[in the hills]

Thank you  FW. I've managed to do it! I have little patience with these things but that was pain free.  It's odd because if you clicked on the line that showed on my unedited post the link still actually worked and took you to the website.


The link takes you to the website. Scroll down to where it says 'watch on utube' and click on it. I don't think they've made it very clear that this is how you access the live cam. Might be why you couldn't find it when you looked on the website yesterday.


She is sat in the dandelions in the rain! Looks a wee bit fed up!

[Fleecewife]

Thank you in the hills.  That's worked fine.  I think I didn't get beyond 'donate' the first time!  I will of course donate again but not just now  .
I see her with the rain sprinkling on her back, but what a lovely meadow she has to admire.


Good news on the osprey front too, as it looks like another pair is interested in the nest at last.  It's probably too late for them to raise chicks this year, but they will probably come back next year to the same place 


What a wonderful time of year 

[in the hills]

Glad that you've found it FW.


Sounds hopeful for your ospreys for next year.


Do you ever take a look at the live cam for the Dyfi ospreys?

[Fleecewife]

I watch Dyfi, Rutland (two chicks hatched, one to go), Arkaig, Loch of the Lowes, Various peregrines on spires, a white tailed eagle pair in the Czech rep, and various nesting birds in the US.  There's also a live waterhole watch in S Africa, but not a lot happens.  I don't watch for hours and hours, just check in from time to time and scroll back to see where they're at.


Today I had a wonderful experience.  I was sitting weeding my salad beds in the polytunnel when I suddenly realised the lovely sound I was hearing was a CURLEW, right overhead!  Mr F was outside the tunnel and saw it, but I couldn't see through the opaque polythene.  Later when we were having a cuppa, we heard it again going right past the house  . Our curlews are back 

[naturelovingfarmer]

We're supposed to be inundated by cicadas soon. It's a big fat bug that's a clumsy flier that has a call louder than a rooster with a megaphone. They live underground for 14-17 years as a larva, just eating and sleeping the whole time. Then they pupate, climb up and out into the sunshine, fly to the top of a tree to mate... the males die after mating, the females die after laying eggs. They're here for a few months and then they're gone for years.

[in the hills]

Oooooo, great news FW. Have your binoculars at hand!




Those bugs sound fascinating ....... my daughter would love them. I'm not so sure!

[Fleecewife]

Sad news from a white tailed eagle nest in the Balkans - the two young chicks have both died and the reason is POISON.  Someone had deliberately put out poisoned bait, which one of the adults will have taken back to the nest. That some people simply don't see the magnificence of birds of prey is baffling to me.   Same with the osprey platform on a lake in Wales, which was sawn down, when the pair had already begun laying.  I don't know if they have caught the culprits yet.  Does anyone have any news on that?

[in the hills]

Awww, that is really sad.


I've heard nothing since the initial reports about the sawing down of the osprey platform in Wales.


It's hard to believe that people wouldn't want them around. Possibly people with an interest in fishing?

[in the hills]

Still no news on who cut down the osprey nesting platform at Llyn Brenig but a greylag goose has apparently taken over the new mobile nesting platform!

[Fleecewife]

Still no news on who cut down the osprey nesting platform at Llyn Brenig but a greylag goose has apparently taken over the new mobile nesting platform!

I love it 

Did the osprey pair move to one of the other platforms available, do you know, or is that the end of their breeding year?

[Fleecewife]

I found an update on the Llyn Brenig ospreys: 


https://www.northwaleswildlifetrust.org.uk/days-out/ospreys-llyn-brenig?fbclid=IwAR2zHbeqOek5L8sqx2NXY3s_l_kifGeXC32_JeHMuMr6A5dAM00AqW0Nsbs

[Fleecewife]

The curlews have hatched    Four healthy chicks.  Now they start to run their parents ragged 

[in the hills]

Spotted 2 of our local curlew in a stubble field last night. Guessing that they were a pair as they were together and feeding. Sadly no chicks in sight.

[Fleecewife]

We were delighted the other day to see (and hear) four curlews flying over, backwards and forwards a couple of times. We assumed they were a family, two chicks which were flying together, and two parents flying near them but further away, calling all the time.
The field they have previously nested in but unsuccessfully as it was cut for silage, this year was cut for hay, much later, so we think that has made all the difference 

[in the hills]

That's good news, FW.


We've only seen and heard single birds of late.