Mull Eagle Watch a Five Star wildlife attraction

Our new site at Glen Seilisdeir has proved to be a wonderful venue with great views of our Sea Eagle nest, a very popular open-air viewing hide and plenty of happy visitors.

We were delighted to receive our Silver accreditation from the Green Tourism Business Scheme, and now the icing on the cake is that we have been awarded five stars from Visit Scotland, making us one of only two wildlife attractions in Scotland with five stars.

Today is my last day for this season, although as I live on Mull I'll be keeping an eye on our eagles during the winter months - it's impossible to stay away! Fingal, Iona, Buidhe and Gorm are doing well (as are Skye, Frisa and Sunda) and all the other Sea Eagles on Mull - it's been a record year. Other raptors on the island have done well too, thanks largely to the lovely summer we have enjoyed - for once Scotland's west coast has enjoyed better weather than the rest of the UK.

Once again, thanks to our visitors, community groups on Mull and Iona will benefit from grants given out from the Eagle Fund. Around 50% of the hide income is divided between good causes on the island, with the remainder helping to protect all the Sea Eagle nests on Mull, and keeping the hide running.

So I hope you enjoy the pictures, with a wonderful sequence of a Sea Eagle fishing courtesy of one of our visitors - Chris Stone - who kindly gave us permission to use his fantastic shots. Goodbye for now, and all being well I'll be back next spring. Do visit us and enjoy one of the most spectacular wildlife experiences in the UK.

 

With best wishes, Sue Dewar, White-tailed Sea Eagle Ranger, Mull Eagle Watch





Mull School children with their life-sized eagle nest and, after all their hard work, relaxing on the eagle bench



Good news at Loch Frisa

Frisa perched near the loch
Photo - Iain Erskine

Before I update you with news from the Glen Seilisdeir hide, some good news from Loch Frisa.  Those of you who have been following our Sea Eagles over the years will know that this year we moved from Loch Frisa to Glen Seilisdeir, leaving Skye and Frisa in peace after a busy time of forestry operations along the loch.   I'm delighted to tell you that Skye and Frisa have fledged a healthy chick this year.




Meanwhile, back at Glen Seilisdeir our fledged chick is still backwards and forwards to the nest, her sibling is not quite ready to go yet, and we have been having great views of the whole family. The adults seem to be bringing in mostly sea birds, fish and the occasional rabbit to feed the youngsters at the moment.  Our fledgling is still bullying her brother(?) but Iona is making sure that he gets plenty of food. 

I'll write another blog in the next day or two with any developments, but in the meantime here are three wonderful photos given to us by visiting photographer Chris Stone, showing the fishing technique of these magnificent birds.

Back in Business at Loch Frisa

Well, the last six months have flown by and, as expected, I wasn't able to keep away from Loch Frisa during that time! Skye and Frisa kept us guessing as usual, building a new nest at the North end of the loch and then ...guess what? They flew back to the "Springwatch" nest and laid their egg(s) there.

So another season starts and I am delighted to be back in post (as of today) and privileged to follow the lives of these very special birds. Our eagles are about mid-way through their 38 days of incubation and are sharing their responsibilities on the nest.

Followers of our "celebrity pair" will know that they are using the same nest they used last year, and with that comes the same problems. The nest is very close to the Forestry track which, of course, is a public footpath. So in order to protect the birds and those precious eggs "Operation Easter" has swung into action and we have brought all the necessary technology into play.

"Operation Easter" is now in its 10th year and was originally the brainchild of Finlay Christine who was at that time the island's Police Wildlife Liaison Officer. Volunteers from the island, visitors, and the Mull Bird Club organise themselves to watch Mull's White-tailed Sea Eagle nests during incubation, backed up by the police. It seems ludicrous that it should be necessary in this day and age, but these rare birds are still at risk from egg collectors, and the possibility of disturbance by greedy photographers wanting to take the ultimate picture from a position too close to the nest.

Our dedicated team of watchers guard the nests 24/7 from a safe distance, aided by CCTV and alarms to notify us when someone is walking past the nest. This year the hide will be in a different position, to the north of the nest, so visitors to the hide will be escorted in from the Dervaig end of the track.

At the moment we are using a temporary hide as we can't move the main hide past the eagles' nest whilst they are incubating eggs. We will wait around two weeks after the chick(s) hatch and then tow the hide along the track to its new position. Once the eagles have chicks to feed they won't leave them, so they will be safe whilst the hide is moved.

With the new site comes a whole host of new views of the loch and the wildlife around it. Today the weather has been appalling with strong winds and torrential rain, so the on-duty eagle has been sat tight on the nest, with just its head visible to our visitors. But we have a Raven colony on the cliffs above us so we can watch the adults bringing in food to their young, and this morning we were lucky enough to see a pair of Golden Eagles flying right above us, being harrassed by one of the Ravens.

The drive from the meeting point to the hide is a little longer than last year, but the views are spectacular and we have already seen Hen Harriers. So despite the weather my first day back has been all it promised to be, and I'm looking forward to keeping you up to date with events at Loch Frisa. Until next time.

It's great to be back!

I'm delighted to say I'm back after six months away from Loch Frisa - although I have to say that I couldn't stay away completely and had to pop back from time to time to see how Skye and Frisa were doing!

The hide is now open again all week, and this year our White-tailed Sea Eagles have chosen one of their old nests. They are just over half-way through incubation, and as ever are being model parents. As one bird leaves the nest the other takes over immediately and we can often hear them call to each other when it is time for a changeover.

The weather this week has been changeable to say the least; as the clocks went forward last weekend we all thought Spring had truly sprung. How wrong we were! On Wednesday temperatures plummeted and we were treated to a day of blizzards, sleet, hail and strong winds. We had to cancel trips to the hide as the track was too slippery to drive along, but by the afternoon the snow was beginning to thaw and on Thursday the weather was improving (although still bitterly cold).

It is always a worrying time when the weather changes for the worst whilst the eagles are incubating eggs. The sitting adult needs a break from incubation from time to time, whether to go hunting or to stretch their wings and legs, but the changeover needs to be rapid to avoid the eggs chilling.

Two years ago another pair of Mull's Sea Eagles were disturbed by a photographer who stood under their nest to try to take the ultimate photograph. The female eagle was sitting on the nest at the time, on the first day of incubation. She was frightened off the nest and was away for long enough for her eggs to chill and die. Of course, she could not be sure that the eggs weren't viable, and the pair went on to incubate for over 60 days (when the normal incubation time is around 38 days). It was heartbreaking to watch them sit there day after day long after the date when their eggs should have hatched.

Fortunately our excellent "Operation Easter" Scheme (of which more later) meant that the photographer was arrested, charged with reckless disturbance, fined and had all his photographic equipment confiscated. Last year the birds built a new nest and successfully reared two healthy chicks, and they are incubating eggs again this year - not bad for a pair of birds over 30 years old. We would normally expect them to stop breeding in their early to mid twenties.

The weather today is beautiful; one of those clear, crisp days with blue skies and brilliant sunshine that make you glad to be alive. Our eagles must think so too, as at the 10 a.m. changeover Frisa (our female) stretched her wings and, after checking that Skye was safely settled on their precious eggs, flew off into the sunshine to find her breakfast.

Just to convince us that Spring really must have arrived, our Sandmartins have arrived back from Africa and are already checking out last year's nest holes in the old quarry wall at the rear of our visitors' car park by the hide. Lapwings are flying across the fields in front of the hide and our feeders are a constant hive of activity with chaffinches and siskins squabbling over the feeders and a Greater Spotted Woodpecker coming in to the peanut feeder.

At present our hide is in the same position as last year and we are not able to see the nest, although we have excellent views of the "off-duty" bird sitting in their favourite perch just opposite the hide. We can't risk moving the hide at this sensitive time whilst the birds are still incubating, but as soon as those eggs have hatched the hide will be moved into position and we are promised excellent views of the nest, chicks and adults. 2010 is destined to be an exciting year for us, for Skye and Frisa, and for our visitors. Do come to see us if you can.

Now you see them, now you .......

What an amazing day! Although the forecast was for sun and showers, the latter never materialised. The loch was completely still, reflecting trees, hills and clouds.

I arrived at the hide to witness a fly-past by our adult male, Skye. He landed in a tree opposite the hide and I quickly set up the scopes before leaving to collect the morning's visitors. Needless to say, when we returned he had gone and I hoped he hadn't gone hunting for the rest of the day.

I needn't have worried - not long after Skye returned, did a great fly-past giving everyone a good view of his white tail, and then Frisa appeared above him and the two birds circled above us before disappearing into the distance. Not to be outdone Heather, our chick, flew over showing off her flying skills and landed on a fallen tree in the bay opposite the hide.

We were also treated to a great view of the female Hen Harrier, and heard Kestrels alarm calling - probably spooked by the local Ravens.

Surely the afternoon couldn't be as good ...

No sooner had I started my introduction to the hide and the Sea Eagles, Skye flew directly overhead, as low as I had ever seen him. Again he circled to give everyone a very good view, then landed in the bay in front of us, just out of sight but not far from a Heron. Shortly afterwards Heather flew in and after a couple of attempts, managed to land in one of the trees opposite. As I walked down the path to the bottom of the field with our scope and a small party of visitors, the Heron caught an eel and took off, hotly pursued by Skye. As he has caught a Heron once before whilst the chicks were still on the nest, I wondered if we were going to see a repeat performance. They flew straight past us and we watched them for some time, then Skye dropped down out of sight and the Heron started to circle above him. I can only imagine that he had forced the Heron to drop his prey and had then taken advantage of it.

Whilst we waited to see what would happen next a Golden Eagle circled over the crag, and a Buzzard treated us to great views as he caught a thermal and spiralled up just above us. Everyone agreed that, whilst they are no longer a rarity in the UK, Buzzards are still beautiful birds. One of the youngsters in our group of visitors found a tiny common lizard on the grass path, and all the children crowded round to see it before it scurried off into the undergrowth.

Heather started calling every few minutes, and we were able to hear an adult calling from further away. I wondered if the adult had caught prey and was trying to persuade Heather to go and get it (rather than having it delivered by one of her parents). Whatever the calling was about, Heather was not going anywhere and sat in her tree preening.

At 15.00 our visitors managed to tear themselves away, and whilst I was tidying up the hide I happened to glance up to see Heather flying towards me. She came right overhead and I was amazed to see how much confidence she had gained in the short time since she fledged. She was flying very strongly with deep wingbeats and I watched her until she disappeared, before leaving for the day - though it was quite hard to tear myself away.

There are some days which are near perfect, and today was certainly one of them - good weather, an enthusiastic group of visitors and great views of our eagles. Wonderful!

Hide and Seek

Now that Heather has fledged she is really keeping us guessing: we never know where she is going to appear next! Each time we see her her flying skills have improved a little more. At one point we saw her flying alongside Skye, her father, and it was incredible to see this 15 week old chick who was larger than her 15 year old father! As with most birds of prey the female White tailed Sea Eagle is larger than the male, so Frisa and Heather are 25% bigger than Skye. (The scientific name for this is reversed sexual size dimorphism!).

To begin with Heather wasn't too adventurous and spent a lot of time sitting on a headland protruding into the opposite side of the loch. Frisa caught two Common Gulls and delivered them to Heather, and she spent hours sat with her daughter. On one occasion two walkers spotted them, but instead of enjoying the view they had from the track they decided to walk across the fields until they were directly opposite the eagles. This proved too much for Frisa who took off and flew back across the loch to perch in a tree. She never took her eyes off the intruder.

Heather stayed put and we wondered if she would be tempted to join her mother. When the afternoon trip ended we stayed on to see what would happen, slightly concerned that Heather was on her own on a peninsula surrounded by water on three sides.

The following morning there was no sign of the bird and it had been raining hard. Where was she? We need not have worried. As the weather dried up and the sun came out Heather crept out of the bracken where she was sheltering from the rain. We were very relieved.

Since then Heather has become a little more independent and isn't so reliant on her parents. We have seen her flying quite high, although she is still a little wobbly from time to time. We think Frisa has been teaching her chick how to land as we have seen the two birds flying together. Frisa lands in a tree and then takes off again and Heather follows, landing on exactly the same branch! Maybe Frisa is trying to teach her which branches will take her weight?

Our resident Hen Harriers have been flying close to the hide giving our visitors amazing views of both the male and female. We are hoping to see them with their chicks in the next week or two. On a smaller scale a family of Spotted Flycatchers have just fledged right in front of the hide and we have enjoyed watching their antics with our visitors. There's never a dull moment at the eagle hide!

One down, one to go

On Friday morning I was watching the nest with a group of visitors. Both chicks were there and one was very active, flapping its wings and preening. This wasn't unusual and when I took the afternoon trip down to our forward hide I expected to see something similar. But no, there was only one chick. I scanned the branches around the nest to see if the chick was there. Nothing! Later, Skye, the male Sea Eagle appeared sitting in a larch tree well below the nest. I'd never seen him there before, and he seemed to be looking down at the ground most of the time.

The other chick seemed to be quite happy by itself on the nest, alternately exercising and feeding. I stayed on at the hide after the visitors had left, but eventually I had to leave, albeit reluctantly. Skye remained in position, but there was still no sign of the missing chick.

Saturday came and went with good views of Frisa and the chick in the nest, but still there was no sign of the "fledged" chick. Wherever it was, it seemed likely that Skye was watching over it as he didn't put in an appearance all day.

By Sunday we were beginning to get quite worried, and on Monday when there was still no sign of our fledged chick we were beginning to fear the worst. It was my day off, but I couldn't stay away - I was desperate to know if our chick was still alive. Maybe it had fallen and injured itself. Skye still hadn't appeared so we were hopeful that he was guarding his chick.

On Tuesday morning I arrived at the hide early and put up the scope to scan the trees around the nest. The visibility wasn't great, but there, at the top of one of the sitka spruce trees was a strange dark shape. Zooming in I realised it was our chick. It was sitting very awkwardly with one wing at an angle to its body. If this had been its first proper flight it obviously needed to practise its landing skills. I couldn't tear myself away - was it our chick? There was no white on its tail, no flash of yellow on its beak. I was sure it wasn't one of our adults, but struggled to convince myself that I was really seeing the fledged chick. The other chick was still on the nest, and seemed quite happy exercising and feeding on whatever delicacy the adults had brought for it.

When I arrived back at the hide with the first trip of the day I checked the scope - the fledgling had gone. It didn't appear for the rest of the day, and I was beginning to doubt my earlier sighting. Later in the afternoon the RSPB officer Dave, who holds a licence which allows him to get closer to the nest, spent some time in the woods below the trees and after a while managed to hear two chicks calling, one on the nest, and one further away. Whilst he was there Frisa, the female came in and landed.

The fledged chick hasn't put in another appearance yet, but at least we know we still have two chicks. We haven't seen Skye either, so he must be perched near the fledgling making sure it is safe and well fed. The chick's sibling is still on the nest making the most of the extra space, and being able to eat as much as it likes without having to share.

I can't say we're relaxed about the fledgling yet, but Frisa seems to be her normal self, and we have heard no alarm or distress calls from adults or chicks. Watch this space.....

Wonderful news!

I'm delighted to say that Skye and Frisa are proud parents!

We're not sure how many chicks they have, although we suspect two, but we have had some wonderful views of Frisa tenderly feeding her offspring.

It always amazes me that such a large bird, with feet almost as big as my hand, can tear tiny pieces of food from the prey and gently place it into her chick's beak - a beak about the size of your fingernail.

Skye is busy playing the proud father and has chosen a roost very close to the nest tree so that he can guard his new family when he is not out hunting for them. Frisa spends her time rearranging the nest bowl so that it is comfortable for her chick(s) before settling herself gently down to keep them warm. Today the weather was cooler and there were some very heavy rain showers, so she was brooding her young very closely, but she did allow herself a little time away from the nest. As soon as she was certain that Skye had taken over in the nest, she did a small circuit before flying right over our hide - as if to tell us all the good news.

The adult birds will be very busy for the next few weeks, bringing in ever increasing amounts of food for their family. By eight weeks of age the chicks will be fully grown - an incredible growth rate - and they will spend the last three or four weeks growing their flight feathers to their full length and practising wing exercises on the edge of the nest. At around twelve weeks the chicks will be ready to fledge and the adults will be trying to encourage them to fly by perching in a nearby tree with food until the youngsters take that plunge into the unknown.

Skye and Frisa are not the first pair of Sea Eagles on Mull to hatch their chicks this year. You might remember the publicity in the press last year when a photographer got too close to another nest on the island, forcing the female to leave her eggs for well over an hour. The eggs chilled and failed to hatch and the photographer was charged with reckless disturbance and fined £600. This year the eagles built a new nest and last week their chicks hatched, so everyone is delighted.

Skye, who is 15 years old, and Frisa, 17, have been nesting on Loch Frisa for eleven years now, so they know their territory well and this year's nest is well positioned to keep intruders away. They are still harassed by the local Ravens, buzzards, Hooded Crows and Golden Eagles, and even the occasional juvenile Sea Eagle flies a little bit too close to the nest, but you can rest assured that both birds will guard the nest with their lives.

There will be plenty of activity over the weeks to come, so if you can get to the hide we'll be delighted to tell you all about it. If you can't make it to Mull this year keep watching the blog and I'll do my best to make you feel as if you are here with us.

The tension builds

We have had some wonderful views from our hide, and with the recent beautiful weather, our White-tailed Sea Eagles Skye and Frisa have given us some great displays.

Most of the action has been from Skye, which is not surprising since our female, Frisa, does the majority of the incubation especially now we are nearing the hatch date. On one occasion Frisa must have needed to stretch her wings because as Skye came towards the nest she took off, circled on the thermals and then flew straight over the hide. Our visitors watched breathlessly and Frisa was close enough for them to see her white tail and huge yellow beak.

Since we opened we have had plenty of visitors, and even if the eagles don't fly, Skye spends much of his time perched in a tree close to the nest, so he is quite easy to see through binoculars.

We are watching carefully for signs of food being brought to the nest; we are nearly at the end of the 38 days incubation, so are waiting with bated breath. Hopefully our next blog will contain some exciting news!