An osprey which became an online star during the first lockdown has returned to his nest ahead of schedule this year.
Louis touched down on his nest at Loch Arkaig Pine Forest in Lochaber in the Scottish Highlands at 12.26pm on Sunday, with his return captured on a livestream camera.
For the last two years, he has arrived back from migration on April 11, with April 4 his earliest appearance until today.
Woodland Trust Scotland has been operating a live nest camera following the ospreys at Loch Arkaig Pine Forest since 2017, with support from players of People’s Postcode Lottery.
The livestream became a hit during the first lockdown, clocking up 400,000 views worldwide in 2020.
Fans are now hoping that Louis will soon be joined by his mate Dorcha.
Laura Chow, head of charities at People’s Postcode Lottery, said: “What a thrill to see an osprey back at Loch Arkaig Pine Forest.
“Here’s hoping for another glorious summer of action from the nest.
“We are delighted that support from our players allows people far and wide to enjoy this wild slice of highland forest life for so many years.”
The Loch Arkaig livestream can be viewed at a dedicated page on the Woodland Trust website https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/trees-woods-and-wildlife/osprey-cam
Woodland Trust Scotland and Arkaig Community Forest bought the woodland site in 2016 from Forest Enterprise Scotland under the National Forest Land Scheme.
Their aim is to restore native woodland habitats, reconnect local people with the management and stewardship of the site and use the woods to underpin sustainable rural development in the nearby communities of Achnacarry, Bunarkaig and Clunes.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here