Report information
18th Apr
Logie was was still at her Windermere roost at 6am, but by 7 am she was 16 kilometres to the NW, suggesting she started her migration at 6.30am. She was one kilometre SW of the south end of Thirlmere, flying NW at 66km/h over the Lakeland hills at 653 metres altitude. She left the Cumbrian coast, just north of Maryport, and at 8am was 8 kilometres out in the Solway Firth, flying NW at 42km/h towards the Dumfries-shire coast 20 metres above the sea.
She carried on across the Firth, being drifted west and landed on the southern shore where she rested for an hour. At 2pm and 3pm she was at her autumn fishing site at Loch Kinder (see last autumn's first stop-over). She spent the night in woods to the NW, not far from where she spent 5 weeks on a stop-over last August. But she does not have time to stop this time! 190 miles to home.
Just in case she flew extremely fast northwards I checked her nest at 5pm, when her mate was eating a fish and an intruder female was sitting in a tree near the nest. But no sign of Logie. We returned at 8pm and stayed until dusk, still the intruder female was near the nest and landed on it on one occasion. Logie's mate flew off to roost on a dead tree some distance away at 8.50pm, and the intruder roosted near the nest tree. Logie will have to oust this female as soon as she arrives home.
19th Apr
Logie spent the day up until at least 5pm in the same area - it was thick cloud, with drizzle and a north-east wind and this prevented her moving on north.
20th Apr
Logie spent another day SW of Dumfries - mainly perched in woodlands, which she used on her southward migration. In the early morning she was fishing at Lochaber Loch near Lochanhead. The weather was better than yesterday but still overcast with a fresh NE wind. Larry Griffin of the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust told me that two ospreys arrived on the other side of the estuary, one at Caerlaverock WWT reserve and the other feeding on a dead tree out on the mudflats. He wondered if the one out on the mudflats might have been Logie, but her signals all came from the west side of the estuary.
Fascinating that Caerlaverock and the Nith Estuary is home to Barnacle Geese, which are also being tracked by 'World on the Move' and the WWT.
Up in Moray, it was a sunny day but with a cold easterly wind; the male and the ringed female were at the nesting site, although the intruder female was mainly perched on a high tree rather than the nest. Attempted matings were taking place but they are still not acting like a settled pair. Not far away is another nest which at present only has a single male, so when Logie gets home, the intruder female could move there, or may oust Logie if she doesn't arrive soon. Logie could then move there to find a new mate.
Further Reading:
Next report: Logie's confronts the rival Osprey
Last report: Logie flies over Heathrow
You can get all the latest updates at Roy Dennis' Migration Diary