Branching out
The pair's ongoing attempts to build up the nest caused a bit of drama yesterday. Always eager to please, the male has been bringing back nesting material to make the nest more secure, comfortable and chick-friendly. Somewhat misguidedly, he is of the opinion that if a big stick is good then an even bigger stick must be better.
That is how he came to land on the nest with a three foot long branch yeterday morning. Not content with dropping it in gently into the nest, he plunged in with a triumphant 'look what I've found' approach and deposited himself and the stick on his partner's head, pinning her head to the floor of the nest.
It looked pretty uncomfortable to say the least and it was ten seconds or more until he moved. In the visitor centre we were yelling at the screen for him to get off, fearing that he might have hurt his mate. Ospreys are made of strong stuff though and she seemed no worse for wear when he got off - a little disgruntled perhaps but she accepted the 'gift' and made room for it in the nest.
He did this last year too, almost knocking her clean out of the nest by swinging around too quickly with a branch in his beak. For all his agility and skillfulness, he is still capable of the odd 'Frank Spencer' moment.
Spring is a great time of year to get outdoors. There's always a flurry of wildlife activity as the breeding season gets underway. There are certainly lots of other birds to see as well as the ospreys up here, as you'll know if you've already been to visit us. The red kite has been seen several times flying around over the glaslyn. It is always alone, and usually quite high up in the air. We have seen a handful of red-breasted mergansers, half a dozen curlews demostrating their melancholic call, and several lapwings flying around, roughly half a mile from the viewing hide - they have such a unique and interesting flying style.
On a smaller (but no less important) scale, the feeders hanging in our mini wildlife garden have been attracting long-tailed tits and a variety of finches, entertaining people as they eat their picnics in the lovely sunshine we've been having this week.