East Scotland Sea Eagles

A celebrity visit to Drumpellier Country Park

2012-02-09T23:43:54Z

After managing to sneak off my radio tracking radar no more than a week after being released in Fife, an old friend has finally made an apperance!

On the eve of the day that Ireland were to take on Wales in the first game of this year's 6 nations tournament, the Irish white-tailed eagle of north Aberdeenshire fame was spotted at Drumpellier Country Park in Lanarkshire!! Everyone is pleased to see that despite everything he's been through he's doing great, and appears to be making his way slowly but surely west...back to the Emerald Isle maybe?

Thank you to the rangers Jamie and Jackie at Drumpellier for getting in touch with the sightings and for taking some great pictures!

Keep your eyes peeled if you live in this area!

Photos to follow....

Irish sea eagle released!

2011-12-15T18:24:00Z

After spending just over a month in the care of SSPCA, the sea eagle that was rescued from the north Aberdeenshire coast has finally been re-released into the wild. This time, successfully! It was decided to release the bird in Fife in a brief window of good weather on Tuesday.

The bird had been carefully washed several times to remove the grease from his feathers which prevented him from taking off at the previous attempted release at Loch of Strathbeg. He is now in far better condition thanks to SSPCA and flew beautifully from the release site in Fife-he even gave us a fly-by a few minutes later just to show off! He's a very strong bird and I'm sure he will make great progress. His radio transmitter was reattached prior to release allowing me to keep an eye on him for as long as he stays in the area.

The wing tags used in Ireland are slightly different to the ones used here in Scotland-they have a different colour on each wing and you can read the tag from underneath aswell which is quite useful! Keep your eyes peeled for this bird in the skies of Fife!

This photo was taken last year in Ireland by Dick Coombes at Cape Clear.

THE best cappuccino

2011-12-12T11:04:48Z

Rumour has it that when there's a sea eagle at Vane Farm, the staff in the cafe will put a lovely chocolate sea eagle design on the top of your cappuccinos! Well worth a visit to Vane's cafe for that, and the coffee is fantastic too!

Sea Eagle on Loch Leven!

2011-12-06T12:29:00Z

At long last, a sea eagle was spotted at Loch Leven NNR yesterday afternoon! This individual has turquoise wing tags with the letter "H". She has spent time on Loch Leven during previous winters, but for the past few months has been spending most of her time on Loch Tay!

A good place to watch her is at RSPB's Vane Farm. Hopefully she'll be in the area for a few days so make sure you go there soon!! Maybe the snow and cold weather will attract more sea eagles to Loch Leven over the next few days.

This photograph of turquoise Z was taken by Phill Randall on Loch Leven last year.

A for Arran...

2011-12-02T16:52:00Z

Some interesting and strangely coincidental sightings over the past few weeks! Red A, a young male released this year in August has officially dispersed away from the release site and has made his way over to Arran and was spotted by local birders. This is the first east coast released eagle to be spotted on Arran. He has since wondered further east and was spotted over Campbeltown in Kintyre....where next for him? Islay/Jura? Another interesting sighting has come a bit “closer to home”. This time it involves the star of Methilhill, Red T!! Another young male released this year, he made a celebrity of himself in Wemyss and Methilhill by sitting on chimney pots and people’s roofs! He even made it onto “Youtube” (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-Sir3BHAtQ). This time, he has chosen a less densely populated area to spend time, in Tentsmuir forest. I’m waiting for some more coincidences to occur-hoping for a “V” at Vane farm!!

Any suggestions welcome for the following wing tagged birds;

Z, 2, P,5,T,A,H,V,1,E,L,Y

Thanks to Gordon Small for this great photo of "T" on a rooftop.

Update on Irish WTE; Spa weekend at SSPCA

2011-11-10T18:46:00Z

After an unsuccessful attempt to release the Irish sea eagle recovered from the Aberdeenshire coast yesterday at RSPB’s Loch of Strathbeg reserve, the bird has now been taken to SSPCA’s national centre for further rehabilitation. Despite having recovered at the vets from his ordeal last week, it became apparent when he was released that there were still some issues that needed to be addressed. The bird was unable to take off, and after recapturing him, we realised that his feathers were still coated with a kind of “grease” that was clearly affecting his ability to fly.

The bird is now spending a few days with the fantastic team at the SSPCA centre where he will receive “spa treatment” (a bath in fairy liquid or similar) to attempt to get this substance off his feathers. Hopefully after week or so of drying off and much preening, he will be looking fabulous and ready to face the crowds again!

Feathers by the Firth

2011-11-07T11:58:56Z

A new exhibition, which opens on Wednesday this week (9^th November), is offering residents of Broughty Ferry the chance to help design the finishing touches to a Sea Eagle sculpture planned for the banks of the Tay.

In November 2009 students from the illustration programme of Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design, University of Dundee, created work telling the story of the return of Sea Eagles to East Scotland for a public exhibition in Dundee. The winning design was a sculpture of three eight foot copper coloured feathers created by Kirkcaldy student Ellen Brown, “It’s great to see it all beginning to come together as I never thought it would really happen”.

Thanks to funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund and the support of Dundee City Council plans are now underway to build the sculpture next year on the banks of the Tay. Carrie Watt of RSPB Scotland said: “Next term students at DJCAD will be back in the studio creating designs that will surround the sculpture, but before they can do that they are looking for inspiration. So we’re asking the public to come along to Broughty Ferry Library between the 9^th and 12^th November, to discover more about Scotland’s Sea Eagles and give us ideas for what they think the students should include in their designs.”

Colin McLean, Head of the Heritage Lottery Fund in Scotland, said: “Feathers by the Firth is an important part of a project to save one of our rarest birds. The RSPB has successfully reintroduced sea eagle chicks to the area but now we need to ensure their long-term survival. This exhibition will give people the opportunity to learn more about this iconic bird of prey and the role it plays in Scotland’s biodiversity. That knowledge will hopefully help safeguard the existence of the Sea Eagles for future generations.”

Feathers by the Firth will run from Wednesday 9^th November until Saturday 12^th November at Broughty Ferry Library. On Saturday, the final day of the exhibition there will be Sea Eagle badge making from 11am-4pm. I’ll be there Friday afternoon until 7pm and all day Saturday so come along for a chat and learn more about this stunning work of art and the eagles!

Irish Sea Eagle rescued from Aberdeenshire

2011-11-04T17:06:00Z

A sea eagle, released as part of a reintroduction project in the Republic of Ireland, has been the subject of a dramatic rescue on the Aberdeenshire coast.

RSPB Scotland, with help from Banff based business North 58˚ Sea Adventures, were called to a remote cove, inaccessible by land, near Pennan, following reports of an injured bird.

The distressed eagle was first spotted by sea kayaker John Creighton and his wife on Saturday, with RSPB Scotland alerted the following day. After further investigations, the location was confirmed and a rescue mission launched.

It wasn’t until we approached the beach that we saw that the eagle was alive, but was clearly tired and wet. Despite being there for three days, it was still fairly feisty and it actually took a while for us to retrieve it. Eventually I had to flush it off the cliffs by swimming towards it! Fortunately, thanks to John raising the alarm and to the amazing expertise of North 58˚ Sea Adventures we managed to bring it safely back to the mainland and it’s currently recovering from its ordeal at the vets.

Ian Page, the skipper of the North 58˚ boat, Buchaneer said: “We had a falling tide and we were losing water and light. We could see Rhian running down the beach and then heading into the water. It was quite a decathlon but an excellent result.”

The bird has been identified as a young male released in Ireland as part of the Irish Sea Eagle reintroduction project in 2010.

Project Manager of the Irish Sea Eagle Reintroduction programme Dr Allan Mee added: “It was a shock to hear one of our young Sea Eagles was found in poor condition but fantastic that it’s been rescued and now has a real chance of recovery. This bird is the fifth confirmed Irish released Sea Eagle to have travelled to Scotland over the last 4 years. We are indebted to Rhian and the rescue team for their efforts”.

East Scotland Sea Eagles on TV

2011-10-24T21:23:10Z

This coming Sunday (30th of October), East Scotland Sea Eagles will feature on Countryfile. This will be shown at 18:25 on BBC1, and will show some of this year's birds on their big day being released into the wild! Don't miss it!

Tracking success!

2011-10-14T15:29:19Z

Thanks to everyone who joined us at the Wild Connections sea eagle tracking event on Wednesday evening! The outing was a success with dry weather, and great views of four young sea eagles. The group got to grips with the radio tracking device before setting off to try and find some eagles as they settled down to roost. We were lucky enough to see three juveniles from the 2011 release cohort (Red E, P and 2) and also a very exciting sighting of a 2009 male (Turquoise Z). This is only the second time that a 2 year old bird had been seen at this roost, and great to see that he’s returned to see how the new birds are getting on! I hope everyone enjoyed themselves as much as I did!

Sea Eagle tracking at Wild Connections

2011-10-03T18:54:44Z

On Wednesday the 12^th of October I will be leading a Sea Eagle tracking event at “Wild Connections”, highland Perthshire’s wildlife festival. It will run from 2pm until 7pm meeting at Birnam. We will be radio tracking the birds that have been released since 2007, and hopefully get some glimpses of them too! Visit the Wild Connections website for more details and for online booking. www.wildconnections.org.uk .There are limited spaces so don’t leave it too late! Hope to see you there!

A nice welcome to the world of sea eagles!

2011-09-29T17:22:00Z

Apologies for the lack of action on the blog page for the past month or so. I have recently taken over from Claire as East Scotland Sea Eagle Officer, and have been welcomed with a baptism of fire! I’ve had a lot to learn and to catch up on, as well as keeping track of this year’s release cohort which are now in the skies over Fife and Perthshire. 16 birds were released and I was fortunate to be involved with this just before starting my new post. Claire has been a great help to me while I get settled and find my feet!

We also have some more great news on the funding front! A contribution of £31,000 over the next two years has been secured from Rural Tayside and Fife LEADER to help ensure the continuation of the East Scotland sea Eagle project.

The money will allow us to focus on community engagement and maximising local economic benefit in the rural Tayside and Fife regions by providing more volunteer opportunities and increasing the education aspect of the project. We will also be able to start to prepare viewing facilities for possible future nesting attempts by the eagles, which in itself will increase the potential for nature tourism in the region. This will provide an invaluable educational tool and benefit the local economy.

We are also able to use this funding to continue with the 6^th year of releases in the area to bring the total number of released eagles in east Scotland as close as possible to 100 birds. This will significantly increase the survival chances of the reintroduced population into the future. Leaders funding will support the acquisition of the birds from Norway and the complicated logistics involved!

Thanks to Ken Jack for this wonderful photo of 11RedT on his big release day!

Thank you HLF!

2011-07-19T11:39:16Z

The news was finally official yesterday that RSPB has been awarded £235,000 to fund sea eagle work across Scotland for the next three years. Many thanks to everyone who pledged support for our bid and our partenrs who helped us right such an exicitng bid.

Entitled SEEVIEWS, the See Eagle Education, Viewing, Interpretation and Engagement within Scotland project will primarily focus on engaging and educating the public about one of the country’s most iconic species.

Through field teaching, volunteer monitoring, CCTV cameras and public exhibitions in sea eagle strongholds like Mull, Wester Ross, Skye and Eastern Scotland, the scheme will allow more people to see and better understand these rare birds of prey, thus improving the species’ chances of long-term survival. In turn these activities will give local people and tourists the chance to get involved in sea eagle conservation.

Public access and education will form the focus of the project but in East Scotland this will allow us to go ahead with a sixth year of releases, bringing the total number of birds released as close as possible to 100. Population modelling, past experience and monitoring of survival rates has shown that this is crucial in order to establish a healthy population. The money also means we are looking ahead to breeding and how we can start showing you the first sea eagles breeding in eastern scotland for over 200 years as well as funds to get you involved in helping to protect the first nests. There are also proposals for a sea eagle sculpture in Dundee working with Duncan of Jordantsone Art College and local schools.

This year's chicks are unaware of their windfall, but did enjoy the heavy downpour on Saturday sitting out in the rain to rid themselves of any feather fluff and parasites. About half the young birds are flapping now and beguinning to make adult calls, although a bit of more chick like squealing still comes from some hungry mouths at feeding time!

Settling in nicely

2011-07-11T07:44:16Z

After a whirlwind arrival day meeting Stewart Stevenson - environment minister and the Norwegian Consul, the chicks have now been in captivity for two weeks and are growing fast. We have just had the sexes back and we have 10 males and 6 females, we thought we had an even split when we were collecting in Norway, so obviously have a couple of big males! The chicks weighed between 3.5 and 5.5kg when they arrived. They a bit calmer and more wary of noise than last year's batch. We have put two eagles in each avairy except one of the large females who had a wheeze when collected from the nest is on her own meaning the three smallest chicks have also had to go together. The female was put on antibiotics and antifungal medication in Norway, but was not getting any better, coughing and wheezing but also wolfing her food down. Jo one of our vets got in touch last week to say that she had tested positive for gape worm, a parasite in the throat so we have treated her and are just waiting another couple of weeks to re-test her before we can put her in a clean aviary with another bird. We have not seen this parasite in the young eagles before and expect she got it from eating some bird prey brought to her by the adults in the nest. Our smallest male is just starting to use his feet to help rip up his food so no longer needs it chopped up and another male did his first wing flaps the other day, despite his wing feathers only being half grown! All the birds are also starting to take more interest in what is going on outside the cages they have also been enjoying sitting out in the cooling rain looking less than majestic with their feathers flattened down. we are feeding them a mixed diet of haddock (off-cuts of Arbroath smokies) venison (mainly unwanted bits from Highland Game in Dundee this year) and grey squirrels from the Scottish Wildlife Trust cull around Aberdeen. Birds from previous years are still spending a lot of time on the firth of Forth.

Norway - part 4

2011-06-28T05:18:00Z

It is often hard to see into the nests in Norway you can see a nest is active but can't see how many heads are in there. We drove to nest, pulling over at the side of the road to check it with the scope before we walked in. amazingly we could see 3 heads, triplets! This is great as it means we can collect two chicks from this nest, triplets are quite rare as not many pairs are able to feed 3 chicks or build a nest large enough to support them! The other surprise about this nest was that it was next to a firing range, quite off-putting as you try and climb a tree! However, the eagles were not fazed by this, actually choosing to build their nest here after the rifle range had been there for sometime. This is a great example of how tolerant of people some of these birds are. We collected two females from this nest, leaving the smaller male. We checked another couple fo nests on the way home but they only contained. one chick. However a couple of phonecalls from people collecting in Bergen to the south and in areas further north mean we had another five chicks!

After picking up two chicks from the overnight ferry from Bergen the next day we caught a couple of ferries to the outer islands and then borrowed a small boat to get out to a nest on a crag on a small island, we managed to misjudge the tide, getting dropped off on what we thought was the main part of the island and was infact another rocky outcrop cut off by the sea, the boat had left so we just had to take our boots off and wade across! This nest and others that day only contained one or no chicks so we were left empty handed. The first 2 nests we visited on my last day both had twins, we collected a male from each, bringing the total to 15. Our last port of call later than evening was to check a nest on a small island opposite the town of Ulsteinvik close to Alv Ottar's house, the evening light was great and we could clearly see twins in the nest, there was no time to get the boat out that evening but Ingar and Alv Ottar collected our final large female from this nest the next day whilst I headed back to Scotland to check everything was ready for their arrival.