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Recent Events

May 5

Monday 26th was another windy day, with the female sitting low down in the nest, trying to keep out of the wind. She has obviously been well supplied with food, because mid-morning she was ignoring the fish the male presented to her! Then the crows arrived AGAIN, but this time both ospreys were on the nest, and the male left incubation duties to go and chase the crows off. The female remained on the nest with the eggs - and the fish. A peaceful afternoon, with both birds on the nest, ended in another crow attack. This time the female drove them away. In the middle of the evening, when only the female was on the nest, we saw the most aggressive attack yet by the crows: we could actually see a crow grab hold of the female's wing-tip and pull hard. However, when the male arrived with a fish shortly after, she ate eagerly, appearing none the worse for her recent battle.

Tuesday was a peaceful, uneventful day, with good views of both birds - and our resident tree sparrows.  Overnight it was wet and windy, but Wednesday was calmer, although there were still occasional showers,  leaving us with rather bedraggled looking ospreys.

Thursday morning we had a wonderful view of the three eggs, but no sign an osprey, just tree sparrows hopping around the nest. The male came in late morning with a fish, but there was no sign of his mate. So he set to and ate the fish! He then settled on the eggs. We were getting very anxious about our female, H/D, whom we haven't seen since yesterday at 6.20pm. By late evening, she still had not returned.

Friday morning and still no H/D. We were really worried now. Then mid-morning, she returned! She looked wet and very wary as she moved stuff around the nest. Where has she been? We'll probably never know. She had a snooze, and then EP brought her a small fish. Mid-afternoon both birds were on the nest, H/D sitting on the eggs, EP 'house-keeping', bringing in bits of wood and re-arranging the nest. He brought her two more flat fish late afternoon and evening, which she ate hungrily. Did she not eat whilst she was 'missing'? The last day of the month was uneventful, with both birds seen through the day. Tomorrow will be June - will we have some chicks?