THIS plucky duck sent feathers flying when it saw off an osprey.

The female mallard showed the bird of prey the real pecking order in the fight on a loch near Aviemore.

Photographer Jo McIntyre, 35, who was on a day trip to the Rothiemurchus fishery when she captured with moment, said it took the osprey seconds to admit who was boss. "It was protecting its ducklings," she said.

Just a few miles away, the birth of three chicks has meant the number of ospreys born at Loch Garten, near Aviemore, has passed the 100 mark in the 60th anniversary year of the birds returning to Scotland.