Green J reared two young this year with her new mate and has now left Scotland for Spain

We have found Green J back nesting – she was not lost after all. More details in my blog as soon as possible

Email from Javier Prieta who has reported Green J in previous winters. He has seen an osprey on four visits to Gabriel y Galan reservoir between 20 October and 22 November and saw the transmitter on one occasions. Feels sure it is Green J and will try to confirm. I think it must be her as this is very far north in inland Spain for a wintering osprey. Obviously the transmitter’s battery is dead.

The transmitter has failed so the next possibility is that she will be recorded again at her wintering site in Spain

Green J’s transmitter has failed so no more news of her progress south. It was an older transmitter so I am not that surprised.

Green J continues to stay on riverside near the main A9

Green J flew to Aviemore fishing sites on 30th May and then on 31st departed the area and flew SW. At 7pm she was at the big loch at Gaich and the next day moved to a tributary of the River Spey at Crubenbeg, north of Dalwhinnie. She has now spent a week along that stretch of river.  These old ospreys are particularly interesting because there is a chance to learn how they behave after a long and successful breeding life.

May 31st to June 6th

I went to Green J’s eyrie on Thursday 21st May and confirmed that Green J has not laid eggs this summer. She is now 24 years old and bred at this nest site for 21 years; she has been a very productive bird over the years. She and her mate are still defending the nest which has been well prepared and continuously used by them since their arrival in April. It’s an interesting part of osprey life to be able to learn how individually identifiable ospreys age and what happens to them in their last years. She is now roosting at night about 300 metres from the eyrie but spending all day near the eyrie, while the male hunts and returns with fish.

Green J has been building up nest with Blue XD – had not laid eggs last Tuesday.  Will check tomorrow

Green J restarted her migration before 6am and crossed the river again at Luncarty, north of Perth, at 7am.  The last signal of this batch was at 8am when she was perched in an open wood near Bankfoot. The weather is variable today but she should be able to cross the mountains and reach her nest and her mate Blue XD this evening. Today was exciting following her migration because Dan Brown was driving on the A9 Perth to Inverness main road and suddenly saw a sattagged osprey flying north as he drove on the Killiecrankie dual carriage way – he saw that she came round the corner and promptly tweeted the sighting.  When the data came in, the hourly GPS at 10am was just south of the dual carriage way and his sighting was at 10.08am (see map below). Once Green J got round the corner she flew north and an hour later she was flying north through the Larig Ghru (through the central Cairngorms) – almost immediately her destination was visible and before midday she was back at her nest. The end of the migration for this older female osprey. So all three sat-tagged adults are back safely for another breeding season.

Green J’s locations at Killiecrankie this morning