I left it until late evening today to visit the nest. It was a nice evening after a heavy April shower. I approached the nest area with the usual walk down the river and was optimistic when I didn't see any Dippers at all. At the nest location, I paused......... still no Dippers, this was either a great sign or a disaster. After a bit of thought, and with no Dippers in sight, I thought it was safe to hop down to the nest to check. To my utter joy, there was now two warm eggs......... she has started incubating and it seems that the earlier disaster and predation has not been utterly damaging!


2nd April
I can't begin to describe how disappointed I was yesterday. When I went to check on the nest for further eggs, the nest was empty! Something has predated the nest, not an egg collector because there was the residue of yolk in the nest. I'm thinking perhaps the stoat or even the Heron that was lurking in front of the nest the other day. We'll never know what but it's very disappointing. The birds were still in the territory about a hundred metres up river, carrying on as normal. I couldn't wait for today to dawn so that I could return to see if she had laid again and I am glad to report that she has laid another egg, so-far-so-good today, but that's not to say that it won't be predated again......... fingers crossed!