Osprey who shot to fame in lockdown lays earliest egg of the season
An osprey who rose to fame during the first coronavirus lockdown has laid the earliest egg of the season live on camera in the Highlands.
Viral sensation Dorcha and her mate Louis arrived back from their southern migration to their nest in Loch Arkaig Pine Forest in Lochaber on 28 and 30 March respectively.
The first egg of the season was laid on Sunday morning, a week earlier than the forest’s previous record.
The special moment was caught on the Woodland Trust Scotland’s live nest camera, which racked up 400,000 views in 2020 when Louis nested with a previous mate.
George Anderson, from the trust, said the pair were back much earlier than usual this year. They are not sure what has caused the birds to return so early but said it could be due to fair weather along the route from western Africa.
Louis arriving back at the nest with a trout. Credit: WTML
‘Our pair Louis and Dorcha were back much earlier than usual this year, as were many other ospreys across the UK,’ George said.
‘The earliest Arkaig egg we have seen before was on 21 April, so this is a whole week earlier than usual.
‘Fingers crossed they will have a full clutch of three eggs by next weekend. All being well we will have chicks hatching in late May.
‘They will be flying by July and crossing continents by summer’s end. The magic of that just never gets old.
‘We love being able to share this wild slice of woodland life with people all over the world via the internet.’
Woodland Trust Scotland has been operating the live nest camera since 2017 with support from players of People’s Postcode Lottery. The forest is home to wild boar, sea eagles, golden eagles, ospreys, pine martens and deer among many other species.
British Commandos and Allied Special Forces including the Free French trained at Loch Arkaig during WWII. Loch Arkaig was also the location for a sequence in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.
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