One week on and our first chick was one week old yesterday, still unable to maintain it’s own body temperature, still very vulnerable to bad weather and still very small and downy. We haven’t yet been able to get a good view of the chick itself, nor have we confirmed whether or not we have a second chick. The second egg would have hatched over the weekend if at all, so we’ll keep an eye out for any signs. As the chick or chicks get bigger they’ll be able to keep themselves warm, meaning the parents don’t need to incubate, we should begin to see them sat next to the nest more and hopefully give a better view in. They’ll also need to increase the prey brought in, to support quickly developing youngsters, a growing chick needs a vast amount of energy.

We’ve had some great visitors at the hide, along with some great sightings too. On Monday we had a large coach party of visitors after our regular trips, many of these visitors were bird ringers around the country. To make my day even more special, I got the chance to put a face to a name; Brian Little MBE. I’m from Northumberland, and Brian has been integral to bird of prey research based in the county. He has been ringing birds for over 50 years and created the basis for monitoring merlin and tawny owls. He was amazingly knowledgeable, and it was brilliant to chat to him.

Eagle education

On Tuesday afternoon I visited Ulva Primary school to run a session about eagles and wildlife. I thoroughly enjoyed it and so did the kids I think! It was lovely sunshine so we spent the whole time outside, with a bit of running about as predators and prey, then various activities afterwards – all aimed at highlighting the wildlife on our island and how every species links together. I think it’s important to look at things as a whole, rather than one species like the white-tailed eagle.

I’m looking forward to seeing them again in June, when they visit the hide for some more fun and games. I have another school visit on Friday too, it’s great to work with the children.

Wildlife watching

Some good wildlife to look out for in general on the island at the minute, things like green hairstreak butterflies on gorse, the flag irises are beginning to flower too, along with sea pinks.

Sea pinks

Most of our migrant bird species are here now and settled down for business; listen out for chiffchaff, common sandpipers and warblers. You’ll see our swallows, house martins and sand martins are here too and our auks are back in our waters, breeding out on the Treshnish Isles.

Marine life is looking great too, with good sightings from our local Hebridean waters, lots of common dolphins around, plus our local bottlenose dolphins have been seen in Salen bay this week.

Thanks for reading!