Dad is doing his duty today.. which is mating.. and catching fish for Mum
He brought in a huge fish today.. stepping up his game! 
This will be good for the eggs

Fran on Facebook
"(so a few weeks ago I was pondering this photo of a female bird in a pine tree in Ervie's territory and I thought I recognised her as Pro the female bird from Louth Bay who lost her partner Desy after he got entangled in a TV Antenna. WELL.....look where Ervie has been just recently!! Louth Bay and the mouth of the Tod River....that's Pro's territory...my theory lives on. "

Link to full facebook post:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/5319715324786896/permalink/6510811702343913/

The season never is really on the way without Dad putting some colour in the nest..
This year he already put in some nice green and a touch of blue!

So happy to be back! Now waiting for eggs!!

You may have noticed (especially at dawn) there are fancy lights on the barge. 
Did it turn into a disco barge??
No.. It was installed to attract fish.. especially at night. Maybe the parents are able to fish at night.. or it will lead to more fish in the neighbourhood during the day.
The light is on 24x7, but not visible during daytime on cam

Didn't attempt to catch the parents mating btw.. but they're really busy preparing for the new season 😳

The cam is back online. Due to the rat problems a part of the equipment had to be replaced.
Meanwhile Mum and Dad have been busy building the nest..

The osprey's weren't the only ones doing nest maintenance:

Yes! The cam is back.. and the rat is gone.
The nest is looking better with a lot of new sticks the past 10 days
And the rat is been banished from the barge

Mr(s) Rat has made a nest in the control box, messing up the stream.

Dad landed late at night (around 10pm) at the nest. went to the corner to do some late night bonding with Mum.. and reversed flew back to the nest (impressive!)

Mum is a champion at fast eating.. but sped up 20x it's amazing to watch..

Mum with one of the fastest caches I've seen.
She took off at 15.27:35, then returned with a yellow finned fish 72 seconds later at 15.28.47 (meanwhile being divebombed by a pacific gull)