Lady shows her age as latest eggs fail to hatch

SHE has already done more than any other bird to boost Scotland's once fragile osprey population during her lifetime, but the days of "Lady" as the Mother Superior of Scotland's ospreys may finally be over.

Over the past 21 years, Scotland's most famous osprey has laid a remarkable total of 58 eggs - three times the number produced during an average osprey's lifespan - and helped 48 chicks to fully fledge.

Earlier this year the bird, which recently battled back from serious illness to raise two chicks, surprised wildlife experts when she returned to her traditional nesting site at the Scottish Wildlife Trust's Loch of the Lowes reserve near Dunkeld in Highland Perthshire.

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The three eggs she laid in April had brought her lifetime's total to 61. But it has now been announced, in a major blow for online followers of Lady, that all of the eggs which were laid in the spring by the UK's oldest known breeding female osprey have failed to hatch.

Anna Cheshier, the Scottish Wildlife Trust's Perthshire Ranger, said: "It's incredible that this individual osprey is now around 26 years old and has produced 61 eggs in her lifetime.

"Unfortunately, it may be that her age has affected the fertility of the eggs this breeding season. We have also had terrible weather, which inevitably puts the eggs at greater risk."

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