Well, those clever folk in the lab have returned the DNA results on our chicks so we can proudly announce that we have a male and female chick in this year's brood. Salen Primary School's Gaelic Department had the honour of naming them so ... without further ado, I introduce Mara (male) and Breagha (female)! Both of these are Gaelic names, with 'Mara' meaning 'sea' and 'Breagha' meaning 'beautiful' and pronounced 'bree-ha' - very apt as I'm sure you'll agree!
Thankfully, Mara and Breagha remained unruffled by the high winds and heavy rainfall that marked the start of July up here - ah, Scottish summers! It really isn't going to be long before they fledge and on Sunday they'll be 11 weeks old. Skye and Frisa seem to be slowing down the feeding efforts a little, hoping no doubt that hungry chicks will be a bit easier to tempt off the nest when its time to make the jump. After that, its some intensive eagle training as Mara and Breagha learn the ropes.
PS. Good news too from the swallows nest with the hatch of the first chick early Thursday morning. All seems to be going well there so hopefully all four eggs will bear chicks.
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