An osprey called Lady nested in this Scots pine for twenty-four years, laid 71 eggs and raised 50 chicks. The tree is named after the bird.
Seventy-one eggs, fifty chicks, twenty-four years in the same tree. The osprey known as Lady was one of the oldest known breeding birds of her species anywhere in the world, and this Scots pine on the banks of the Loch of the Lowes is named after her rather than the other way round.
The tree itself is unremarkable by the standards of Britain’s named trees — around 100 years old and 60 feet tall, which is to say roughly 18 metres. Scots pines are large evergreens native to these islands and routinely reach several times that age. What distinguishes this one is entirely what happened in its crown.
Ospreys were driven out of Britain and returned slowly, so a single female producing fifty fledged chicks over more than two decades represents a real contribution to the recovery of the population rather than a sentimental statistic. Lady’s productivity is the reason her name is attached to a tree at all.
In 2004 the Scottish Wildlife Trust put a camera into the pine and streamed the nest live. The feed has since been watched 1.3 million times from more than 160 countries — an audience that no ordinary tree on a Perthshire loch would otherwise attract, and one that turned a specific nest, in a specific tree, into something people followed season by season.
In 2014 the tree was named Scotland’s Tree of the Year. It was also Lady’s last year in it. The recognition and the departure arrived together, which leaves the pine marking the absence of a bird that is no longer there.
What follows is drawn from published sources, with each claim labelled by how firmly it is established.
History
The tree is a Scots pine standing on the banks of the Loch of the Lowes. It is 60 feet tall, about 18 metres, and around 100 years old, which places its beginning in the early twentieth century. Scots pines are large evergreens native to the United Kingdom and often live far longer than this one has yet managed. The tree takes its name from an osprey known as Lady, who used it as her roost and nest site for twenty-four consecutive years. She was one of the oldest known breeding ospreys anywhere in the world, and the tree is named for the bird rather than the bird for the tree, which is an unusual direction for a place name to travel.
Over her years in the tree Lady laid 71 eggs and raised 50 chicks. For a bird of a species that had been lost from Britain and returned only slowly, that output made a measurable contribution to the recovery of the population rather than a merely sentimental one, and it is the reason her name became attached to a tree. In 2004 the Scottish Wildlife Trust set up a camera in the tree and livestreamed the nest. The feed has been viewed 1.3 million times from more than 160 countries, which made a single pine on a Perthshire loch one of the more widely watched trees in Britain.
In 2014 the tree was named Scotland's Tree of the Year. That same year was Lady's last in it, so the award and the end of her long tenancy fell together, and the pine is now a marker for a bird that no longer returns to it each spring.
People
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Lady
An osprey that bred in this Scots pine for twenty-four years, producing fifty fledged chicks.
Cultural influences
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Osprey recovery
Lady’s fifty fledged chicks made the tree a marker of the species’ gradual recovery in Britain after its local disappearance.
Connections
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Loch of the Lowes
The tree stands on the bank of the loch, whose Scottish Wildlife Trust reserve made the osprey nest one of the most watched in Britain.
In culture
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The Scottish Wildlife Trust nest camera
Installed in the tree in 2004, the livestreamed feed of the osprey nest has been viewed 1.3 million times from over 160 countries.
What to look for
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The nest site
The crown of the pine held the nest that Lady occupied for twenty-four consecutive breeding seasons.
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The height and form
A Scots pine of about 18 metres and roughly a century old, standing on the loch bank.
Plan your visit
- Location
- General area near Perth and Kinross, Perth and Kinross
- Nearest settlement
- Perth and Kinross
- Access
- Reached on a public path
- What survives
- Living-tree condition and access should be checked against current local guidance before any visit copy is expanded.
This is a sensitive or fragile site, so we show only its general area. Please check official heritage sources for access before visiting, and take care not to disturb it.
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The setting
Near Lady's Tree, about 188 metres away.
Photo: M J Richardson / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 2.0
Near Lady's Tree, about 188 metres away.
Photo: M J Richardson / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 2.0
Near Lady's Tree, about 188 metres away.
Photo: M J Richardson / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 2.0
Questions people ask
- Why is it called Lady's Tree?
- After an osprey known as Lady, who nested in it for twenty-four years and was one of the world's oldest known breeding ospreys.
- How many chicks were raised in the tree?
- Lady laid 71 eggs and raised 50 chicks over her years in it.
- Can the nest be watched?
- The Scottish Wildlife Trust installed a camera in the tree in 2004 and livestreamed the nest; the feed has been viewed 1.3 million times from more than 160 countries.
- What kind of tree is it?
- A Scots pine, about 18 metres tall and roughly 100 years old.
Sources
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