A week of strangers and changes

Monday was wet and windy. There really wasn’t much action at the nest at all, as the ospreys chose more sheltered spots to eat, preen and wait out the weather. We were grateful for a brief visit to the nest from a mistle thrush.

But Tuesday was a very different story. Early afternoon, the resident female returned to the nest and gave very vocal and physical indications that there was another osprey around - and it wasn’t her mate! She called and mantled, chipping and shrieking loudly and eventually gave chase. She returned to the nest and repeated this performance several times and continued to be hyper vigilant until dusk, defensive of her nest.

Blue 496 - Clywedog 2021 (remember him?) had been seen at Llangors Lake late that morning. Of course we don’t know if he was our intruder, but it would be a bit of a coincidence if not, given his strong interest in the Gilestone nest a few short weeks ago.

By Wednesday and Thursday we were starting to detect subtle changes in the female’s behaviour. She was spending more time on the nest, and was much more vocal towards the male, demanding he fish for her. He, for his part, has been keeping the fish and the nesting material coming.

Thursday we were certainly seeing more mating attempts and fish deliveries.

Friday brought another intruder to the nest. It was a flurry of activity involving the resident pair and a blue ringed stranger, who gave watchers the run around until finally she landed. 

Blue 5H1 is a two year old from Poole Harbour. She was the first osprey to hatch on the south coast of England for 200 years. But it’s fair to say that there was no warm welcome for her at the Gilestone nest and it was the female that finally sent her on her way

Blue 5H1

Are the changes to our female’s behaviour this week significant do you think?  You’ll have to watch this space to find out!