Recent blog posts - Highland Perthshire Blogs

Licencing of gamebird shooting in Scotland

Posted by peter on Thursday, 28 July 2016 in Highland Perthshire

Last week a very interesting article was published on the Scottish Wildlife Trust website as part of our 50 for the Future series of guest blogs which outline 50 things that we believe should happen in Scotland over the next 50 years to benefit both people and wildlife. The subject of this particular...

Osprey Tracking Update: FR3 on the move!

Posted by peter on Wednesday, 27 July 2016 in Highland Perthshire

Over eight months of relatively little activity has finally come to an end for FR3. During the past fortnight our young osprey, fledged from the nest at Loch of the Lowes in 2015, has been travelling east from “home” on the bolon (creek) near Bulok, revisiting places last seen in October. FR3’s movements between 9th &...

Fishing Well

Posted by peter on Tuesday, 26 July 2016 in Highland Perthshire

The river was at a good height yesterday and Martin Wilson was able to take advantage - and continue his good run - with a fish of 8lbs on the fly from Port-na-Craig bank in the evening. The river looks set to remain at a good height - well worth a...

Good End To The Week

Posted by peter on Saturday, 23 July 2016 in Highland Perthshire

Conditions were good again today at the Dam and Gary Waugh was able to take advantage with a grilse of 4lbs caught on the fly from Port-na-Craig bank this morning. The fish keep coming - and the Dam continues to fish well....

Summer weekend at Lowes

Posted by peter on Saturday, 23 July 2016 in Highland Perthshire

Garry at Perth Museum Yesterday, Loch of the Lowes’ team took part in ‘Go Wild’, a children’s activity with the aim to make children more aware of the Scottish wildlife that can be spotted in Perthshire and in the highlands. The activity was held and organised by Perth Museum. A good number of...

Dam And Sawmill Catches

Posted by peter on Friday, 22 July 2016 in Highland Perthshire

The water dropped and cleared nicely overnight and with lots of fish showing this morning prospects looked excellent. Martin Wilson was able to take advantage catching fish at 6 and 4lbs (and losing another two) - all on the fly from Port-na-Craig bank this morning. Further downstream Gordon Nichol lost a...

Wildcats in the Angus Glens

Posted by peter on Thursday, 21 July 2016 in Highland Perthshire

This coming Sunday afternoon, Hebe Carus from Scottish Wildcat Action will be giving a fascinating talk on the plight of one of Scotland’s most endangered mammals and what is being done to save them from extinction. The talk which is from 2-3pm is free to attend but donations to Scottish Wildcat Action are...

Sawmill Return

Posted by peter on Tuesday, 19 July 2016 in Highland Perthshire

The good fishing continues at our Sawmill beat - Andrew Khakoo followed up from yesterday with a fish of 13lbs on the fly this morning. Lots of fish showing were showing on the beat by all accounts - worth a cast....

Grilse About!

Posted by peter on Monday, 18 July 2016 in Highland Perthshire

Andrew Khakoo continued his good run with a 3lb grilse on the fly from Sawmill this morning - it can be done. With the river remaining at a great height and fish on the move it's definitely worth heading out for a cast....

And then there were none (well not quite)…

Posted by peter on Monday, 18 July 2016 in Highland Perthshire

No, you haven’t been imagining and empty nest – our third thick has finally flown the nest! KP2 fledged on Saturday morning just before we arrived on site at around 9.10am. He was seen awkwardly flying around the big silver birch tree before landing again, strengthening the muscles in his wings in preparation for...

Webcam disruption

Posted by peter on Monday, 18 July 2016 in Highland Perthshire

Apologies for the disruption to the webcams over the weekend. This was caused by a power cut. Both cameras are now back up and running. Osprey webcam: http://scottishwildlifetrust.org.uk/things-to-do/wildlife-webcams/loch-of-lowes/ People’s Postcode Lottery Squirrelcam: http://scottishwildlifetrust.org.uk/things-to-do/wildlife-webcams/loch-of-lowes2/Original linkOriginal author: jonathan...

Summer Salmon

Posted by peter on Friday, 15 July 2016 in Highland Perthshire

Alan Booker took advantage of the good conditions yesterday landing a fish of about 11lbs - fairly fresh by all accounts. With a bit more rain today the Dam should continue to fish well - and with plenty of summer salmon about it's definitely worth a cast....

Nuts About Squirrels – this Sunday

Posted by peter on Thursday, 14 July 2016 in Highland Perthshire

Discover your inner red squirrel at Loch of the Lowes this Sunday, with squirrel expert Ken Neil from Saving Scotland’s Red Squirrels. Ken will be giving illustrated talks in the Crannog Hide between 11am and 4pm, with the latest news on how the project to save one of Scotland’s most iconic mammals is going....

Sawmill And Dam Success

Posted by peter on Tuesday, 12 July 2016 in Highland Perthshire

With the river at a great height at the moment and good numbers of fish showing prospects looked good today. Andrew Khakoo was first to take advantage with a fish of 16lbs early this afternoon from Sawmill on the fly and in the evening Gordon Nichol landed a sea-liced fish of...

Fledging videos

Posted by peter on Tuesday, 12 July 2016 in Highland Perthshire

In case you missed either of them, videos of KP0 and KP1’s fledgings are now available on the Scottish Wildlife Trust’s Youtube channel. Original linkOriginal author: jonathan...

A second fledging!

Posted by peter on Tuesday, 12 July 2016 in Highland Perthshire

I’m delighted to be able to report that a short time ago at 11.31 we had our second fledging in as many days, with KP1 taking her first flight. Will KP2 be close behind? Stay tuned to the webcam to find out! JonathanOriginal linkOriginal author: jonathan...

KP0 Fledged!

Posted by peter on Monday, 11 July 2016 in Highland Perthshire

At 11.32am this morning, 11th July, our osprey chick KP0 flew off the nest for the first time! After several circuits of powerful flight over the loch, directly infront of the hides, she made a perfect landing back on the nest. So … which of the other two young ospreys will...

Who will fledge first?

Posted by peter on Sunday, 10 July 2016 in Highland Perthshire

Over the last few days our three osprey chicks have been practising their wing flapping, stretching, hopping and helicoptering. Yesterday’s blustery winds and sudden gusts caused great hilarity and gasps of mixed relief and horror from their audience when it looked as if they were about to be swept off the...

Fishing Well

Posted by peter on Friday, 08 July 2016 in Highland Perthshire

Only one angler out today but with the river at a good height and plenty of fish about it was perhaps not surprising that a fish was caught - Tony Brown was the successful angler landing a fish of 10lbs this morning on the fly on Pitlochry bank. Hopefully more to...

Fish About

Posted by peter on Thursday, 07 July 2016 in Highland Perthshire

The river remains at a good height and there's still lots of fish showing at the dam - but not many rods out to take advantage. Despite being very lightly fished a couple of fish have been lost so far this week and tonight Martin Wilson managed to hang on to...

Soldiers Leap - No Fishing

Posted by peter on Thursday, 07 July 2016 in Highland Perthshire

The Soldiers Leap pool at Ruan Ruarie is an important resting place for salmon as they ascend the River Garry towards their spawning grounds. In order to protect these fish, prevent disturbance to them and keep anglers out of danger at the leap fishing in the vicinity of the leap is not allowed. Anyone found...

Is FR3 on the move?

Posted by peter on Wednesday, 06 July 2016 in Highland Perthshire

The latest satellite data for FR3 covering the period from 27th June to 4th July, shows little change in our young osprey’s activity until the last couple of days. FR3’s activity between 27th June and 4th July 2016 Up to 3rd July FR3 was only making very localised movements around the area to the...

Summer Salmon

Posted by peter on Friday, 01 July 2016 in Highland Perthshire

Good numbers of fresh fish have been seen on the beat over the last couple of days and Dean Pepper was successful yesterday morning with a fish of 6lbs from Pitlochry bank - caught on the spinner. The river remains at a good height - prospects looking good for tomorrow....

Powerful Pollinators Family Fun Day

Posted by peter on Friday, 01 July 2016 in Highland Perthshire

This weekend why not delve into the magical world of bees, butterflies and other vitally important pollinators? Get helpful hints to attract them to your garden. There will be lots of crafts, quizzes and more to keep the children entertained and there’s no need to book – just turn up! The...

Great grebe photos!

Posted by peter on Thursday, 30 June 2016 in Highland Perthshire

Having said in my blog post yesterday that we hadn’t managed to get any photos of the great crested grebe with her chicks, lo and behold I’ve been sent this lovely image of the new mum with her offspring by one of our volunteers Marion who was on duty in the...

Plenty of goings on

Posted by peter on Wednesday, 29 June 2016 in Highland Perthshire

This afternoon I’ve spent some time in hides catching up on what’s been happening with our osprey family, and the other incredible wildlife we have here at Loch of the Lowes. It’s amazing how fast the chicks have grown in such a short space of time, and hard to believe that in...

Satellite Tracking the Ospreys

Posted by peter on Saturday, 25 June 2016 in Highland Perthshire

A few days ago, our three young ospreys were ringed and this prompted queries regarding whether we would be fitting satellite trackers on them as well. We will not be fitting satellite trackers. The main reasons are the large expense and relatively limited data collected by using the trackers. After a...

An account of yesterday’s ringing

Posted by peter on Thursday, 23 June 2016 in Highland Perthshire

It’s hard to believe that our chicks are already at the right age and size to be ringed – it only feels like yesterday when we were all glued to the camera watching the first chick hatch back in May! But for the ospreys at Loch of the Lowes, yesterday was...

Salmon count at Pitlochry reaches 4000

Posted by peter on Wednesday, 22 June 2016 in Highland Perthshire

The salmon count at the Pitlochry Fish Ladder reached over 4000 this evening. This is a good count for this time of year and compares with 1892 in 2015, 2322 in 2014, about 2900 in 2013, 2160 in 2012, and about 3100 in 2011 on the same date. Regular Pitlochry count...

Dam Return

Posted by peter on Wednesday, 22 June 2016 in Highland Perthshire

Not many rods out on the Dam at the moment but there are still fish to be caught: Martin Wilson ventured out for a cast this evening and was rewarded with a fish of 6lbs - caught on the fly on Pitlochry bank. With e few more rods over the next...

Ringing of our chicks

Posted by peter on Wednesday, 22 June 2016 in Highland Perthshire

We are happy to announce that late on this afternoon our chicks were successfully ringed Blue KP0, KP1 and KP2. Our ringer did a fantastic job carrying out the work quickly and quietly while both parents remained nearby. The female was the first to return back to her chicks, and our...

Sawmill Success

Posted by peter on Tuesday, 21 June 2016 in Highland Perthshire

It's been hard going on the Sawmill recently but with a good run of fish today chances improved significantly. Andrew Khakoo was in the right place to take advantage this morning and was rewarded with a fresh fish of 7lbs on the fly - it can be done. With conditions looking...

Fish fury!

Posted by peter on Tuesday, 21 June 2016 in Highland Perthshire

After rather a long wait today, the female and three chicks were finally treated to an enormous fish brought in by the male, at around lunchtime. Although content for a while, our resident female, true to form, was soon shouting for another fish. The male dutifully soared over the loch, hovered...

Good End To The Week

Posted by peter on Sunday, 19 June 2016 in Highland Perthshire

Conditions didn't look great yesterday - the water was still at a good height but the bright overhead sunshine didn't help. Phillippe Hehn persevered, though, and was rewarded with a fish of 4lbs on the fly from Pitlochry bank in the afternoon - a nice way to round off the week....

Up Close and Personal to a Squirrel!

Posted by peter on Sunday, 19 June 2016 in Highland Perthshire

We are delighted to share these photos of a Red Squirrel, taken by an Australian visitor using the One Man Hide that Loch of the Lowes rents out to photographers. Red Squirrel @John Tiddy Red Squirrel @John Tiddy Red Squirrel @John Tiddy On another note…. This morning we had a wee...

Fishing Picks Up

Posted by peter on Friday, 17 June 2016 in Highland Perthshire

It's been hard going at the Dam over the last couple of weeks - low water and the fish moving fast. But with a bit of rain this week and the river at a good height there was room for optimism today and sure enough Saul Mackay took advantage with two...

Visitors’ Photos

Posted by peter on Thursday, 16 June 2016 in Highland Perthshire

Here are some lovely photos taken by visitors to Loch of the Lowes who have kindly sent them to us to share. You may remember we had an intruding osprey flying over the nest a few weeks ago which had a Tracker and a Blue ring. While we have not been...

Osprey prints for sale!

Posted by peter on Wednesday, 15 June 2016 in Highland Perthshire

We have been very fortunate over the past few months to have Chris Cachia Zammit working with us, through the European Voluntary Service (EVS) programme. Amongst his other talents, Chris is an excellent wildlife photographer and has captured some great images of the ospreys and other wildlife on the reserve. We...

Update on FR3

Posted by peter on Tuesday, 14 June 2016 in Highland Perthshire

A quick update on FR3 who remains settled in the Gambia. Over the past few weeks FR3 hasn’t ventured far beyond the confines of the bolon (creek) to the north of Bulok. The exception to this was over the afternoon of 26th May when our young osprey made a quick circuit...

Much Needed Rain and a Great Sighting!

Posted by peter on Sunday, 12 June 2016 in Highland Perthshire

What a change in the weather! Instead of wall to wall sunshine, barely a breeze shimmering on the water’s surface and lazy, dusty days of fluttering butterflies and birdsong – the rain has arrived. Thunderstorms brought the first wave of thick billowing cloud, and when this moved through we were allowed...

Excellent Day at The Dam

Posted by peter on Tuesday, 07 June 2016 in Highland Perthshire

It was a warm and muggy day at the Dam with thunder and lightning and a downpour that freshened things up. The fish seemed to like it ... and with three fish caught it was an excellent day: Jim Fisher got things going with a fish of 9lbs from Pitlochry bank...

Fishing and feeding

Posted by peter on Tuesday, 07 June 2016 in Highland Perthshire

The male osprey is frequently fishing on the loch, close to the double decker hide. This is giving great opportunities for visitors and wildlife photographers to see the male, up close and personal. LM12 fishing ©Vanessa Coldwell After three weeks the osprey chicks have changed a lot and grown in size,...

Good End To The Week

Posted by peter on Sunday, 05 June 2016 in Highland Perthshire

Fishing conditions have been difficult this week with the low water and bright overhead conditions. After the success of Monday it has been hard going with a few fish hooked and lost but nothing landed. Munro Reid broke the deadlock on Saturday morning, however, with a nice fish of 7lbs from...

Power On Again – Webcam Running

Posted by peter on Tuesday, 31 May 2016 in Highland Perthshire

We are delighted to report that the electricity is now back on at Loch of the Lowes and the osprey nest webcam is back up and running. The Visitor Centre will be open again tomorrow morning (1st June) as usual, 10.am-5pm. The volunteers on duty in the Hides today were treated...

Steady Start To The Week

Posted by peter on Monday, 30 May 2016 in Highland Perthshire

Low water again today but fishing conditions were generally good. Neil Tong took advantage with a nice fish of 8lbs from Pitlochry bank this morning caught on a Vision 110. Still plenty of fish about - and hopefully a few more to come this week.Neil Tong enjoys success on Pitlochry bank...

Visitor Centre Closed Tomorrow (31st May)

Posted by peter on Monday, 30 May 2016 in Highland Perthshire

Please remember, Loch of the Lowes Visitor Centre will be closed on Tuesday 31st May. This is due to the electricity being shut off by Scottish and Southern Energy to allow a new transformer to be put in place at East Fungarth, Dunkeld. The webcams will also be down all day...

Photographing Red Squirrels

Posted by peter on Monday, 30 May 2016 in Highland Perthshire

Loch of the Lowes is a good place to photograph Red Squirrels. The feeding station gives a unique close up opportunity to photograph the Red Squirrels in their natural state…. And if you wish for that “bit closer” photo… why not rent out the One Man Hide? Contact the Visitor Centre...

An Eventful Day on the Loch

Posted by peter on Sunday, 29 May 2016 in Highland Perthshire

Today started warm and sunny, filled with peaceful birdsong and a gentle breeze stirring the white blossom of the bird cherry trees. Then the fun and games started. Two intruder ospreys (possibly a pair) attempted to land on the nest before being seen off several times by LM12. One of the...

Fishing Well

Posted by peter on Friday, 27 May 2016 in Highland Perthshire

Conditions looked good at the Dam today - good cloud cover, no wind and plenty of fish showing. As it turned out two fish were caught: Graham Fyfe did well, following on from yesterday's success, with a fish of 6lbs caught on the fly from Pitlochry bank; and Jim Fisher struck...

31st May, Power Outage at Lowes

Posted by peter on Friday, 27 May 2016 in Highland Perthshire

Loch of the Lowes Visitor Centre will be closed on Tuesday 31st of May (next Tuesday) due to the electricity being shut off by Scottish and Southern Energy. This is to allow a new transformer to be put in place at East Fungarth, Dunkeld. Unfortunately, this will mean a full closure of the...

Return To Form

Posted by peter on Thursday, 26 May 2016 in Highland Perthshire

It's been a frustrating week on our Dam beat - lots of fresh fish showing.....but proving hard to catch. Things took a turn for the better today - the fish seemed to be in the mood - at last - and with three caught it was a welcome return to form:...

A trio of chicks

Posted by peter on Tuesday, 24 May 2016 in Highland Perthshire

It was a fantastic day at Loch of the Lowes yesterday, with the hatching of our third and final egg of the season. Despite its shell being half encased by that of an older sibling’s, our newest chick managed to emerge allowing us to catch our first glimpse shortly after 1pm....

Videos of third chick

Posted by peter on Monday, 23 May 2016 in Highland Perthshire

Here are links to videos of the third chick which have just been released on the Scottish Wildlife Trust’s YouTube channel: First look at third chick Third chick emerges from egg Third chick getting a first feed Enjoy! JonathanOriginal linkOriginal author: jonathan...

Third chick arrives!

Posted by peter on Monday, 23 May 2016 in Highland Perthshire

At 1:14PM today we caught our first, brief glimpse of our third chick, having successfully broken free of its egg. However, LF15 very quickly sat down on the chicks, and in shuffling the egg shell pieces hid the newest addition to our osprey family from sight. Our first glimpse of the third...

Third egg begins to hatch!

Posted by peter on Monday, 23 May 2016 in Highland Perthshire

We are delighted to announce that at 9:15AM today, after LM12 had brought in a brilliant rainbow trout for LF15 to feed herself and the chicks, it was noticed that we have a crack in the third egg, beneath the other egg shell which has been covering it and the cause...

LM12 Loses Patience with the Crows

Posted by peter on Sunday, 22 May 2016 in Highland Perthshire

With thanks to Val Gall for these stunning shots from yesterday (21st May)- a picture tells a thousand words! Male osprey seeing off the crows, Loch of the Lowes © Val Gall Male Osprey seeing off the crows at Loch of the Lowes © Val Gall Crow in Male Osprey’s talons...

Update

Posted by peter on Saturday, 21 May 2016 in Highland Perthshire

Salmon have been difficult to tempt during the past week, plenty of them showing and good numbers to be seen going through the ladder and into our Ruan Ruarie beat on the R Garry where today's fishers said that lots had shown in the morning. Rain however soon brought a change to...

A day full of intruders

Posted by peter on Saturday, 21 May 2016 in Highland Perthshire

As if LM12 hasn’t got enough work to do providing fish for his partner and another 2 hungry little beaks, in the last day or so he has also had plenty of intruders to deal with! As he returned to the nest yesterday following a successful fishing attempt, he was forced to...

Video footage of our growing osprey family

Posted by peter on Friday, 20 May 2016 in Highland Perthshire

Amid all of the excitement of the last 48 hours we’ve managed to capture some brilliant video footage of our new arrivals which I’m very pleased to be able to share with you. Due to the streaming problems experienced on Wednesday I know that some of you missed out on seeing the first...

A family of 4 for now…

Posted by peter on Friday, 20 May 2016 in Highland Perthshire

With our second chick hatching at 00:22 this morning it has had a much nicer start than its sibling did, experiencing blue sky and sunshine only hours after first emerging! Due to the much improved conditions, our second chick didn’t have to wait as long for its first meal either. Our...

Chick number two!

Posted by peter on Friday, 20 May 2016 in Highland Perthshire

At 00:22 we got the first glimpse of chick number two in the nest! A hole in the egg was noticed yesterday at 14:01 although it did not appear to get any bigger for many hours. However, at 23:55 the female stood up to reveal that the egg now had a crack running...

First fish for our new chick!

Posted by peter on Thursday, 19 May 2016 in Highland Perthshire

After an anxious 29 hour wait, our chick finally got its first taste of fish at 19:44 this evening! Our chicks first fish supper © Scottish Wildlife Trust Fifteen minutes beforehand, our volunteers spotted the male flying overhead with a large fish, before disappearing out of sight behind some trees to find a...

Our second chick is on its way!

Posted by peter on Thursday, 19 May 2016 in Highland Perthshire

As if we didn’t have enough good news and excitement yesterday, we have just spotted a hole in the shell of our second egg!! The little one could just be seen inside, but like its sibling it has a lot of work to do to break out of the egg, with...