Just finished reading "The call of the Eagle" written by Dave Walker. This tells of the writers involvement with the monitoring of the Golden Eagles at Haweswater and other sites in the Lake District.I had read Dave's previous,smaller, book titled "Lakeland Eagles" which gave a lot of details about the birds but this book gave descriptions of how the monitoring was done both at Haweswater and at a site further to the West of the Lake District.The living conditions certainly did not seem to bu up to the standard you expect when looking after such iconic birds but it seems everything was on a tight budget.There were many long days in the hills tracking the birds to their feeding areas and it certainly more intensive than any of the surveys/monitoring we have done and certainly it requireed a great deal of dedication. A great read for any raptor enthusiast or any person interested in the life of the Haweswater star birds now sadly down to a single bird.
Pete
Birding is for everyone no matter how good or bad we are at it,enjoy it while you can
Must have been a fascinating read Pete and insight into the lives of the Haweswater G.Eagles. How many Eagles were there during Dave Walker's involvement ? such a pity there is only one bird now. The book/s would make an ideal xmas present for those wanting to read more about these beautiful raptors and I hope this lonely male Golden Eagle eventually finds a mate. Not visited the Haweswater area of Cumbria so maybe head up there next season for a recce.
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Regards, Hazel
Slight bit of a typo on my part Hazel,it was written by Dave Walker not Parker. At the time of his involvement there were at least two breeding pairs in the Lakes,the Haweswater birds and another pair that were monitored in the West of the area. He goes to great lengths not to name this area,probably in case birds ever returned to the valley. It is worth a trip up to Haweswater to see the male displaying but it's also a bit sad that he never gets any response.As there is talk of reintroducing birds over the Solway in South West Scotland one can only wonder why it has not been tried here.
Cheers Pete, I will definitely make an effort next summer to visit Haweswater area as its not far from Cheshire and although it may be unlikely I really hope this male finds a mate; I do hope they reintroduce more of these magnificent eagles and then hope they stay safe from the lunatics who want to shoot or harm them :(
Do you really think that someone would harm one of our magnificent raptors Hazel,surely not, that would be illegal.
Wendy S said: that would be illegal.
A friend has a suggestion of dressing up one of the new craze of drones as a raptor fitted with mini shotguns ! pass that one to Father Christmas
Wendy S said: A friend has a suggestion of dressing up one of the new craze of drones as a raptor fitted with mini shotguns ! pass that one to Father Christmas