasn’t hiding under a stick, before disappearing off downstream and not reappearing before the camera went off.

I didn’t see her when I was down there today but I had a relatively short visit. Now you’ll remember that last year, after she left the area supposedly on migration in early August, she had a wander around and had still only got as far as Cumbria by the beginning of September. So she is clearly not averse to checking out other nests in the area and I expect that’s what she will do now but nevertheless, will keep popping back to see if Samson has arrived. So we must all stroke lucky black cats or shake the hand of a chimney sweep or do whatever we think will bring Samson home quickly, before she finds anyone else to tempt her away. Several people have told me that they “have a feeling” about him arriving tomorrow. If that’s the case, I expect that I’ll be here this time tomorrow but, in the meantime, let’s celebrate the arrival of Augusta and her hopeful reunion to come with Samson.

Welcome to the 2025 Border Ospreys’ season. Our own birds have not yet put in an appearance but we have had a couple of osprey visits that have been caught by the camera so I thought they would provide a gentle introduction to what will no doubt be another season of drama, both good and bad.

On 4 April, we had a fly by from two ospreys at about 0930 but were unable to identify either of them. One flew directly over the nest and the other stayed low over the field and you can see that they meet up to the right of the picture before making their way downstream. They must have passed over a field being ploughed as they had acquired quite an escort of gulls to accompany/mob them.

The only visit to the nest itself was today, 6 April and was a short short touch and go by our old friend 3AF, who was no doubt checking out to see if Samson was about, because she knows he’s always a mug for going and getting her a fish. She was, however, sadly disappointed and quickly left to be pursued by jackdaws across the field.

I will, of course, let you know as soon as we get news of our residents or, indeed, anyone who looks like they fancy staying. Samson needs to get a move on because jackdaws and starlings have been busy plundering the nest for sticks and nesting materials for their own efforts and he needs them to stop that right away.

I’d put my special blog-writing keyboard away for the season and was dreaming of 500 paddling in the warm waters of coastal Gambia or somewhere and Samson not far behind but it was not to be, so I have 2 bits of interesting news for you.

The first is that 3AF came calling again on 14 Aug. She is the successful female at a nearby osprey nest but was with us for most of 2020 and some of 2021. She tends to leave her nest after the chicks have fledged and then pop across to see if Samson is around and he, like an idiot, often provides fish for her for a few days. You know from his track record that he’s a complete mug for a flash of fluffy white pantaloons but she was unsuccessful in prising any food from him this time, so she didn’t hang around. He was last seen on camera on 16 Aug.

It’s always very frustrating that they don’t actually tell you when they’re leaving so the dates at this end of the season are always a little vague but with nothing to see, only a bout of Covid has prevented me from turning the camera off now we’re into September.

However, imagine my surprise when a friend sent me some photos, taken this afternoon from a nest at Foulshaw Moss, in Cumbria, showing a very familiar figure intruding just before 4pm, until she was driven off by the resident male. It was Augusta! Screenshots are all taken by Mary Cheadle and the webcam is courtesy of Cumbria Wildlife Trust.

I have no idea where she’s been since we last saw her on our camera on 2 Aug. She might well have been around but not shown herself in front of the camera or when I was there. She may have only just left the nest area, although I doubt Samson would have left if she was still there. Conversely, she might have been doing the same as 3AF and found herself a gullible male who fed her in the hope of pairing up with her next year. Either way, she hasn’t got very far on her migration but looks well fed and sleek.

It just goes to show that you must always expect the unexpected with these birds. That really should be it now, unless she starts camera hopping down the osprey nests in England, in which case I’ll update you as she goes along.

See you in 2025.

I haven’t written a blog in a while as there had been very little to report since last time.

Augusta (500) became a less and less regular visitor to the nest, although she often spent a couple of days in the immediate vicinity. Eventually, she was putting in an appearance on camera just once a week. Samson was there every day and kept himself busy by bringing in more sticks and softer nesting material, making sure the nest was in tip top condition. The eggs remained in the nest but two were buried quite deeply in the nesting material and only one was left visible. Visits by Augusta prompted Samson into a frenzy of mating attempts, which she accepted, then dashes away to collect material and nest cupping and fidgeting with rearranging the sticks and so on that he’d brought. She also did a fair amount of bringing in items for the nest and arranging them around the nest, which was very encouraging. Even more so was her willingness to help Samson defend the nest from a number of intruders, all unringed, who came to have a look. She was last seen, either on camera or in the feather, on 2 Aug, so I’m assuming she has migrated, but 10 years of watching birds on this nest has taught me never to make too definite a statement regarding departure dates!

Samson is still around and has a fairly set routine of visiting the nest. He eats away from the nest itself, but often on a nearby dead tree, and then comes back to do work and to preen on the nest perch after fishing trips or bathing. Even if he can’t be seen, he stays local and is very quickly on site at the first sign of an intruder. I was lucky enough to see him intercept and then chase an intruder while I was walking along the river and was thrilled to see him do a victory sky dance upon his return to the nest.

The egg that remained visible was finally taken by a crow on 13 Aug. I hate to think what state the contents were in but I’m actually relieved to see the back of it.

As well as the crow visiting, we have had a host of different birds visiting the empty nest and perches. Jackdaws often pop by to steal bits of straw and twigs and search, unsuccessfully, for bits of fish. Samson will even tolerate them when he’s on the nest perch, knowing that there’s nothing of value there now. We have had visits from great, blue and coal tits, looking for insects; several jays, blackbirds, a complete family of 5 mistle thrushes, a great spotted woodpecker adult and chick, sparrows, chaffinches, goldfinches, nuthatches; wood pigeons and stock doves again intent on stealing straw. My favourite visitor was a whitethroat which decided that the nest perch offered the best one upbirdship singing stage in the area. I mustn’t forget to mention the grey squirrels and, on one occasion, a field mouse with a head for heights.

So, that’s about all that’s been happening here. We’re starting to see ospreys coming through and heading south so I expect that Samson will be away soon. I’m enjoying watching him when I can and I tell him that he is to stay safe and return to us next year. He’s probably about 14/15 now, so getting on a bit and I do worry. There are so many threats to even experienced birds en route and at their wintering grounds but fingers crossed, when he finally departs on migration, it will only be a temporary absence and he’ll be back with us next Spring. I hope to be there waiting for him when he returns.

Thanks for following the blog this year; I’m only sad I couldn’t bring you better news. I was very surprised JW6 did not return but delighted when 500 appeared and settled in so quickly. I’m confident she will be back, with that bit of luck that they all need, and I hope she will finally become a parent in 2025. Thanks are needed also to the usual suspects; Brian and Kirsteen for their companionship during the hours of observation and photographic skills; Jain for her technological skills; Tony and Joanna for their knowledge; and John for allowing me access to the nest and the facilities to record the action on the nest.

See you all next year.

As you will probably have guessed as a result of the deafening silence from me, the miracle that we all hoped for didn’t happen and the eggs failed to hatch. Both Samson and Augusta (Blue 500) continued to incubate for a few days but Augusta in particular seems less and less inclined to sit and Samson has been increasingly reluctant to pay any attention to her fish soliciting calls. However, the instinct is also still strong in the pair and they have both spent time incubating and carefully turning the unviable eggs. They must be very confused with what has happened.

Another bout of heavy rain caused the river to rise and become impossible to fish so Samson was forced to fly further afield to have any chance of catching anything. Both birds are spending far more time off than on the nest with neither being seen at all on 18th June during the 13 hours the camera was operating; we did see however, that Samson returned during the evening with a fish which he proceeded to eat on the nest perch. I am hoping that both will continue to strengthen their bond with each other and, in Augusta’s case, with the nest. It is important that they continue to guard the territory from other ospreys who may be looking to take it over from them.

Talking of intruders, we have had a number of visiting ospreys over the past few weeks. I’ve already mentioned 565 and 561, both hatched in nearby Dumfries and Galloway. We also had a visit from 680, a 2021 male hatched elsewhere in the Tweed Valley, and two unknown intruders, one female with a BTO ring but no blue Darvic ring and an unringed female who landed in the nest and was quite reluctant to leave. Accepting the fact that the wide angle lens made her look bigger as she was quite close to the camera, she was nevertheless a monster and Augusta seemed rather unwilling to tackle her. So the threat to the nest is real and both our birds will need to remain vigilant for the rest of the season,

So a very sad end to our 2024 breeding season but I am encouraged by the number of birds “visiting” which shows a healthy influx of new blood to the Borders. Hopefully, some of them will find territories and mates in the area and we will continue to see the increase of these magnificent birds in the coming years.

I will let you know of any developments on the nest here as and when they occur but I will miss the patter of tiny talons. This poor early summer has been disastrous for so many birds and animals but one highlight was that, last week, I saw 3 bright blue jewels of kingfisher fledglings follow their parent upstream from a nest on the river that I feared had been washed away. It was a delightful surprise for me and there will be other stories of survival against the odds to offset the sadness of lost youngsters; let us hope that the weather we have witnessed was a one-off this year and not a foretaste of things to come.

Lots of you have been asking if there is any way that one or more of the eggs will hatch, so I’m going to try and explain the various factors that will have an impact on the survivability or otherwise of the eggs.

Right at the start, I must say that the chances are minuscule in view of what we have seen and what we can surmise. Augusta left the nest at midday on Thursday 30 May and no one incubated the eggs in the 5 hours until the camera went off. When the camera came back on at 0600 on 31 May, there was no one on the nest until Samson arrived at approximately 0900. The eggs looked unmoved while the camera was off, which would suggest that they had been exposed for 21 hours. I extended the hours on the camera and Samson stayed on the eggs until just before it went off again at 1800. On the morning of Saturday 1 June, there was no one on the eggs when the camera came on at 0500 but Samson arrived at 0700, so possibly another 13 hours’ exposure and he stayed there until Augusta arrived at about 1300 and took up incubating duties again. She was on the nest when the camera went off at 1800 and when the camera came on at 0500 on 2 June. Since then, the pair have incubated continuously as before.

So, the critical timeframes are the two overnight periods during the time the camera was off. There is no reason to assume that the eggs would have suffered lasting damage during the times when we know they were exposed ie when the camera showed the empty nest, as long as they were incubated for the periods when the camera was off. However, what evidence we have is that they weren’t. First, they looked unmoved from their position of the previous evening, in both cases, and second, the overnight incubation has been done entirely by Augusta in the past and subsequent to this time. There is no evidence that she was around until she returned on the Saturday (1 June), especially as Samson greeted her initially almost as a stranger, with that cowed, half mantle that males do in the presence of unknown or barely known females. It is, of course, possible that Samson incubated overnight but it would be quite a deviation from the norm for a male to incubate overnight, although his absence as the camera came back on could be explained by the need to find an early morning fish to sustain him through the day.

The other factor would be the weather. It was warm and mainly sunny, meaning that the eggs would have stayed warm without being incubated for longer. However, there was a cool breeze and the temperatures overnight did drop but not by too much. There was no rain to speak about during this period. So, all in all the weather would have aided the survivability of the eggs.

One thing that is strange and might work in the favour of the overnight incubation theory is the lack of predation of the eggs. We have several families of crows nearby and a couple of buzzard pairs, all of which know that the ospreys are nesting and are incubating. I would have expected them to at least investigate the nest, upon seeing it empty of protective parents, but that doesn’t appear to have happened, so perhaps there was an adult bird around for longer than the camera showed, who kept potential predators away.

Finally, the attitude of the parent birds must be considered. Since they both returned, clearly both having successfully fished and built up their strength again, they have been incredibly conscientious about incubating the eggs. Unfortunately, that is pure instinct and not a sign of them “knowing” that the eggs are still viable. In the 24 or so hours before hatching, it is clear that parents can hear their chicks calling and starting to break out of the shell. However, if they don’t hear that, they will continue to incubate well after any likely hatching date. Augusta is a first time breeder and will not know to stop and Samson, although far more experienced, was rarely allowed by his previous partners to incubate close to hatching so, again, may not have any knowledge of signs, or lack of them, by which to judge when to cease incubating. I find this aspect very difficult to watch as they are taking such care and are totally oblivious to the fact that they may be wasting their time.

So there you have it. The 37th day since the first egg was laid will be 10 June, so any viable eggs that have beaten the odds stacked against them will be hatching in the next week. If there’s one thing you can always say about ospreys is that you “Never say never” and I would dearly love for my forecast about a year without chicks to be wrong. I’ll let you know.

You will recall from my last blog how the bad weather meant that we lost the camera as the solar panels couldn’t charge and the battery went flat. We therefore couldn’t monitor fish deliveries but we knew they would be difficult in the pouring rain and flooded areas. We hadn’t seen a fish delivery on camera or by active monitoring for several days. On Tuesday, there was the incident I recounted whereby I’d hoped that there had been an off camera fish exchange. However, as soon as she returned to the nest, Augusta was immediately fish soliciting again. Samson went off fishing at about 0930 and wasn’t seen on camera again for 48 hours. When he returned, he went straight onto the nest and started incubating the eggs; there was no fish. Eventually she drove him off again and we didn’t see him on camera from another 24 hours (Friday) when he returned, again without a fish. In the meantime, Augusta was getting more and more anxious throughout Thursday morning (30th). She left for about 10 minutes and came back wet but, at 1158, after standing at the side of the nest looking at the eggs for several minutes (that broke my heart), she took off and we haven’t seen her since. The camera went off at 1800 and came on again at 0500 and the eggs had not been moved, suggesting that had been exposed the whole time. When he returned on Friday, they had probably not been covered for 21 hours and were therefore cold and unviable. He incubated them all day until just before the camera went off before departing. He was back again on Saturday and again incubated during the day but without any chance of success.

Augusta has not been seen at any of the other nests so far with cameras. I thought she would go to Kielder where she knows the fish supplies are good. She might come back to Samson; she might not. However, the 2024 breeding season came to a sudden end on Thursday. It just shows what a knife edge breeding is for these birds, especially when the weather turns.

I hope Samson is ok and has managed to find himself something now the weather has improved. He looked very unlike himself on Tuesday and Thursday but better on Friday. I feel desperately sorry for Augusta as she was so keen to breed and that picture of her looking at the eggs just before she flew will live in my mind for a long time.

I’ll let you know of any developments.

Post script. Augusta (500) is back and caught a fish for herself this morning (Sunday 2 June). They are both still incubating and turning the eggs.