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....
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.
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!
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.
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.