After getting back home late last evening, it was great to get round the local nests this morning. Beatrice had laid eggs in the last few days and was incubating in light rain. No sign of Nimrod or his mate but Morven was standing in the new nest we built in March. Two other pairs had laid eggs and three pairs were standing about waiting to lay. It’s been 10 days of pretty poor weather in the north with summer migrants late although I did see a single swallow in the afternoon. There are clearly more ospreys to arrive. A break from ospreying in mid morning to Burghead gave me excellent views of the adult white-billed diver in summer plumage – probably the same individual from the last couple of springs but this year the plumage and white bill are sparkling.
I had a really worthwhile trip south, first of all to the Tamar estuary where Peter Kent of Cornwall Wildlife Trust organised a workshop where I gave a detailed lecture on how to encourage ospreys to nest in new areas and how to build manmade nests. Great enthusiam there by the locals from Cornwall and Devon and over the next two days I saw some excellent places for nests and really good fishing locations. I also visited the part of the estuary where the satellite tagged Loch Garten osprey, Tore, rested on migration last autumn.
