Mull Eagle Watch

Spring has sprung and ’tis the season of new life!

With sights of soaring beautiful white tailed eagles, often seen perched on a nearby tree top and nearby coastal rocks. We have been witnessing the continuous brooding of the egg, predominantly by the wonderful Anna. Scalla has been seen regularly out at sea or across the sound of Mull…or even soaring along the nearby mountain ridge searching for prey.

In the last few weeks we have been closely monitoring the situation as Anna has (for 70% of the time) been sitting on the egg brooding consistently.
Our hearts have been in our mouths with excitement, and full to the brim with adrenaline, anticipating the arrival of the new born chick!
In the last few days we have noticed a change in behaviour with the two birds. We have noticed Anna perched up much higher than usual, her shoulders completely elevated above the nest. She has been seen bending down attending to what appears to be another living being within the nest!

Anna sat alot higher in the nest

We have seen strips of meat hanging from her beak as she tenderly lowers her head into the nest…this is a sure sign that there is a chick in the nest, even if we haven’t seen a fluffy little head yet! We have been noticing her continuous shifting about the nest, looking down, shuffling forwards and back. Moving circularly around the perimeter in an extremely delicate manner- which is usually a definite sign that she is being conscious of a small delicate being within the centre of the nest. Anna at this time, would be clenching her talons tightly to ensure no damage is done to her new little chick.
What a wonderful sight to see this very intimate moment of newborn and parent learning and feeding 🙂 The new father Scalla has been doing his fatherly duties, flying in and out continuously with prey, ensuring that the newborn and the mother are given substantial quantities of nourishment – enabling the young chick (or chicks) to grow at a healthy and substantial rate. They really need it, because in literally just ten weeks time that little chick will grow to be a fully grown, two metre wing-spanned white tailed eagle! Wow! 😲

Scalla proudly perched above the nest
Scalla, the beauty is being such a proud dad perched on a branch watching over the newly formed life that he and Anna have created together.
Mother Anna and Scalla have been working tirelessly to mind the egg since the 31st of March and so far they have been incredibly successful *touch wood* and we are so excited and proud of them too.
Congratulations to the new parents!
All our love from Caoimhe and Lizzy ❤

Rain. What Rain??

So after a wonderful start to the season the weather is dry as anything, the sun is shining and we’re here on Craignure Golf Course living la vida loca alongside the pair of resident eagles Scalla and Anna.
So far on our journey we are still in incubation stage and it is about two weeks to go until the egg (potentially two eggs… and quite possibly three) hatches!
We will know for sure more about how many are in the nest once we have counted fluffy heads and even then, we may be surprised when we go up to ring them after four weeks. So we are looking at some exciting times ahead, as there will be a wee chick inside the giant nest in about two weeks!

What we have been witnessing in the last couple of weeks since we began, has been sights of one of either Scalla or Anna taking turns soaring and hunting for prey along the ridge of the mountain, out at sea (getting mobbed by gulls on occasion) and every now and again right over the golf course. One particular day we saw Scalla perched on a rock out at sea (in Scallastle bay no less) for over an hour – giving us some very up close viewings of this majestic bird being incredibly still and peaceful.

Photo Credits Lizzy. Eagle, taken through the telescope on a windy day!

(Photo credits Lizzy. But don’t hold the blurriness against her! It was rather windy, and taken through a telescope!)

There is plenty of marine life and bird life to be seen here along the coast such as common seals and grey seals, the elusive otter, gulls-a-plenty, buzzards, shag, curlew, heron, ringed plover, redshank, greenshank, great northern diver, and an abundance of Canada goose, greylag goose and oystercatcher. (That’s just to name a few!)

More recently we have been hearing a cuckoo in the wind… such a majestic sound to the ears as we are searching the skies for a white tailed eagle!
We are having an absolute blast of a time down here taking groups of excited bird watchers and nature lovers out along the coast to immerse themselves in the wilderness and get a chance to have an up close view (with a telescope) of a nesting pair of WTE’s… so special !

There hasn’t been much drama in terms of eagle situations, which is a really good thing especially during this incubation stage *touch wood* that things will all go smoothly over the next few weeks and that there will be a little chick (s) in the nest.

We are so grateful to have the opportunity to be here on the golf course walking out along this majestic coastline with the mountains and the sea and the abundance of wildlife. It really is wonderful to see this native species nesting so contently and comfortably in the tall native scots pine.The two native species of tree and bird, supporting each other as they would have naturally over one hundred years ago. Absolutely phenomenal views and sights.
Join Lizzy and I for a tour whenever you have a spare morning/ afternoon… out along the coast to view this wonderful native species in its natural habitat.

Bookings can be made by phoning:
01680 812 556

Thank you for reading 😊

Mull Eagle Watch over and out for now!
Caoimhe
RSPB Community Information and Tourism Officer

We are Back. Mull Eagle Watch 2019!

Hello everyone and welcome back to Mull Eagle Watch 2019!

Week one is down and so far it’s been an absolutely incredible beginning to Mull Eagle Watch season of 2019 at Craignure Golf Course.

The sun has been shining steadily every single day, the clouds have been soft and gentle giving some incredible sights! The resident pair of white tailed eagles named Scalla and Anna have so far definitely got at least one egg in the nest… after a challenging start to the season last year, this year so far everything is going smoothly as it’s been about 14 days since the laying and incubation period began on the 31st of March.
We have been watching intently ensuring that there is always one of the eagles brooding the new egg and without fail there has been a strong presence in the sky of the partner continuously soaring and hunting for prey insuring the family continues to be nourished and fed!

Craignure Golf Course is a fantastic location and we are so very grateful to have the opportunity to host Mull Eagle Watch 2019 on the premesis.
The golf course has created a fabulous honesty cafe full of delicious home baked goodies for our very lucky customers to enjoy along with a hot cup of tea or coffee after our wee wilderness eagle-scursions.

Lizzy, the other Eagle Ranger for Mull and Iona Community Trust and myself will be running 2 tours per day ( 11am and 2pm ) 6 days a week every day except Saturday. Guiding walks and showing the public these majestic birds of prey in their natural habitat.

Come down and get out there in nature with us to witness these profoundly majestic and very rare birds doing what they do best- hunting and creating life!

Hopefully see you all over the summer on this incredible island of Mull 🙂

Bookings can be made by phoning: 01680 812 556

Over and out for now!
Caoimhe Keohane
Mull Eagle Watch- Community Engagement and Tourism Officer

Farewell from Mull Eagle Watch 2018

3^rd November 2018

My goodness, it has been the most challenging season for Mull Eagle Watch! We’ve had some great highs and way too many lows but still, we managed to salvage the season and end with some fantastic and well-deserved news. Here is a summary of the key events that occurred this summer.

The season got off to a fantastic start at our brilliant new host site, Craignure Golf Course, where we watched the long-established white-tailed eagle pair, Scalla and Anna, beginning their breeding season. Sadly, within a week of Anna laying her eggs – and within a week of us starting our tours – the nesting attempt had failed. We think the cause was another adult bird whose interference may be to blame for their eggs breaking. The pair remained around the golf course for the next month, giving our visitors fantastic views, but ultimately decided to explore further afield.

Anna landing in the nest at Craignure Golf Club

With no sea eagles to see, we turned our attention to the coast and were pleasantly surprised by the rewarding sights of distant golden and white-tailed eagles, otters and seals in the Sound of Mull, common and Arctic terns and a great variety of waders including curlew, ringed plover, turnstone, dunlin, common sandpiper and sanderling.

Common seals

Ringed plover on the beach

Arctic tern at Craignure Golf Course

Tern chick at Craignure Golf Course

We also decided to return to our usual location at Tiroran Community Forest to watch our old friends Fingal and Iona. The view of their nest this year was unbelievable! It was relatively close and very visible, giving our visitors unbeatable views of the parents and chick at all times. But disaster struck again; just two weeks into our tours here, the chick passed away. The post-mortem revealed that it had died from a chest infection. A huge blow to the project but even more heart-breaking for the eagles.

Iona and chick on the nest in Tiroran Community Forest

Just as we felt well and truly defeated, the opportunity arose to return to West Ardhu to run tours and we jumped at the chance! Parents, Hope and Star, had two adult-sized healthy eaglets when we arrived and visitors flocked to the site to see them. Here, we saw lots of young kestrels whizzing around, the occasional sparrowhawk, the very rare golden eagle and of course, the white-tail family flying in and out and all around to the delight of our visitors.

Hope flying past at West Ardhu

Hope and Star’s male eaglet

So despite the challenges this summer has thrown at us – due in large part to the high nest faliure rate of the eagles (9/22 failed) -, we seem to have unbelievably pulled through and even ended on a surprising high; amazingly last night, we took home the Working Together for Tourism award from the Highland and Islands Tourism Awards. A real testament to the success of this partnership and how the partners and other organisations can pull together. And not forgetting the 5* Visit Scotland rating we were awarded based on an eagle-less tour at Craignure Golf Course!

RSPB Mull Officer, Dave, collecting the HITA award!

Thank you to all who supported us this season whether that be by attending a tour, donating to us or just reading this blog and our other social media posts. And thank you to all the partners: Mull and Iona Community Trust, Police Scotland, Scottish Natural Heritage, Forestry Commission Scotland and the RSPB and also to Craignure Golf Club, South West Mull and Iona Development (Tiroran) and North West Mull Community Woodland Company (West Ardhu) for hosting us.

We hope to be back next year, so see you then!

Meryl

RSPB Community Information and Tourism Officer

An update on Shelly – the sea eagle rediscovered after 7 years

15th October 2018

In 2010, MEW watched as sea eagle pair, Fingal and Iona, raised a chick. The female was named Shelly after Glen Seilisdeir, the valley in which the birds reside on the Isle of Mull.

Shelly chick — *Shelly as a chick in 2010 having her leg rings and satellite tag fitted ( Forestry Commission Scotland)*

Shelly was fitted with a satellite tag which was designed to track her movements. Disappointingly, after only three years, the tag stopped transmitting on the Isle of Lewis. Luckily though, it was recovered with no eagle attached so it was hoped she was still alive.

Last year, RSPB Mull Officer, Dave Sexton, received an exciting email from a birder named Iain who had been photographing eagles on a loch up in Sutherland. In one photo, the bird’s leg rings could quite clearly be read as C9 39.

Heart-racing, knowing that the blue/silver colour combination of the ring was worn by birds hatched in 2010, Dave searched the database of leg rings and found it was her! He had finally found the answer to her disappearance all those years ago. As it turns out, Shelly had been breeding at this location since 2015 and had raised four chicks with her partner who was from Lewis, the Isle where Shelly had lost her tag.

This Summer, Iain kindly gave us an update on Shelly and her family. She has hatched another two chicks this year and the whole family can be seen in the photo below. Thank you to Iain Paterson for this revelation, the update and the fantastic photos.

Eagle C9 39 — *Sea eagle Shelly (C9 39) as an adult in Sutherland*

Eagle C9 23 — *Shelly’s mate (C9 23) from the Isle of Lewis*

Shelly nest — *Male in the nest with the two large chicks (one’s head only just visible below male’s left wing) and Shelly coming in to land*

Meanwhile, Mull’s class of 2018 are getting ready to leave thier parents. Where will they end up?

We are into our last week of tours this season. So for a chance to see Hope, Star and their chicks, book on a tour at West Ardhu on 01680 812556.

Thanks for reading,

Meryl

RSPB Community Information and Tourism Officer

Buzz off!

2nd September 2018

We were spolit with eagle action last Thursday at West Ardhu!

Hope arrived with a measly portion of food but, instead of dropping it in the nest, she perched underneath Misak to eat it herself, despite the incessant calling from the hungry chick.

Ulva, appeared at the same time but, realising the food wasn’t for sharing, she swiftly moved on and soared up high for our visitors for a while before being mobbed by ravens.

And there was more mobbing to come! The visitors would have gone home happy then but in the final moments of the tour, Hope flew past us over the nearby hillside. Instead of following her normal route, she strangely decided to stop and perch precariously atop a very spindly tree. She was now sat about 100 metres away from us – something we rarely see them do.

Almost immediately, she was greeted with hostility by one of the local buzzards who proceeded to mob her as she called out, swooping past her again and again until she finally up and left, with the buzzard in pursuit. Here is the series of Cian’s photos to illustrate the story!

edit 4 — Hope has had enough! She leaves…

edit 5 edit 6

Tours at West Ardhu are still running throughout September. To book on a tour, please call 01680 812 556. Of course these are wild birds so please bear in mind that you may not get as lucky as this!

Thanks for reading,

Meryl

RSPB Community Information and Tourism Officer

An Unwelcome Visitor at the Nest

23rd August 2018

At West Ardhu Eagle Watch, we are having the odd sighting of an immature white-tailed eagle who is obviously very inquisitive about what’s going on in the nest.

One day, it went as far as to sit in the nest tree, peering down at the eaglet in the nest before Hope crashed in to chase it off. The nearby group of five kestrels also joined in!

edit 6 — Intruder looking at eaglet in nest

edit 8 — The intruder leaves… before circling back!

edit 10 — One of the eaglets escapes the commotion

We are still running tours until the end of September so call the VisitScotland Craignure iCentre on 01680 812556 to book.

Thanks for reading,

Meryl

RSPB Community Information and Tourism Officer

Soggy eagles (and visitors) at Wet Ardhu!

20th August 2018

Where did all that lovely weather go?

I’m once again, living in waterproof overtrousers and boots which have been damp for days. However I can’t help but pity the eagles more than myself as they sit sheltering under branches, holding their wings out to dry.

Despite the dismal weather our eagles have still been going about their daily business to the delight of cheerful but sodden visitors.

We’ve seen Hope and Star bringing food back to nest and the eaglets flying around and even perching closer to us to investigate!

edit 5 — Hope carrying food in talons and beak!

So, even on the dismal days, we are still seeing good action (although tours may be cancelled if the visibility is too bad due to the rain/cloud). We are still running tours until the end of September so to book on one, call the VisitScotland iCentre on 01680 812556.

Thanks for reading,

Meryl

RSPB Community Information and Tourism Officer

Tern after tern this season

As you’ll know, it has been a rollercoaster of a season here at Mull Eagle Watch this year.

However, for our terns at Craignure, it has been slightly smoother.

The picture above is of Scallastle bay, the beach that surrounds Craignure Golf Course. This area has been designated a SSSI (Site of Special Scientific Interest) because of the ground-nesting birds such as the two tern species we get here, arctic and common, as well as ringed plover and common gulls.

There was quite the storm here four weeks ago when, unfortunately, some of the nest sites were washed away with the tide.
A few nests on the beach closest to the golf course remained unscathed and are in a great place for us to observe them at a distance without causing disturbance.

Although, even when walking on the golf course and away from the beach, the terns do come and say ‘hello’!

These arctic terns tend to nest in the same area where they hatched themselves. So there is a good chance some of these birds hatched here, at least three or four years ago, as it takes that long to reach sexual maturity. They will then return to breed once every one-to-three years, depending on their mating cycle.

If you look at the photo above, you might be able to make out the speckled beige egg hidden amongst the pebbles below the tern.
This nest appeared to have just the one egg in but they can lay up to three. The incubation takes between 22-34 days depending on levels of disturbance.

They share incubation duties and feed one another during this period.

Yesterday, we were finally lucky enough to get a glimpse of the chicks. At less than a week old, they won’t be fledging for at least another two weeks.

These chicks are so camouflaged that it was a real struggle to pick them out. Luckily, the parents have to check on them, so we just waited for them to show us where they were hiding!

We will keep an eye on these chicks for the next couple of weeks and see how they get on. Hopefully they’ll be joined by ringed plover chicks this week!

If you want to come and see these wonderful birds, get booked onto our Craignure Golf Course coastal wildlife watch tours through the Craignure Visit Scotland iCentre.

We hope to see you soon!

Cian

P.S All photographs are taken with a 600mm lens and a 1.4x teleconverter, this means the subjects are photgraphed from distance without disturbance.

Tiroran chick post-mortem

2nd July 2018

Sadly, on Thursday 14^th June, the Tiroran chick was confirmed dead. It had only been ringed on the Monday and the team remarked at how placid it had been when being handled.

The Tiroran chick being ringed

Looking back, that wasn’t a good sign. Cian had been watching the chick all week with visitors and had seen it feeding well on Monday and Tuesday but hunkered down on the Wednesday during storm Hector. By Thursday afternoon, it was apparent to him that the chick was lifeless.

The ringing team were visiting their last nest of the day when they were informed. Instead of clocking off at 6pm, they journeyed back to Tiroran to retrieve the body.

It was sent off for post-mortem and the results suggested that it had a birth defect or a chest infection and it is likely that the storm was the final straw. It also had no food in its crop (the pouch in the throat used to temporarily store food) which suggested it had not been feeding despite there being food in the nest and the parents attending to it.

A very sad tale for Fingal and Iona this year. I had the honour of watching them raising their chick, Arwen, last year and seeing her go from egg to fledge in such a short space of time was very special. But they aren’t alone. Sadly a higher-than-average 9/20 white-tailed eagle nests have failed this year on Mull.

Despite having lost their chick, Fingal and Iona are still around Tiroran and have even been seen sitting in the nest tree on our tours.

Iona sat above the nest having lost her chick

If you would like to book on a tour here or at Craignure Golf Club where we are running coastal wildlife watches, please call the Visit Scotland Craignure iCentre on 01680 812377.

Thanks for reading,

Meryl

RSPB Ranger