Feathers flying over loss of Loch of the Lowes osprey blog
While the return of the famous Loch of the Lowes osprey is imminent, for many of her loyal supporters it has been tarnished by the shock closure of a popular blog.
Lady the osprey and some of her chicks, captured on the Loch of the Lowes webcam.
- By Sandra Gray
- Published in the Courier : 26.03.11
- Published online : 26.03.11 @ 07.00am
They are demanding answers from the Scottish Wildlife Trust (SWT) after the charity shut down the commenting function used by hundreds of people every day.
As the world watches the webcam installed beside the nest, which has been home to Lady for more than 20 years, there is a cloud lying over this vibrant online community, with bloggers claiming the organisation has "completely washed their hands of them" because they are no longer able to enjoy regular contact with staff at the Dunkeld reserve.
Although the SWT has explained that it has limited resources and will use the time previously spent moderating carrying out other work, many members have been left furious at the decision.
Susan McVey contacted The Courier to express her disquiet at losing the blog.
"We are all so upset with SWT because they have taken absolutely everything away from us now," she said. "It is all so strange and very upsetting for us all.
"They forget that they are biting the hand that feeds them and we on the blog had also helped them become known worldwide through word of mouth."
Ms McVey also claimed there had been a jump in membership as a result of people coming across the blog and has accused the charity of "acting like a business."
She continued, "There have been so many emails sent to them and they are practically all the same reply, so they have been well prepared for it."
She added, "Lady is a world-wide famous osprey and they are shutting every one of us out."
'Locked out'
Although a new site has been set up, it only allows members to communicate with each other rather than have any specific questions answered in real time by a ranger at Loch of the Lowes.
One woman who has been following the story of Lady for around 20 years, despite living in Kidderminster, Worcestershire, has accused SWT of treating them with "absolute contempt and disregard."
Chrissy Beahan has questioned why a member of staff cannot keep an eye on the official blog while they are observing the webcam.
"Webcams are as a rule watched and monitored by a member of staff, or a knowledgeable volunteer, in daylight hours as record are kept and logged as to all the happenings from the nest" she said.
"So — as I've said to SWT — why can't that person be our point of contact and moderate the blog while he or she sits there watching.
"It wouldn't cost a single penny and would be of benefit to both SWT and to us all at the same time.
"They have done that for years and now they change their policy, in effect locking us all out."
However, a spokeswoman from SWT told The Courier that while this had been considered, along with a volunteer scheme, it decided it was not viable.
As a result, it took the "difficult" decision to disable the commenting facility.
'Limited resources'
The spokeswoman said, "As a conservation charity with limited resources, it is important for us to ensure that we are making best use of these resources to achieve our charitable objective — to protect Scotland's wildlife for the future.
"While communicating our work and engaging people with wildlife are important to meeting this objective, we must ensure that everything we do strikes a balance.
"The time spent moderating comments on the Loch of the Lowes blog, particularly during the osprey season, by wildlife rangers and visitor centre staff meant that time spent on other tasks important to conservation was at risk of being reduced, such as visitor centre maintenance, reserve management and our commitment to provide a dedicated watch over our osprey nest.
"Furthermore, we believe that comment moderation is an important part of running a blog and requires an extensive knowledge of the subject matter as well as a significant understanding of the organisation's moderation policy.
"In the absence of having trained employees dedicated to providing this service, we decided that it was in the best interests of our charity to remove the commenting facility.
"The suggestion of running a volunteer moderation scheme has been considered — however, this too has management implications and is therefore something we cannot take forward at this time."
She also expressed the gratitude of the SWT for the extensive fund-raising work by the bloggers, who have produced calendars, notelets, CDs and even a book in tribute to Scotland's most famous osprey.
Meanwhile, the RSPB osprey centre at Loch Garten in the Highlands has officially kicked off the season with the return of its resident bird EJ for the ninth year running.
Identified by the letters on her leg ring, EJ will now spend the next few days recovering before the centre opens to the public on Friday.
10.58am - 26.03.2011 Elaine Ellor - Bathgate, Scotlans Report This
Just read the clip from the Courier, so good of them to acknowledge our fund raising efforts with the cards and calendars and even a Book, shame they didn’t mention that even though it raised then over a thousand pounds in the first month of sale, they decided to stop printing with no explanation.
12.26pm - 26.03.2011 Eileen McKean - Shanklin, Isle of Wight Report This
Thank you Sandra. They have only just decided to let us view the nest, with a redundant camera, by adding HD it now shows another ABSYMAL picture, wish SWT would view it from their homes and not the centre. SWT is a joke, and not funny.
02.42pm - 26.03.2011 Linda S. Lang - Coraopolis, Pennsylvania, USA 15108 Report This
Dear Ms. Gray, I am a perfect example of someone who wouldn't have known the SWT existed, if not for the LOTL Blog. I live in the United States but am a member of SWT and donated to the tracking program simply because of their blog. How do they think people from all over the world would even know about them? I am especially angered by their decision to stop production of our Book in tribute to "Lady". Yet, they will advertise another commercial book. Does this make sense to anyone? I am visiting LOTL in May and very much wanted to arrange for shipment of the book and other things produced by our members that benefited LOTL. I will not renew my membership in SWT. Sincerely, Linda S. Lang, USA
04.44pm - 28.03.2011 Jim - Edinburgh, Scotland Report This
Talk about cutting of your nose to spite your face? What a petty, backward step this is and a huge slap in the face to all the regular blog posters who have been jettisoned without warning. To them I say thanks for the warm, thoughtful comments you posted when the blog was still worth reading.
06.15pm - 28.03.2011 Helen - Pitlochry, Scotland Report This
Remember that although you might make useful, responsible comments, many others will not. It is the responsibility of whoever hosts the blog to ensure that nothing slips through the net. That sounds like a full time job to me, and certainly not one I'd want the responsibility for!
11.21pm - 06.07.2011 Gordon - Forfar, Scotland Report This
The Loch of Lowes site is more of a circus than a nature reserve. Coach loads welcome, plastic ospreys, souvenir shop what a load of tosh.
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