A group of bloggers are hoping to pay tribute to Lady, the Loch of the Lowes osprey, by creating a book of poetry and photographs.
They have been spurred into action by Lady’s recent miraculous recovery from a serious illness, which saw hundreds of well-wishers flock to the Perthshire nature reserve.
But with no publishing experience, the bird’s followers are seeking help.
Group member Susan McVey, from Paisley, said, “We are desperately trying to organise some type of book or brochure with pictures of our ospreys that we have taken, along with some lovely poems.
“We are especially keen to do this after we thought we were going to lose our female osprey…
“We have people from all over the world watching Lady, Laird and their two chicks on the live webcams, so we are trying to raise funds for the Loch of the Lowes to help them after all the hard work they do.
“We don’t know how we would go about publishing a book, so I am urging anyone who can help us at all to get in touch.”
The bloggers originally planned the book to raise funds for a satellite tracking project that would have seen the chicks being tagged to keep an eye on their progress as they grew up.
The high-tech tags cost £33,000 each and the Scottish Wildlife Trust, which operates the Loch of the Lowes centre, hopes to raise at least £39,000 before beginning the process.
But, so as not to interfere with Lady’s ongoing recovery, staff have postponed it until next year.
However, the online followers of the osprey still hope to create their special publication, which has been inspired by the trials and triumphs of the unwitting webcam star.
“The staff at the centre give so much time to us and are quite happy to answer all our questions, so we would just like to do something for them,” said Susan.
“They are so dedicated to their job, and while the female osprey was ill they were up all night watching over her along with the rest of us via the webcam.
“We don’t know for sure that Lady will return next year because of her age, so we would like to create a lasting reminder of her.”
If published, the book would be sold at the Loch of the Lowes centre near Dunkeld, with all money going to the work carried out by the centre.
Anyone who is able to help Susan can contact her on 0141 884 3477 or 07708 122982.
To donate directly to the satellite tracking fund, go to www.swt.org.uk/donate and choose the osprey option from the drop-down list.