Our chick is desperate to get up in the air!

We have had a mixed week of weather from sunshine to mist to rain and the chick has sat through all of this and at the same time wings flapping like mad !

During this week there has been a very International flavour at the hide with visitors from Wisconsin USA, Australia and families from from Austria & Germany.

Our male bird Fingal has been around a lot more this week flying in with food at regular intervals. Many small gosling have been eaten and often the nest if covered with white fluff and feathers! When Fingal lands on the nest, its like a hover craft coming in and blowing all the feathers up in the air, a sight to behold!

Iona watches over her chick at the nest

Iona has been sitting on the branch very close to the chick, to the right as you look at the nest. On Thursday, she sat there for five hours without flying off!

The hide will be open all summer until the end of August as the chick will stay in the area and they often come back on the nest for about a month, so please still come and see us.

Once the chick has fledged we will walk you through the Glen to observe all three birds.
Booking is a must and can be done by calling 01680 812556 or visit forestry.gov.uk/mullseaeagles for more info.

Blog published by Colin Baxter on behalf of Cheryl Callow, Mull Ranger

Glorious weather on Mull - great for eagle viewing trips!



Parents and chick all at the nest together

I returned from a few days off to find the chick nearly fully grown. It is very big  and beautiful.

There is much wing flapping and many poo’s over the side of the nest! John and I have gasped many times when she does this and we think we should have safety around the top of the nest next year!

In the early part of the week all three birds were on the nest, a rare sight.

We have had some wonderful guest to the hide including wild life.I was helping an elderly couple view the Eagles near the hide with their daughter when a dragon fly came down and landed on my brand new van.

The colour of it against my very clean van stood out. It was a golden moment we both stood still and took pictures and marvelled at nature and its beauty.

The weather has been excellent with wall to wall sunshine, but in the morning we have been having a sea mist. The same day I was at the hide with the elderly couple and the dragon fly, I had to go off for five minutes to check some mist/smoke that was rolling in. It was sea mist and when I drove down the drive away from the hide it had  dropped 6 degrees in temperature.

The next day we had a group of gentlemen from Israel visit us. Also in the group were Lyn and her mum Dorothy. During this visit, a parent bird came in with a large object. Dorothy asked to see the back play on one of the Isreali gentlemen's cameras and we all saw it was a large fish they had brought into the nest which the chick eat straight away…. Great shot, great timing .. thank you Dorothy for asking ……

It was a small group that day, but plenty of questions were asked, whilst there was lots of camera activity, which was so fast it sounded like ticker tape off the old teleprinter machines , if you remember them !!!

I met Lyn and her mum again yesterday on my ranger walk at Calgary where I had 22 people. It was a stunning day of weather and we had great fun.

 

Well I must go to the hide. John is off today and I am on my own so I will have some private moments with the chick on the nest to cherish. What a privileged job I have helping the public see this rare bird , speak soon……

If you have not visited us yet, or your back on the Island do come and see us, we run trips at 10am or 1pm. If you are passing at these times and you have not booked, just check with us at the lower car park.

To book please phone 01680812556. Just to note, we are at the South of the Island at Glen Seilisdeir and not at Loch Frisa as in year's previous.

Blog published by Colin Baxter on behalf of Mull Ranger Cheryl Callow.

Back to work to find our chick almost full size!

Friday’s chick is now in it's 10th week of life as I return to work after a few days off to catch up with Mull life.

This week I have returned to find that the chick has grown even more and looks full size!

We are still waiting to find out what gender the chick is and hope to hear soon.

The weather this week is outstanding, so hot with bright sunshine.

As I came to work this morning, there was a wonderful mist over the Glen from Dervaig. It was stunning, a landscape photographer's dream.

If you are visiting the island in the next month please do visit the hide.

Book now or if you are passing the south of the island do pop in and ask…..
The trips go at 10am in the morning and the next tour is at 1pm to make sure people coming over on the ferries for day trips can link in. It’s a guided walk of two hours. Call on 01680 812556 or pop in to the Visitor’s centre at Craignure as you get off the ferry and book your place!

Blog published by Colin Baxter on behalf of Mull Ranger Cheryl Callow

Our new chick is ringed in the nest

It's been a very eventful week with the chick being checked and ringed in the nest on Wednesday 5th June .

A team arrived of Forest Commission and RSPB staff came to ring the chick in the nest . The parent birds were not on the nest as the chick is much bigger at about 18 inches tall and grey in colour.


Staff at the nest checking and ringing the chick


The public group in attendance had the most marvellous morning witnessing this rare event .

There were three main tree climbers who made their way to the tree and two entered the nest . The chick went very flat and stayed still . The nest was also checked for food. It was full of sea birds and fish .
The chick was measured, ringed and a salvia swab taken for genetic checking .
After the team had completed their task they left a dead rabbit in the nest and came down .
It took an hour for Iona to come back to her chick . The parents made no noise or calling whilst this process was going on .


Chick in the nest after ringing



In the hide, James, the Forest Commission Wildlife Officer gave an explanation to the group as to what was going on.

Later we were joined by David Sexton the RSPB Manager who also came into the hide to explain what would happen afterwards and notified the group that initial thoughts are that it could be a female chick but this will need clarification.

Such a great day and experience , one I shall always remember, a golden moment for me.

Blogs published by Colin Baxter on behalf of Mull Ranger Cheryl Callow.

Visitors from far and wide this week as our new chick continues to progress well

We have had a very exciting week so much has gone on ...



Iona and Fingal nurturing their young chick which is three weeks old , the chick is standing about 18 inches

Iona with her new chick

 tall covered with white downy fluff soon to be feathers.

Iona has been spending more time off the nest but in a tree near by not far away to protect the chick .
Fingal disappeared for two days but came back and was seen on Tuesday afternoon.

The food larder has reduced around the nest this week and so we have had good views of the chick this week.

Most of the food has been sea birds and fish we have had one lamb since we started on March 20th 2013. This came in over two weeks ago and there are still remnants of it on the nest.

I have noticed in the last two weeks several people revisiting us that came in March. It is excellent to see people coming back to this magical Island and seeing the wonderful views of the majestic birds.

We have had some excellent feed back again this week and I love working with John Clare the RSPB ranger who is very knowledgeable , I bring to the group my wealth of experience of visiting this island for 22 yrs and now living here permanently, having bought our house nine years ago.



John and I have been working hard on upgrading our Silver Green Tourism award  to Gold.  We have made a few changes to the site and also added such things as recycling rain water, cycle-stand made by recycled wood, green tourism feedback and suggestion box and a wind up torch. Not that we need it at the moment as its so light up here! 

During the week we have had people from America , Germany and Norway.
The German couple were late over due to ferry delays and arrived when we had just finished, so I took them down to the hide and they had their own private viewing. We had a wonderful time .
We also had another German gentleman who saw a black stork at Dervaig which he regularly sees in his home country.

On Wednesday the old nest Icthy and Scratchy arrived from Loch Frisa. This was the nest that was filmed by Simon King for Springwatch. It has many different memories for previous staff that worked at the hide and the public, who like myself, watched every programme religiously, in awe of these wonderful rare birds..

I will be using it as a demonstration piece to the groups and school children who are soon to visit .


Norwegian visitors to the Mull wildlife hide



We have had many visitors to the hide this week and the weather has been brilliant , so come and see us .

On Friday we had a group of Norwegian people visit. The group were from an organisation who organise wildlife trips, so they were interested in the running of the hide. They were particularly interested in the things that go on behind the scenes to make it work and of course the history of the birds, since the reintroduction programme was helped by Norway, providing the young chicks and the start of them living back on the Isle of Mull.

 I took a day off and managed to get a picture of that rare bird the corncrake so I have included it as I know many of you are serious about your birds!
 

Corncake on Mull

A recent comment left by a visitor said "that is the best £6 I have spent on this island this week , the birds were fantastic,  great views and very helpful knowledgable guides in John and Cheryl."

So don't miss out, come and see us soon ... 01680 812556

You can also comment via Trip advisor, we welcome your feedback.

Blogs posted by Colin Baxter on behalf of Mull Ranger Cheryl Callow



Now you see her, now you don't!

Well, last week saw some interesting goings on at the Sea Eagle Nest. Previously I reported that our largest chick (thought to be a female) fledged from the nest leaving her smaller sibling to spend time putting on weight and growing down his(?) last flight feathers before fledging himself. All seemed to be normal with food being brought into the remaining chick by the parent birds, and it appeared to be putting on weight and growing apace.

And then, on Wednesday the older chick suddenly appeared back on the nest, much to the surprise of its sibling. Not only that but it stayed throughout Wednesday and Thursday. This is unusual behaviour, as once the birds fledge it is unusual for them to return to the nest. Our theory is that the older chick worked out that the adults were feeding its sibling, therefore there must be food at the nest. Sure enough, the first time the adult male came in with food for the smaller chick (a large, wriggling eel), the fledgling shoulder-barged it out of the way and grabbed the food for itself. As before, the small chick immediately retreated to the other side of the nest, once again intimidated by its sister. However, this time the fledgling failed, as in her haste to grab the prey it escaped and fell onto the side of the nest where it was grabbed again by the adult male who quickly swallowed it whole.

Soon after the female came in with what looked like a Fulmar and delivered it straight to the smaller chick whilst blocking the fledgling so that her brother could eat in peace. Both adults then remained at the nest for the rest of the day, mediating between their chicks. After I'd left the hide one of the adults must have brought in a rabbit, as the following morning the smaller chick was pulling at the remains of a rabbit leg; who knows which chick got the lion's share of that meal!

Fingal with food for a hungry young eagle
Photo by kind permission of Chris Stone

 The following day the whole scenario was repeated, with at least one adult around to see fair play, though later in the day they both took off, presumably to hunt for themselves, and although I stayed at the hide until gone 9pm neither of them returned to the nest. Both chicks were at the nest all day, but my colleague - FCS Wildlife Ranger Steve Irvine - reported that on Friday only the younger chick was there with an adult visiting the nest and then sitting higher in the tree keeping watch. Maybe the older chick got the message that trying to steal food from her sibling was not to be encouraged by her parents.


The chicks are now a little over twelve weeks old and it won't be too long before the second young eagle fledges. I can't wait to watch them learning to fly strongly and hunt for themselves - with a little help from their parents, of course.

 

We have lift off!

Three week old chicks - helpless and looking more like
ET than a Sea Eagle! (Photo: Justin Grant)

Yesterday our first chick finally took to the skies - briefly. It had been getting more and more adventurous over the last few days, jumping in and out of the nest, walking along the branches towards the next tree, and flapping its wings like mad. Rather than gripping on with its talons, it has been using the nest as a trampoline, getting higher and higher each time. And then, with one huge jump it spread its great wings and took off, doing a circuit of the tree, gliding down below the nest before circling round and landing again next to its sibling. Whilst we watched it did the same again twice more, each time flying a little further.

During the day there was no sign of our adult birds. They had probably brought food in for their chicks before we arrived, and then flown off to hunt for themselves. I wonder if they had been perched up in the trees opposite the nest watching their youngster's antics from afar.

The younger bird is growing faster now and getting more adventurous, also flapping its wings and venturing to the edge of the nest. It seemed totally flumoxed by the antics of its sibling, looking around the nest when it took off and then showing surprise when it landed back.

The film crew who have been positioned in a hide nearby have been able to zoom in on the birds and tell me that it will be a while yet before the second chick fledges. When the adult feathers grow down they are protected by a waxy sheath which gradually peels off before the feather unfurls. The younger bird still has a lot of flight feathers still "in the blood" as it is known, and will not be able to fly properly until they have grown through. Once the larger chick has fledged completely, the other chick will be getting first pickings of the food its parents bring in, so it will soon catch up, and then we'll be able to watch it take to the skies too. It's hard to leave the hide each evening with so much going on.

Our six week old chicks with mum Iona.
(Photo: Sue Dewar)



We have also had two sub-adult Sea Eagles in the area - one about two or three years old, and the other a bit older. The younger one has been in to look at the nest whilst Iona and Fingal have been away hunting and I wonder whether it is a bird which fledged from this pair in the past. It has kept its distance when the adults are about - very wise as they would not be happy if they found it close to the nest.

Hopefully I will be able to get some pictures of the chick flying as it becomes more proficient; something tells me I will not be able to stay away this weekend!!