Mull is in bloom as our eagle chick grows



Our chick is growing up



After this weekend I returned to the hide to find the chick had grown another two inches and the nest had a new dead sea bird in it . The grey fluffy chick from last week was now darker in colour and looking more like a bird.

The activity on Monday afternoon after the public had gone home was interesting as both parent birds were calling out and in the background I could hear the mew of the buzzard that was flying close to the nest. At one stage it reminded me of being a young girl at London zoo, the noise was immense.



Yellow flag on Mull



The island has blossomed into the most wonderful colour as bluebells, yellow flag and iris’ are all out in bloom.

Its an amazing burst of colour that has happened in the last week. I spotted a yellow flag over looking Inch Kenneth as pictured.



Bluebells on Mull



We had some very good news that John Clare the RSPB ranger and myself,  passed our recent 'mystery shopper' examination who had visited during May bank holiday week.

Some questions and comments from the visit below -

Q Did a member of staff go out of their way to enhance the visit for you or another visitor ?

A "Both Cheryl and John were superb. They had passion for the site and were able to provide information either in answer to questions or as part of the tour. Both were outstanding in dealing with children."

We got 100 percent for staff service, skills and image.

Q One thing that could have improved this visit ?

A "Genuinely there was nothing that could have improved my visit."

 
So with that recommendation please come along and visit us!

Book ahead to avoid disappointment - www.forestry.gov.uk/mullseaeagles

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

Our Eagles and other wildlife enjoy Mull's great Easter weather

The weather this Easter week has been fantastic on the Isle of Mull. Iona, the hen bird has been busy sitting on her eggs in the warmth of the sun incubating. Fingal the male has been busy too, making sure the nest is kept fresh with larch and melina (white hill) grass .

He has also been bringing in food for his mate, in the form of large fish and small mammals each day.
There have been several change overs which we have witness at the hide with Iona going off to have a break and feed herself.
Our visitors have been treated to a number of great sightings and yesterday afternoon they witnessed Fingal on the nest calling out for Iona. This was a new noise to many of the children and adults visiting the hide, who had never heard eagle conversation before.

We have also had the delight of a visiting sparrowhawk at our woodland hide, who boldly flies through the hide to the amazement of our visitors! Other visiting wildlife include a small robin at the hide who greets us on a daily basis, whilst we are keeping our eyes peeled for the Scottish Crossbill that is resident in these woods too but no sightings as yet.

Other birds of interest are the local buzzards ,who nest near by and the regular female hen harrier who cleared all of  the chaffinches off the feeders at the reception hide on Tuesday with ease. The male chaffinches are in abundance too on the spruce tree on the feeders in their bright red colour, just like Christmas baubles.

The weather for the week is looking very good so if you are planning a visit to Mull, don't forget to book a trip to the Eagle Hide.

Eagle Bonanza

What a day!  In all the years I've been watching eagles on Mull I've never known anything quite like it.  Yesterday we were treated to the most amazing views of our Sea Eagles - so spectacular one of our visitors was in tears.  If that wasn't enough, the local Golden Eagles put in an appearance too, and not to be outdone our resident Buzzard joined in with the display.

When I arrived meeting point the visitors waiting for the trip to begin had been watching not one, not two but three Golden Eagles - two adults and a juvenile - flying towards Glen Seilisdeir from Ben More, getting closer than I've seen them before and seemingly unperturbed by a group of very excited visitors watching them.

We started the trip and watched both Sea Eagle trips on the nest - our female still keeps returning and stealing food from her smaller sibling.  Half of the group had gone further along the track with the other ranger, and suddenly the walkie-talkie beeped and the message came through that both adult Sea Eagles were sitting in a tree.  My group hurried along to join the others and sure enough, there were Iona and Fingal sitting together on the same branch of a spruce tree.  Could it get any better?

A few minutes later, an adult Buzzard flew over doing just that - buzzing the eagles and getting frighteningly close.  At first the eagles seemed oblivious to the cheeky bird, but then Iona, probably remembering how the Buzzard had tried to steal food from her nest, took off from the tree in the direction of the nest.  And then ..... our female chick appeared from nowhere, powering through the sky straight towards the Buzzard.  This was just too much for Fingal who took off as well, and the three eagles began to circle together getting higher and higher (but not before flying about ten metres right over our heads).  Next to the adult birds the chick looks huge - even dwarfing her mother.  She has certainly been getting more than her share of the food!  We watched all the birds getting higher and higher until almost out of sight - our fledgling flying the highest of all, still chasing the Buzzard who eventually decided that discretion was the better part of valour and changed tack flying back to his or her territory.

We walked back to the hide to make a quick check on our remaining chick at the nest - still not ready to fledge although he has been making little sorties onto the branch at the edge of the nest.  After watching those gargantuan birds flying above us he looked so small in comparison, but I'm sure he'll soon catch up.

And the only disappointment of a wonderful day - while all the excitement was going on where was my camera - back in the van of course!

Quiet day at the hide

An unusually quiet day at the hide today.  We arrived to be told by a visiting film crew that the adult bird had brought in a rabbit early in the morning - the crew were just leaving as they had captured all the action they wanted!  Sprawled on the nest were two very full young eagles and no sign of the rabbit, so they must have demolished the lot very quickly before settling down for what turned out to be a very long sleep!

Our morning trip went into the hide and watched the chicks sleeping, occasionally stretching, and once or twice our larger bird even stood up, stomped around and then went back to sleep.  In desperation I walked a bit further along the track and came across the adult female engaged in a battle with the local Buzzard - she must have got too close to its nest and was being well and truly mobbed.  It eventually chased her out of the area, but unfortunately by the time I'd got back to the hide she had disappeared and no-one had seen her. 

The same happened in the afternoon, although the chicks were a little more active and gave our visitors some good views of their enormous wingspans.  The larger chick even had a jump around and flapped its wings, but there was still no sign of the adults.  As the chicks are getting so close to fledging its likely that the adult birds are bringing in less food now so the young birds are beginning to get the message that it's time to fledge.  Of course parent birds won't let them starve, and when the first chick does leave the adults will continue to feed the second one at the nest whilst also feeding the newly fledged youngster on the ground and in the lower branches of the trees.  We will probably see more of the adults at that time as they will feel the need to protect the vulnerable "chick" on the ground.  Humans are their only real predator, but having put so much effort into rearing their offspring the adult birds will want to make sure they fledge successfully. 

It's about this time of year that we get the occasional 'phone call from concerned visitors who see the chicks on the ground and are worried that they have injured a leg.  Of course we always check out any reports, but young eagles appear very ungainly when they walk - developing a "John Wayne"-like gait, and they are usually fine.

It seems that the road along the west coast of the island, which was closed due to a massive storm which took out bridges and caused landslides, may well be open sooner than we expected.  If you are coming to the hide please call our booking office on 01680 812556 to check if that route is open.

Finally, to anyone who has called or emailed me concerned about the Golden Eagle family in the area of the landslide, I am told that they are all fine and the chick(s) are now fledged.  Great to be able to pass on some good news!

I wonder if our chicks will still be on the nest on Monday.  Time will tell!

What - no food mum?

Another busy day at the eagle hide with the parent birds, Iona and Fingal, putting in more appearances at the nest than of late.  Yesterday we didn't see very much of our adults but they must have been busy hunting, as all sorts of food could be seen on the nest, including the intestines of a fairly large mammal which the chicks proceeded to play tug-of-war with whilst we were trying to eat our packed lunches!

Today the adults have been backwards and forwards to check on their youngsters, and probably to see how much food was left uneaten.  It would appear that there wasn't very much as Iona and Fingal have spent a lot of time out catching food.  This afternoon the female brought in a fairly large white bird - probably a gull - which she insisted on plucking before letting the chicks start to eat.  The local Buzzard was showing a lot of interest in the nest too, prompting the adults to return frequently to persuade it not to come too close.



The six-week old chicks on the nest with Iona nearby
Photo: Sue Dewar

 When Iona flew in late this afternoon she had a quick check on the nest to satisfy herself that all was well, before flying to a nearby branch.  It was easy to see the chicks' disgust as they tottered around on the nest searching for food. Eventually, they decided there was nothing much to eat and settled back down for yet another snooze. 

And a final note - we heard today that our White-tailed Sea Eagle family at Glen Seilisdeir will feature on tonight's final episode of Springwatch, starting on BBC2 at 8pm.