Recent Posts

I've seen a few complaints lately about never-ending update attempts but don't remember a slam-dunk solution.

There's this: www.thewindowsclub.com/repair-fix-windows-updates-with-fix-wu-utility but I'm waiting for an OK from eBay techie advisers for safety's sake

I'm recording it but have got it on muted, every now and then I unmute to hear what's going on. There have been some shocking sights and sounds

Oh gawd, All My Loving made me cry, even sung by a past-it Paul

In case I haven't explained about the Loch Garten osprey chicks:

EJ came back from Africa early. She's always back before her mate Odin but this time there was even more time to pass - during which, a male osprey, Blue XD, from nearby-ish returned to find his nest had been destroyed by gales, so he reconnoitred and found EJ with a decent nest, and EJ accepted him after some slight doubt and resistance - loose woman!

This is XD bringing in nest materials, I fell in love with him because of his industriousness, though everyone else was indignant that he'd wormed his way in:



Anyway, Odin arrived and evicted XD* and mated with EJ as usual, although he was somewhat discombobulated to see an egg laid sooner than he would have expected (that's me anthropomorphising, but he did behave differently from previous years).

Any road up, the long and the short of it is that some of us (who have not been wedded to Odin for several years) think that chicks #1 and #2 are XD's, and little #3 is Odin's. I would love if the donations that usually go towards satellite tagging (and both birds from last year have likely perished, and NONE of EJ's tagged chicks have survived their first year, I understand) to be spent on DNA testing at ringing time. But I don't know how traumatic that is for the birds.

*XD returned to his old nest area, where it had been noticed that his nest couldn't be rebuilt so humans set up the base of another one for him, and his long-term mate Green J returned and built themselves a good nest and eggs were laid - but we're not getting updates. Green J is an elderly bird who has been a star in her time, producing many children, nearly as old as Lady of the Loch of the Lowes, who has managed to hatch one chick this year (last year's eggs all failed).

Here is a beautiful red-tailed hawk chick nearly ready to fledge at Cornell University:



I cannot view that image, it happens a lot lately on this site

Life can be hard for baby ospreys. EJ and Odin have 3 kids, two are similar in age/size, but #3 is much smaller. Some of us call it Feisty because that's what it is. It's not very sensible though, see what happens when it pics a fight with #1:



And if you are wondering why the pic is so blurred - this is what happened yesterday, appropriately by Number2

CHARING CROSS PERRIES READY TO FLEDGE - Someone kindly posted this especially for you, Mma, in the osprey forum, dicing with death to do so ;-) She said:

"Isn't it amazing....likely to fledge pretty soon....and I am especially excited that the little one has made it through when it looked so likely to die at the beginning".

More sad news - the first-born chick at Dyfi, Wales (as seen on Springwatch) has died, and the newly-hatched isn't looking good That leaves one healthy one, but Nora, the mother, hasn't been feeding the chicks because the weather is SO bad, constant rain, she wants to keep them warm and dry. This is her this afternoon: