News - Caerlaverock
The barnacle geese are back!
Yesterday, the 23rd of September, the first 91 barnacle geese were seen on the reserve at Caerlaverock. We had reports from Arctic Norway that there were birds flying south on Friday and the first birds arrived on Sunday. They were feeding in the Lochar
24 September 2012
WWT Caerlaverock news 15th August 2012
In the last week waders have been arriving with two green sandpipers on the 11th and a ruff on the 13th and the flock of lapwings is now over 600 strong. A juvenile marsh harrier has been quartering the merses for the last week and up to 3 ospreys have be
15 August 2012
First for Caerlaverock!!
Breeding birds at Caerlaverock, three new breeding records. Garganey A pair of Garganey was first seen on 26th March in a small borrowpit in the Corner Field. These birds remained here for a few days and later relocated to the Teal Pond. The last time the
17 July 2011
Still sitting...
Our resident Ospreys are still sitting tight on their two precious eggs despite the wilder turn of the weather- in fact such cool and stormy conditions are when their diligence is most important to keep the eggs warm. For those of us viewing the live nes
10 May 2011
Busy incubating two eggs in the sunshine
There has been no sign of a third egg laid this year and the female is sitting tight incubating the two eggs. AW as usual is taking his turn and she had to physically turf him off the eggs at one point yesterday, maybe she was ready for him to go and catc
4 May 2011
Incubations continues
Our ospreys are happily incubating their two eggs on the nest today and no doubt enjoying the beautiful spring weather. The eggs were laid on the 19th and 22nd of April and it now looks unlikely they will be joined by a third egg this year, as it has been
2 May 2011
Still no third egg
At the end of the CCTV recording yesterday I could still see only two eggs on the nest. This morning the female has been sitting tight on the nest most of the morning and has built up the grass and twigs at the front of the nest so that it is difficult to
26 April 2011
Can't see the third egg yet
Like yesterday AW has been doing a lot of nest duty today sitting on the eggs. He spent nearly 2 hours this morning before his mate came in and took over. Due to the build up of nest material on the edge of the nest it is very difficult to see if a 3rd eg
25 April 2011
Osprey Easter egg number two laid this morning
When the CCTV images came on this morning we could see AW stand up on the nest and between his legs there were 2 eggs. If we didn't know better it looked as if he had just laid them! A second lighter and more speckled egg was beside the very russet first
22 April 2011
First egg laid this morning
As the CCTV system came on at the centre this morning the female was sitting tight on the nest. Was she on the first egg? Emma watched patiently and at 10.20am she saw the female stand up and sure enough there was the first egg of the season in the cup of
19 April 2011
Yet more sticks and more mating
Over the weekend we have seen both ospreys bringing in more sticks to the nest. AW as ever is a bit optimistic in thinking he can find the final resting place for his sticks on the nest. His mate rearranges his endeavours as sooon as he leaves. There have
18 April 2011
Expecting eggs
We are all eagerly expecting eggs to be laid by our osprey pair in the next few days. There has certainly been plenty of matings and lots of nest additions and 'cup scraping' which are all good signs of the birds being well bonded to the nest site and bei
16 April 2011
More DIY and mating on the nest
As we return to chilly wet wether it is all go at the nest with more sticks arriving and the bit of black plastic has moved to the edge of the nest and is flapping about in the wind. Hopefully it will blow away soon. AW has been busy bringing some good si
13 April 2011
Nest building and more black plastic
Both ospreys have been bringing in sticks to re profile the nest and as usual have brought in some blck plastic. As in previous years this discarded silage wrap gets woven into the nest and can flap about in the wind. We are always concerned that it may g
11 April 2011
AW back on the block with a flounder
At 11.05 this morning AW flew onto the nest with a large flounder. Those pesky crows landed on the nest behind him but he soon saw them off and proceeded to eat his catch. There are a lot of new sticks on the nest today so they have been busy. The female
8 April 2011