Three’s a Crowd
The week began last Saturday eerily quiet on the nest. The female was last seen at 06:36, the male at 11:51 and then nothing apart from one brief field sighting at 14:30. Had they left us?
Sunday continued worryingly in the same vein but soon our pair returned to continue their nest arranging with a further foray to catch fish for tea.
This domestic scene continued throughout Monday with more serious nest building and food soliciting calls by the female - dutifully answered by the male.
However, in line with all the best storytelling traditions this peaceful scenario was about to change. At 08:46 on Tuesday the female came to the nest. She was restless and left almost immediately. Then there was a brief snatch of a display call heard. One minute afterwards the resident male arrived on the nest carrying a fish - had he been displaying for his mate and showing off his catch? Suddenly an osprey flew fast and low over the nest and off into the distance. It would have been most unlike the female to pass up on a share of his fish so the footage was later slowed down and screenshots taken. They revealed the flying osprey had its legs dangling very low and it carried a small fish. Obviously not the female then, as she did not have one. It was an intruder who had skydanced and called to her in display. The screenshots were pretty pixilated but there was no indication of leg rings. The resident male left the nest then, taking his fish with him.
Wednesday was free of intruders as far as could be determined. Over the course of the day, the male brought three fish to the nest and both birds seemed calm and content, even with a tractor bailing two nearby fields. The fact that the farmer stayed in his vehicle meant that his presence went without any alarm calling from the ospreys. They weren’t able to make out the human form hidden in the tractor cab.
But the peace and tranquility would be well and truly disturbed later in the evening, when who should drop onto the nest but female Blue 441 (from Kielder). By now a pretty familiar bird. She stayed just a minute then flew off before the male arrived. He mantled at the back of the nest as 441 circled and returned. She is a big bird, a little bigger and much darker than the resident unringed female, who arrived on the nest not long after her.
Three on the nest
The old saying “two’s company, three’s a crowd” was never more fitting, as the nest now looked somewhat cramped. The male turned his back on the females and mantled as his mate began to mantle and flap her wings alternately. He couldn’t risk being there a moment longer and flew off. His mate lifted into the air and descended, legs, toes and talons outstretched, on top of 441, who wouldn’t budge. Up she went in the air again, out of site briefly.
This time coming down on 441’s neck and shoulders, holding onto her. But still 441 stayed put. After the third attack, the resident female began posturing and wing flapping again and they moved round the nest. While this was happening the male was flying around level with and below the nest. At one point, both females appeared to pause and watch him circling, their gaze perfectly synchronised.
Synchro watching
One more attempt to rise up and descend on 441 almost ended in success, as the intruding female was somehow now on the outer rim of the nest and having to cling on tight to stay on it. But stay she did and managed to reposition herself in the centre of the nest as the resident flew off out of view to the right. By this time it was seeming likely that she was simply trying another strategy to evict the intruder. Two whole minutes passed. Then back came the furious female swooping so low that 441 had to duck down to avoid being hit. But the resident bird had not flown on, she had hovered and turned just beyond the nest in time to see 441 give up and fly off left. There was one final view of two ospreys, one much darker than the other, flying into the distance, before all was calm again.
Thursday dawned and the male was hard at work on the nest at 04:52. He was busy for several hours before the female came for fish at half past eight. It was a pleasant and uneventful day and so was Friday. There were no further sightings of female Blue 441 or the unringed sky-dancing male.