The webcam below is showing live footage from our osprey nest at SWT's Loch of the Lowes Wildlife Reserve, Dunkeld. Read our osprey diary for the latest updates.

Please note that to view this video feed on a Mac, you need to download Flip4Mac.

Osprey cam - update from the nest... (read the full osprey diary)

30 June 2009

It has been another beautiful weekend here at the Loch of the Lowes. The chicks are spending a lot of time flapping their wings building up their muscles ready for their first flight. Because their wings are so large, when the chicks are flapping about there isn’t much room on the nest for the mother as well so she spends most of her time at the side or on the dead tree next to the nest shouting words of encouragement to the chicks. The oldest chick should be taking to the skies in the next week or so and the youngest one will soon be following suit.

The male has been bringing in lots of fish and excelled himself in his hunting skills on Thursday when he managed to catch five pike in the space of 20 minutes. There was definitely no shortage of fish on the loch that day and the male has proven that he really is an efficient and spectacular hunter.

We have some bad news about our bird feeders at our viewing window. Unfortunately they have all had to be removed for two weeks once again due to a couple of finches and a coal tit which was spotted with the parasite. The pine marten evenings will therefore be cancelled for the next few weeks and will resume back to normal when the first pine marten is spotted.

Another pure white fallow deer was watched feeding by the loch on Sunday and two young otter pups were sighted on the canal connecting Craiglush and Loch of the Lowes on Thursday. There is lots of wildlife to see here so why don’t you come down and see if you can spot one of the white fallow deer or even the otters on the loch!

25 June 2009

The ospreys are doing well and the chicks are growing up fast. The oldest chick was attempting to feed itself on Tuesday with a bit of rainbow trout fin but with little success. The chick could not fit the whole fin in its mouth and was struggling to try and grasp it with its talons to rip it into smaller pieces. It tried for about five minutes before eventually giving up and returning to the mother to be fed with the other chick. It just shows that its natural instincts are kicking in and it will soon be learning the way to feed properly.

The male seems to have started his own fast food delivery service if yesterday was anything to go by. He caught a fish in front of the hide then flew back to the nest and dropped it for the female whilst flying past. He barely even touched the nest and didn’t even stop to say hi before he flew off and caught another fish in front of the crannog for himself which he then left with to eat it on a perch close by. Even though he didn’t stop for a visit at least he had the best intentions for the chicks and fed them first. He has been bringing in fish frequently for his family and the chicks are growing big and strong.

An intruder was spotted by the female and chicks this morning which caused her call in alarm but there was nothing to worry about. After both the mother and the chicks watched the intruder fly off they all settled back down on the nest and everything was once again calm.

We have a lot of new offspring around the loch including some baby woodpeckers which can be watched from our viewing window.

We have had another spotting of our mysterious creature on the loch but we still as yet have no idea what it could be. If you are ever visiting the Loch of the Lowes and see anything out of the ordinary on or around our loch then we would love to hear about it.

Loch of the Lowes Visitor Centre and Wildlife Reserve

There are loads of exciting things to see and do at Loch of the Lowes. See our other webcam for live images from one of our feeders. See if you can spot a red squirrel or even a pine marten!

See our other webcams