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.

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 to meet him and they’ve exchanged off the nest. That is not ideal on a number of counts but primarily it leaves the eggs unguarded and it is a sign of her lack of experience as well as her hunger. It also means that I have no means of knowing what he’s bringing in and where he might be finding success, not that either of them know or care about my problems!

We have had several osprey intruders, both male and female. A couple have been ringed and we managed to identify 561, a male who intruded last year and 565, a 2021 Threave female who we haven’t seen before. She cheekily stayed on the nest perch for a good 20 minutes, with 500 pancaked over the eggs before finally departing.

The weather looks like it will improve over the next few days, which will be a great relief to a soggy 500 and Samson, who should find fishing a little easier. It will also mean that my nest camera will have a good supply from the solar panels, something which has not been the case recently. The eggs will hopefully start to hatch in about 10/11 days time and I’ll let you know when we see anything.

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 fishing and provided her with a hearty breakfast just after 0900. She still doesn’t have the confidence or the know-how to push him off the eggs when she wants to take over and she must have been getting a little worried when she could feel herself ready to lay and he would not give up the nest cup to her. He eventually gave way and she settled down and produced for us the wonderful sight of the moment of laying her egg. You can see it drop during this video as she stands up.

We now have the wait of just over 5 weeks from the first egg being laid until it is due to hatch, so around 9/10 June, and this should be something of a hiatus for the parents. He will continue to catch fish for both of them and she should do the majority of the incubating and will also be responsible for guarding the nest and precious eggs from predators of various kinds, and intruding ospreys.

In my last blog, I recounted the first incident that I wanted to bring to your notice and will now tell you of the second. Many of you regular osprey followers might have seen the normal process of the male bringing in a fish, having often eaten the very nutritious head beforehand, and handing it over to the female who usually flies off with it. If she has eaten her fill she often brings back the remainder and gives what’s left back to the male to finish off. Samson has always followed this, as have his previous mates. However, 500 hasn’t yet got to that chapter on her book of how to have a successful and fruitful osprey partnership and, on 1 May, she returned to the nest with the remains of the fish that Samson had previously caught and given to her. He naturally came forward and tried to remove the remains from her talons but she was in no way going to give up the portion she had left. A bit of a scramble then ensued, very like when adolescent osprey chicks try to grab food to feed themselves and end up grabbing their parent’s foot instead. In the end, she decided to fly off with the now rather tatty bit of fish but failed to warn Samson who was still trying to wrestle it from her grasp, with the result that he got dragged across the nest and she got airborne with him still hanging on! In the video, Samson is in the nest and 500 then comes in with the fish.

They did disentangle themselves and she made off with the prize. One of the things that struck me was the sheer power of 500 to drag Samson across the nest and then get airborne with him, initially at least, as a dead weight. The second thing I thought about was thank goodness there were no eggs in the nest at that stage!

I think they must have worked things out after that because, since then, she has given up remains if she’s come into the nest but has been left alone by Samson if she’s brought back fish onto the nest perch. it was an interesting part of them learning about each other and developing a bond.

I’m hoping that the birds have an uneventful incubation period; however, there is usually some drama or otherwise to disturb what should be a peaceful time before the mayhem of the chicks arriving and I will let you know if there anything to report.

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’m not sure but they have been annoying her for several days now, even cheekily snatching bits of nesting material for themselves from almost under her beak.

She is a lot calmer now and is settling more readily and for longer than she did when the first egg arrived. Samson still loves to incubate but she is increasingly coming back quickly from her wing stretches and wanting to take that duty back over; I’m sure that a part of it is her reminding him to concentrate more on bringing in fish. He brought in a large rainbow trout a couple of days ago and I wonder whether he’s found a new food source as I cannot remember the last time he brought one in. That would be a welcome situation indeed.

I mentioned in my last blog about a couple of instances to bring to your attention. The first was about, despite being so careful normally about moving about on the nest, especially when there are eggs or youngsters about, this rule being ignored by both birds when bringing sticks in. Many of you will know of the Loch Arkaig pair, Louis and Dorcha, who are notorious for having to tackle really awkward sticks that the other has brought in. Well, Samson and Augusta have entered a couple of bids to wrest the title of The Most Awkward Stick award for this year from the Arkaig pair. The first was not so much awkward as potentially dangerous, with Samson polevaulting in with a stick that got caught up in his tail feathers, so that the end that went into the nest missed the egg by only a few millimetres.

The second occasion was Augusta arriving with a large and awkward stick, which the two of them took turns at wrestling around the nest, luckily before any eggs had arrived. I think it finally disappeared over the side after both birds admitted defeat with trying to place it on the nest in an acceptable position. This was the first positioning attempt.

The second matter I wanted to tell you about I’ll leave for if and when a third egg is laid. I’d be quite happy for there to be only 2 eggs this year as I’ve mentioned before but, if a third egg is laid, it will be probably be on Friday and I will let you know either way.

It’s been great seeing some of you down viewing the birds and having a chance to chat and update you. As the weather improves, I hope to be around for longer, although I may be on site but in my little den, reviewing footage on the big screen. Please let me know beforehand if you’re travelling from some distance and I will make every effort to be available.

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. Then she underlined that with being very fidgety as if she could feel something going on inside her. Then she reverted to normal. A day or so later, she suddenly got all keen on tidying up the nest and getting more material and even nest cupping, so I thought “here we go”…and then nothing. Even Samson seemed to be looking down into the nest thinking that something should be happening. Finally, she sat on the nest perch just before the camera went off at 6pm yesterday looking for all the world like there was nothing going on.

When the camera came on at 5am this morning, it revealed her innocently lying in the nest on a very murky morning; a switchover between her and Samson about 5 minutes later revealed her first egg, laid sometime when the camera was off! Anyway, we have two proud parents, both of whom want to incubate although the poor little embryo will be scrambled if 500 turns the egg over many more times. Like any new parent, she is super-conscious of her duties and gets up every minute or so to shuffle around, roll the egg and settle down again. Samson is of course far more experienced and quietly goes about his business as he has seen it all before. She has even forgotten to fish beg for most of this morning, although he did eventually go fishing without her normal encouragement.

As I did with JW6, I decided against naming 500 until the first egg was laid and the commitment to the nest was physically established. Blue 500 will be named Augusta, in memory of a very dear friend and neighbour who sadly passed away 3 days before Blue 500 arrived at the nest. I have to say that any character similarities between bird and human are strictly coincidental and had nothing to do with the naming decision, although feistiness does seem to be a characteristic common to both!

We’ve seen some amusing incidents between the birds this week but I think I’ll leave relating them until we’re sitting twiddling our thumbs waiting for the incubation period to pass. The next egg is due in a few days, possibly Monday, and Samson has already been eager to start making it, although I wish he’d wait until she was off the egg before he clambers onto her. Incubation will last for 37-42 days so Augusta is going to have to learn a bit of patience, not something that has been much in evidence so far.