Osprey super-mum EJ flies in for 15th breeding season Wildlife: Fathers alter but the chicks keep coming

A love cheat osprey has returned to the Highlands after a 3,000-mile journey to her nest.

The female, known to conservationists as EJ, is one half of the most successful breeding pair at RSPB Scotland’s Loch Garten site near Grantownon-Spey.

EJ, who is 21 years old, has been visiting the loch for 16 years and has reared 25 chicks over that time with Odin (and other males).

This is her 15th breeding season.

The bird was spotted at her nest at the RSPB’s Loch Garten reserve in the Cairngorms on Wednesday.

During last year’s breeding season she refused to leave her clutch of eggs even after they became buried under snow.

None of the chicks survived.

The RSPB suspects regular mate Odin, who spent a lot of time bringing fish to EJ’s many chicks, was frightened off by another male.

In 2015, in a twist more familiar to viewers of the Jeremy Kyle Show than devoted osprey followers, the paternity of EJ’s egg came into question.

Ospreys migrate to Africa in August and September before returning to Scotland for spring and summer, usually in March or early April.

Loch Garten is famous for being the home of breeding ospreys since the 1950s.

The site is where the birds chose to return to after becoming locally extinct as a breeding species in the early 20th century.

RSPB Scotland has been protecting ospreys at Loch Garten since 1958.

EJ the osprey settles in back at Loch Garten