Loch Arkaig Osprey Webcam – See Eggs Hatch in a Scots Pine

The Loch Arkaig Osprey Webcam looks down on a huge stick nest in a Scots pine above Loch Arkaig, in the Lochaber hills of the Scottish Highlands. It is camera one of the Woodland Trust’s osprey project, the nest where the story began in 2017. Grey, lichen-crusted branches fill the lower half of the frame, with green tufts in the cup and pine needles at the left edge. Behind the nest the hillside drops away through rust-colored bracken, heather and bare birches to a line of rounded, treeless hills. From spring to late summer a pair of ospreys court, lay eggs and raise chicks here. For the rest of the year the birds are away on migration, and the camera watches the weather move over an empty nest.

About the Loch Arkaig Osprey Nest

The nest sits in Loch Arkaig Pine Forest, 1,027 hectares (2,538 acres) of native Caledonian pinewood on the south side of the loch, west of Achnacarry and Clunes and not far from Spean Bridge. The Trust places it in Glen Mallie, and the engineer who installed the camera put it roughly 120 meters (400 feet) up the hillside. Loch Arkaig, about 19 kilometers (12 miles) long, lies hidden in a dip near the top of the view, so the hills on the skyline stand on its north shore.

Persecution and egg collecting wiped out the UK’s ospreys around the First World War, and the Trust believes Loch Arkaig may have held the last breeding pair. The birds returned to Scotland on their own in the 1950s. The forest came into the Trust’s care in 2016, and before the 2017 season licensed raptor workers climbed this 21-meter (70-foot) granny pine, shored up its nest platform and fitted a perch for the camera. With no mains power on the hillside, a solar panel about 200 meters (656 feet) away charges the battery, and a wireless link carries the picture some 3 kilometers (1.9 miles) across the loch to Locheilnet, a volunteer-run broadband network.

Louis and Aila were the first pair on camera, from 2017 to 2020. They fledged six chicks: Lachlan in 2017, Mallie and Rannoch in 2019, and Doddie, Vera and Captain in 2020, while a pine marten took the 2018 eggs. In 2021 Louis moved with a new mate, Dorcha, to a second nest, which the Trust follows on camera two. By 2026 this nest belonged to a newer pair, Garry and Aurora, and Aurora laid her first egg here on 30 April 2026.

The Trust’s records show a steady rhythm. Adults arrive between late March and mid-April, eggs usually follow in the second half of April, chicks hatch from late May into June and fly in July or early August, and the last birds have generally left by early September. Most Scottish ospreys winter in West Africa, in countries such as Senegal and The Gambia, a journey traced on our bird migration map, and one of this nest’s 2019 chicks was later seen in Senegal.

Weather and Climate at Loch Arkaig

Loch Arkaig sits in the wet, mild west of the Highlands, and the Trust counts the forest as part of Scotland’s temperate rainforest, which is why lichen crusts so many of the nest’s sticks. Modeled climate data for the hillside gives winter days of about 5°C to 6°C (41°F to 43°F) and nights near 1°C (34°F), with roughly 1,900 millimeters (75 inches) of precipitation a year, the most in December and January. The Met Office station at Tulloch Bridge records similar January highs of 5.7°C (42°F). April is the driest month, at about 10°C (50°F) by day as the ospreys return, and summer days reach 16°C to 17°C (61°F to 63°F).

Around the June solstice the sun is up for close to 18 hours, so the nest stays lit from early morning to late evening while the chicks grow. Late December brings fewer than 7 hours of daylight, and low cloud can hide the skyline altogether. In autumn the bracken turns a deep rust color across the slopes below the nest.

Things to Do Near Loch Arkaig

The forest has no waymarked routes, but from the Forestry and Land Scotland car park at the Eas Chia-aig falls a short walk over a causeway leads to a track along the south shore, under old beech and oak to Invermallie, a former shepherds’ house kept as a bothy by the Mountain Bothies Association. Sea eagles and golden eagles can be seen over the loch, and red squirrel, pine marten and otter live in the woods. The nest trees are off-limits: disturbing breeding ospreys is an offence under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981.

The falls sit at the end of the Mile Dorcha, or Dark Mile, a deeply wooded stretch of road from Clunes. Nearby Achnacarry is the seat of the Clan Cameron, and from early 1942 its castle was the Commando Basic Training Centre, where about 25,000 men trained. The Clan Cameron Museum covers Cameron, Jacobite and commando history, and the Commando Memorial stands beside the A82 just north of Spean Bridge. Jacobite gold landed in 1746 is said to have been hidden near the loch and never found.

Similar Webcams You Might Like

More ospreys and Highland views from around the site:

• Alyth Osprey Webcam
• Rutland Osprey Webcam
• Eilean Donan Castle Webcam

Frequently Asked Questions

Where is the Loch Arkaig osprey nest?

In Glen Mallie, on the south side of Loch Arkaig in Lochaber, inside the Woodland Trust’s Loch Arkaig Pine Forest near Spean Bridge. The tree cannot be approached during the breeding season.

What can you see on the Loch Arkaig Osprey Webcam?

The top of the nest in its Scots pine, bracken slopes and dead trees below, and bare hills across the loch. In season the birds take over: an osprey landing with a fish, a parent on the eggs, chicks being fed and, by July, young birds flapping on the rim.

When do the ospreys return to Loch Arkaig?

Usually between late March and mid-April. Garry and Aurora were back at this nest on 7 April 2026.

Why is the Loch Arkaig Osprey Webcam nest empty?

Ospreys are summer visitors. The adults leave in August or early September to winter far to the south, so the nest stays empty from autumn until late March. The Trust describes its osprey cam season as March to September, so off-season coverage is not guaranteed.

What is the weather like at Loch Arkaig?

Mild and wet. Winter days average about 5°C (41°F) and summer days about 17°C (63°F), with the heaviest rain from October to February.

What are the Loch Arkaig ospreys called?

Louis and Aila raised chicks here from 2017 to 2020, and Garry and Aurora held the nest in 2026. Viewers voted on several chick names, including Mallie, after Glen Mallie.

Is there a second Loch Arkaig osprey camera?

Yes. Camera two watches the nest Louis and Dorcha have used since 2021, several kilometers from this one, and the Trust shows both cameras on its own osprey cam page.

Source: The Woodland Trust