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Urgent Appeal: Osprey Satellite Tracking 2013

Today, the blog from SWT Reserve Loch of the Lowes shared the great news that the satellite tracking project for Ospreys here in Scotland was continuing into 2013! As I have followed the story of the Ospreys here on my blog, I’d like to help promote their appeal.

Although the news is great – the challenge in raising enough funds to order one satellite tracking device (approximate cost £3,000) from a manufacturer in the USA by the end of March is even greater! The tags need to be manufactured & imported in time for tagging in early July.

Ranger Emma, Jonathan and the team at Loch of the Lowes are hoping they will receive enough donations to continue this exciting project. They have gained a huge insight already as you can see from a recent reminder blog by Emma.

If you would like to support this appeal you can donate here selecting ‘Osprey satellite tracking’.

Next week could see the oldest known Osprey in the UK, affectionately known as Lady, return to this Perthshire nest for a staggering 23rd consecutive year! Her reign on this nest has been remarkable but if she does return can she still hold on to it? There are always other interested females turning up at this well watched eyrie at Loch of the Lowes.

The webcams are up and running for 2013 and anticipation for the breeding year and the return of Lady is high. I’m certain many of her worldwide followers will be glued to the webcam for the first sightings of an Osprey on this nest for 2013 with fingers tightly crossed for it to be Lady! Note: If you are a regular blog visitor I’ve added a picture link to this webcam in my sidebar – I’ll be usuing that link a lot myself this year 🙂

As for the tracking of Lady’s 2012 chick Blue44, after starting well the signal from his device stopped transmitting back in Dec 2012. Is he still alive? That isn’t known but many are wishing him so! It isn’t unheard off for the transmitters to stop for a while and then start transmitting again. Time will tell here, fingers crossed we will hear from him one day. As for the other bird from Angus that was tracked at the same time, he is doing well having found a favourite fishing spot along the river on the Senegal/ Mauritania border.

Closer to home, here in my garden, we have seen a pair of Blue tits visit our camera nestbox with some nestbox shuffles seen too which looks very promising 🙂

Snow and cold then followed as did the Yellowhammers. Yes… we had more than one visiting this time with two males and one female joining the ever increasing good numbers of Chaffinches. I was most surprised to see how late they fed at the end of the day too. I also noticed how they remembered the spot where the seed had been before the snow covered it and searched the snow when there was visible food in dishes. Definitely an interesting bird, the yellowhammer, which I must find more about and post new images soon 🙂

This post was published by Shirley for shirls gardenwatch in March 2013.

5 thoughts on “Urgent Appeal: Osprey Satellite Tracking 2013

  1. Nothing showing interest in either of our cam boxes although we have other boxes that have been surveyed. maybe we should take them down and limit the housing market 🙂

    We had a lone male siskin this week.

  2. I hope they manage to raise the funds needed. I've donated and was pleased to see they use PayPal as it cuts down the number of computers holding my bank details.

    Hope your Blue Tits decide to settle in the camera box. My Great Tits keep investigating my box. Am hoping for a third year of observations.

  3. What a great cause. I do hope they manage to reach the required funds.
    Last year I had blue tits nesting in the wall where the central heating boiler flue comes out. I got the hole sealed as I don't want them to do any damage both to themselves and the boiler. I noticed this year they have found a small hole in the eaves of the roof.
    I'm going to have to invest in some nest boxes up there I think!

  4. Hello everyone, thanks for all your comments 😀

    Sue, ah… now perhaps you have something there. You might remember we had to do that here. It worked 🙂

    John, they did! Thanks on their behalf for donating. It has been fascinating to discover where the young birds go on migration and what different routes they take too. Hopefully, if funds continue they will have enough money for two devices and that’s what makes things interesting. I have donated too – I also prefer to use PayPal. Thanks, yes fingers crossed – although I fear that my garden is becoming too busy and that might reduce the chances of my current location being chosen and it's the best for light and sun in my garden. Good luck with yours – fantastic to hear you’ve seen hedgehogs out although perhaps it’s a bit cold for them yet. They are lucky to have you feeding them 😀

    Angie, it is and they have! It helps greatly in understanding of the behaviour of these birds. Oh… looks like the birds are forcing you to provide them with a new build home! Wow… they are keen and your location must be to their liking – fantastic 😀

    GN, thanks on SWT behalf 🙂

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