Nest 2 background info about female FS2.
Female FS2 is not a new bird to us; we have been aware of this female and following her fortunes since 2016 when she first arrived in Tweed Valley as a young two-year-old, making what was probably her first return from migration since fledging from Loch Arkaig in 2014. At the time of her arrival, the main nest 1 was occupied by male, white leg SS and his then partner AS6. They had a bad year with no chicks. At the end of the summer FS2 arrived and was using the nest as a practice nest for herself, often mock incubating the dud egg which was there. The next summer, (2017) saw the arrival of Mrs O at nest 1 with SS, and then FS2 made an unwelcome three. Sounds familiar? (Last year Mrs O was in a disastrous three osprey partnership which ended with 4 dead chicks).
Both FS2 and Mrs O were late arrivals and neither produced eggs even though both were mating with SS and they were not tolerant of each other. Eventually Mrs O proved to be the dominant female and claimed the territory and SS for herself and FS2 was gone.
A couple of years later we discovered that FS2 had moved on to find a territory of her own and a BTO ringed partner, affectionately known as Oscar. Her rivalry with Mrs O was always there in the background, as we know that Mrs O visited the other nest sites at the start of each season and eventually caused upset of her own making by usurping female osprey Camila, after many wing slap battles, from her territory in 2024.
FS2 went on to be one of the most successful known breeding females in Tweed Valley Osprey Project at her nest with Oscar. Raising a total of 16 offspring between 2019 and 2024. Since fledging, 9 out of her 16 young have been spotted after migration. Her first-born daughter 330, now breeds in Kielder with her male Borders raised partner PY0 and they have successfully raised young at their nest for the past three years and are back again this year with eggs so far.
FS2’s young have been photographed in Brittany, Dublin, Senegal, Portugal and Gambia. Her most successful three sons from her 2022 brood all survived and each have returned. Two of these brothers favour visiting Welsh nests as they migrate through UK and both brothers visited the Cors Dyfi nest 11 hours apart last year, which given the scale of their individual migration journeys, is quite a remarkable record.
Last year FS2 and her partner failed to raise young and there was a lot of territory dispute at the nest site with aerial osprey battles.
Now she has joined Eli at nest 2 and has been there since 29th April. The window for breeding opportunity is closing soon but we are hopeful.