East Scotland Sea Eagles

Visiting the big city

2019-02-13T11:06:00Z

It has been 34 years since sea eagles first started breeding on Mull and the population there and the surrounding mainland peninsulas has gone from strength to strength. There are 21 breeding pairs on Mull alone and the total population of individuals in the area must run into the hundreds. For a young East Scotland sea eagle that fledged in the glens of Angus where there are just a handful of other sea eagles around, it must be like visiting a city.

Satellite tag data from Blue V in 2018.

It’s no wonder then, that they keep going back to Mull. Indeed 2017’s Blue V, a young female, made 3 visits in 2018 alone, covering 150 miles on the round trip each time. The good news is that they keep returning to East Scotland, with Strathspey and the Monadliath mountains rapidly becoming the melting pot of the two populations.

White Diamond in December 2018. Image credit Alyson Houston.

As interesting as lines on a map can be, it’s always nice to see the young sea eagles looking healthy and steadily moulting towards their adult plumage. 2016’s White Diamond was recently photographed at the Highland Wildlife Park by the staff there. Her huge bill is now distinctly yellow, her head much paler and next year her tail will finally begin to turn white.

White Diamond in December 2018. Image credit Alyson Houston.

The resident polar bears and snow leopards must have been a curious sight for Diamond as she circled over the park, but I suspect the resident flock of feral Barnacle geese held the most interest.

A season of mixed fortunes

2018-09-18T15:31:22Z

The breeding season here in East Scotland has been a story of mixed fortunes for our sea eagles. The male sea eagle Turquoise Z, who last year raised chicks on nests in Angus and Fife, chose to concentrate on the Angus nest rather than attempt to repeat the marathon two nest season of 2017. Unfortunately they failed at some point during incubation of the eggs, meaning there were no successful nests in the southern half of East Scotland in 2018.

The sea eagles further north faired much better, with two chicks once again fledging from a nest in Speyside and, for the first time in 140 years, two more fledged in Orkney. After two failed attempts in 2015 and 2016, there seems to be a new male on the Island of Hoy and they raised two healthy chicks, a great milestone for the return of sea eagles to the UK (read more here).

The four remaining satellite-tagged young sea eagles have faired well, returning from the west coast to their usual haunts in East Scotland. White L, the Fife pairs’ 2016 chick, has been particularly adventurous, exploring a region more than 200 kilometres across and covering 2,500 kilometres between April and August.

Image – Movements of White L (blue) and Blue V (yellow), the last of the young sea eagles to return from Mull.

There are still promising signs of new pairs across the region and the first of the second generation birds will be reaching the age at which sea eagles start to pair up. Hopefully they will get a better start to 2019, we’re already looking forward to it.

If you go down to the woods today - Exploring Tentsmuir NNR

2018-07-12T22:03:54Z

The last 6 months have been an eventful time for both the animal kingdom and the East Scotland Sea Eagle Schools' project, what with bitterly cold northerly winds for weeks on the end, the infamous 'Beast from the East' and more recently the hottest, driest June on record for some time.

'Spring trying it's best despite the harsh winter conditions' Photo Credit: S.Rasmussen

Just as the wildlife had to adjust to the ever changing environment and weather patterns, so too did the 561 children who visited Tentsmuir NNR to learn about the life cycle and behaviour of Europe's largest bird of prey; the white-tailed eagle.

'Tentsmuir National Nature Reserve; a popular hunting ground for sea eagles' Photo Credit: S.Rasmussen

Fortunately the weather only effected a couple of trips, which were rescheduled later in the year, and the intrepid explorers wrapped up (or slopped on the suncream) to explore what makes Tentsmuir NNR a special place for wildlife.

'Kinglassie Primary School exploring the dunes' Photo Credit: S.Rasmussen

Primary pupils from Perth and Kinross, and Fife learned about the behavior and physiology of the local sea eagles by getting involved in a variety of activities, such as working as a team to build a life size nest, feeling what it was like to be a hunted rabbit in a game of predator and prey, and measuring themselves against a replica life size white-tailed eagle.

'Nestmates -McLean Primary School' Photo Credit: S.Rasmussen

Pupils also spent time tuning in their superior eagle sense of sight to explore the woodland habitat in more detail. Children were challenged to find natural objects that represented pairs of words such as spiky and smooth, fragrant and smelly, or dead and alive.

'Nature's Opposites' Photo Credit: S.Rasmussen

They quickly discovered that the heathland was a great place to discover cinnabar moths, snails and flowering gorse.

'Cinnabar Moth' Photo Credit: S.Rasmussen

Further challenges included creating a natural paint palette, making bark rubbings to represent the scaly talons of the sea eagle and using microscopes to zoom in their eye sight up to 10x like an eagle, to see wee critters on the forest floor.

'Nature's Palette' Photo Credit: S.Rasmussen

The exploration didn't end there. A feeding station installed by the Forestry Commission (responsible for the management of the forest) made a great focal point for exploring one of Tentsmuir's most famous inhabitants; the red squirrel. There were plenty of feeding signs and it was encouraging that pupils were already aware of the threats posed by non-native grey squirrels to our native red population.

'Red Squirrel Feeding Signs' Photo Credit: S.Rasmussen

There were discussions about squirrel pox, habitat competition, the positive relationship between an increasing pine marten and red squirrel population, and even the reasons behind trapping and dispatching greys.

'Topping up the feeders' Photo Credit S.Wright (Wormit Primary)

Groups then explored what it was like to live as a squirrel by taking part in a 'mirror walk', switching their view of the ground for one of the tree canopy as they walked through the forest.

'Getting ready for the red squirrel mirror walk' Photo Credit: S.Wright (Wormit Primary)

The afternoons' explorations continued by getting into the mind of an incubating sea eagle. Pupils were challenged to sit quietly and tune in their senses of sight and sound to record all that could be heard or seen during a 15 minute solo sit spot. Pupils picked a place away from everybody else and allowed the noises of the class to settle, until all that could be heard were the sounds of skylark from the dunes, the cheeky chaffinches seeking out crumbs left from pack lunches and even the sound of the sea in the distance. Needless to say it was usually the favourite part of each visiting teacher's day.

'Sit Spot' Photo Credit: S.Rasmussen

Finally pupils were given the chance to create their own National Nature Reserve. Each group was given a rope to pick an area that they found interesting, and then were challenged to create a variety of habitats that would be good homes for nature (and for people). We had everything from aerial walkways for squirrels and birds, a snail sanctuary and even a dragon's cave complete with a Viking saga to go with it!

'Mini Nature Reserve' Phot Credit: S.Rasmussen

It has been another fantastic season, packed full of learning, discoveries and curious questions. It has been great to hear about some of the schools taking their new role as sea eagle ambassadors further, by writing to the current minister for the environment Roseanna Cunningham, to ask for further protection of our magnificent white-tailed eagles.

'Abernethy Primary, one of 20 schools to visit Tentsmuir NNR' Photo Credit: L.Hepburn (Abernethy Primary School)

A huge thanks must go to the fantastic team of volunteers who have given their time and endless enthusiasm to the project and helped inspire the next generation of wildlife guardians. Further thanks must also go to Forest Enterprise Scotland who very kindly co-funded the project to allow schools to access free transport, and the Forestry Commission and Scottish Natural Heritage for once again hosting us in what must be one of the best nature reserves in the country.

'Tentsmuir NNR' Photo Credit: S.Rasmussen

Perhaps you will be inspired to explore Tentsmuir forest this summer too - who knows what wildlife surprises are in store? You can find out more here;

https://scotland.forestry.gov.uk/visit/tentsmuir

https://www.nature.scot/enjoying-outdoors/places-visit/scotlands-national-nature-reserves/tentsmuir-national-nature-reserve

The fate of Blue X

2018-05-08T03:39:00Z

In March the satellite-tag fitted to the young sea eagle known as Blue X suddenly stopped transmitting in the Glen Quaich area of Highland Perthshire, an area dominated by land managed for driven grouse shooting. Her disappearance is described by RSPB Scotland as ‘highly suspicious’. It is important to understand what we mean by this, as we’re often accused of ‘trial by media’ without corroborating evidence in cases like this one.

Image; Blue X shortly after fledging. Image credit Dennis Gentles

There is a very small chance, less than 2%, that the tag had a mechanical failure – these tags are widely used in studies of birds of prey throughout the world, and they have a proven reliability. Had the bird naturally, or had the tag become detached and fallen to the ground, we would expect it to continue to transmit, at least for a few days, even if the solar panel through which the tag’s battery remains charged had become obscured.

We don’t know the exact location where the tag failed, basically because we can't say for certain how far after the last known location fix Blue X travelled. That is why we don’t publish the data showing the last location or lay the blame with any individual estate as we cannot know for sure. However, studying her patterns of behaviour in the days and hours leading up to the tag failure strongly suggests that she was fairly settled in Glen Quaich.

Sadly, there is a very high likelihood, that Blue X was deliberately killed somewhere close to the location of her last transmission and the tag destroyed to hide the evidence. That this happened in the same area that three satellite-tagged golden eagles have also disappeared and a raven and red kite were poisoned in recent years, adds to a picture of local intolerance towards protected birds of prey and undoubtedly makes this latest case highly suspicious, if not conclusive.

The loss of Blue X is particularly hard to bear. She was a unique individual; already weighing 6kg at eight weeks old when the tag was fitted she was likely one of the biggest eagles ever to grace the skies of Scotland. She had a unique upbringing, when her father, Turquoise 1, also fledged another chick, Blue X’s half sister Blue V, from a different nest 28 miles away in Angus.

Image; Blue X (centre) with her parents near the nest in Fife. Image credit Richard Tough.

At the Fife nest she was watched over by a dedicated team of volunteers who put in a commendable 815 hours during the 2017 breeding season. Staff from RSPB Scotland and Forest Enterprise Scotland have put in a great deal of effort to make this a success. Whilst Blue X was still an embryo in an egg, a photographer attempting to get closer shots of the mother, Turquoise 1, flushed her from the nest leaving the eggs exposed to the elements. The timely intervention of two of the nest watch volunteers allowed Turquoise 1 to return to incubating the eggs and undoubtedly saved the life of Blue X before she’d even hatched.

Image:; Satellite-tag data from Blue X during her visit to Mull

Blue X was one of four young sea eagles to flee to the west coast of Scotland at the end of February when the ‘beast from the east’ weather front drove high winds and heavy snow into the eastern highlands. She visited Mull before finally returning east to Perthshire in mid-March where she would live for only a few more days. Her half sister blue V has recently made the same trip out to Mull and is still on the west coast. We can only hope that if she returns she finds a safer route back to East Scotland.

The Beast from the East

2018-03-23T03:20:17Z

Sea eagles are very resilient birds. They can withstand freezing temperatures, snow storms, day after day of heavy rain and gale force winds, making use of their large size and insulating feathers to survive the cold. Here in East Scotland our satellite-tagged young sea eagles have spent much of the winter in the harshest environment Scotland has to offer; the Cairngorms. So when the ‘beast from the east’ hit the east coast at the end of February, I naturally assumed they would just tough it out as usual.

East Scotland sea eagles usual winter home.

Most of the young sea eagles it seems had other ideas. Sensing perhaps that this particular weather front was more beastly than usual, 5 of them fled west. They reached Skye, Fort William and Mull before stopping to rest. Here, in the core of the much larger west coast population, they must have met many other sea eagles for the first time. Most of these young birds had never flown out over the sea before, but this didn’t put them off. Three ended up visiting Mull and one very confident young male crossed the 7 mile stretch of sea from Skye to the isle Eigg, then on to Muck before returning the the mainland at Ardnamurchan.

Satellite tracks from 4 of the young sea eagles as they made their way west.

With so many other sea eagles on the west coast to meet and investigate I was concerned they would simply stay there. For the birds it is a great adventure but it would be a set back to our hopes of a strong population in East Scotland. I needn’t have worried however, three weeks later they have all returned. They join the two that did decide to tough out the weather and I’m pleased to report they’re both thriving. The beast from the east met its match in two of our young sea eagles at least.

Tentsmuir: A magical habitat of red squirrels, seals and hunting sea eagles

2018-02-12T21:09:05Z

Once again Tentsmuir Forest and NNR will play host this year to over 500 children keen to learn about the reintroduction of white-tailed eagles to East Scotland.

Following the success of last year's outdoor learning sessions based at the reserve, pupils from primary schools throughout Perth & Kinross and Fife will have the opportunity to participate in hands-on activities that bring the breeding cycle of the sea eagle to life; from giant nest building, to experiencing the pressure of hunting for prey.

'Year of the white-tailed eagle'. Photo Credit: S.Rasmussen

Thanks to funding from RSPB Scotland and Forest Enterprise Scotland free transport to the reserve will enable schools to participate in a choice of two learning experiences; 'The Year of the White tailed Eagle' and new for this year, the 'Habitat of the White Tailed Eagle'.

'Beaky' and her newly built nest. Photo Credit: S.Rasmussen

Pupils will have the opportunity to explore the wider landscape of woodland, dunes and coast. They won't only learn why it is an attractive hunting ground for the white-tailed eagle, but discover what other species inhabit this special place.

The outdoor classroom. Photo Credit: S.Rasmussen

Tentsmuir is one of the most dynamic coastlines in Scotland, from the sands of Abertay and the Great Slack at Tentsmuir Point in the North, to the shifting dune systems of Kinshaldy and the wader rich Eden Estuary in the south.

The quantity of water exiting the River Tay into the Forth is more than any other river system in the UK, with 2000 bathloads of freshwater flowing into the North Sea every second. This constant shifting sediment creates the perfect conditions for a rich and biodiverse habitat.

Tay Estuary, The Great Slack, Abertay Sands and Tentsmuir Forest. Photo Credit: Ken Whitcombe/SNH/Kenbarry Photography

The coastline is renowned for an incredible number of species such as grey and harbour (common) seals, common scoter, pink-footed geese, bar-tailed godwit, long-tailed duck, sanderling and red-breasted merganser.

Sanderling. Photo Credit: R.Tough

The diversity of this wildlife has contributed to the area receiving several national and internationally recognised designations, including 'Site of Special Scientific Interest' and 'Special Protection Area'.

Grey Seals. Photo Credit: R.Tough

The mixture of dune slacks, heathland and acid grasslands play host to butterflies such as common blue and grayling and day-flying burnet moths and a stunning variety of plants, including northern marsh orchids, the grass-of-Parnassus, bird's foot trefoil and an array of mosses and lichen.

Common Blue. Photo Credit: R.Tough

The tranquil pools of Morton Lochs are home to an incredible variety of dragonflies, damselflies, amphibians, water rail and the local flashy kingfisher.

Common Darter. Photo Credit: S.Rasmussen

Kingfisher, Morton Lochs. Photo Credit: R.Tough

Whilst the native broadleaf and Scots Pines are frequented by green woodpecker, crossbill, siskin, roe deer, bats and of course the much loved red squirrel.

Red Squirrel. Photo Credit: Ben Andrew RSPB Images.com

Ospreys are becoming a more common sighting in the area and of course the coastline of Tentsmuir, the dune heath and the inter-tidal zone of the Eden Estuary have been a successful hunting ground for the sea eagle pair known as 'Z' and '1' for several years. The reserve and extended coastline provides the perfect balance of prey, from flat fish and rabbit, to sea birds such as eider and any dead carrion that may get washed up.

White-tailed eagle pair 'Z' & '1'. Photo Credit: R.Tough

It will be interesting to see what species, sightings, tracks and trails our intrepid school pupils discover on their journeys. We will report back later in the year with their findings and tales of exploration.

Tentsmuir Forest and National Nature Reserve are managed by Scottish Natural Heritage and the Forestry Commission Scotland. You can find out more about the reserve and their work here;

http://scotland.forestry.gov.uk/visit/tentsmuir

http://www.nnr-scotland.org.uk/tentsmuir/

East Scotland's Newest Sea Eagles

2018-01-08T02:59:37Z

In November we caught up with 3 satellite-tagged young sea eagles from previous years nests in East Scotland. In this blog we will look at the progress made by the 4 latest additions to the East Scotland sea eagle population that hatched in 2017. These young birds came from 3 successful sea eagle nests, one in Fife, one in Angus and one in Speyside.

A fascinating story developed at the Fife and Angus nests which we detailed in a previous blog post. This means that two of the chicks, 17BlueV (year – wing tag colour – wing tag letter) in Angus and 17BlueX in Fife, are probably half siblings. We judge the sex of these birds by taking weight and measurements known as biometrics during ringing and both are almost certainly female. In sea eagles the females are usually larger and Blue X is a perfect example as she's already much bigger than her father Turquoise Z.

The latest Fife chick Blue X in flight. Image credit Dennis Gentles

Sea eagles usually disperse in September or October, typically venturing far from their natal nest, however in this case neither of the two sisters has ventured far. Blue V has been on a brief excursion west into Perthshire and north into Deeside, reaching a distance of 57km from the nest before heading back. Blue X on the other hand has determinedly stayed put, venturing out only to follow her mother, Turquoise 1, to a favoured fishing spot on the Eden Estuary.

The Fife sea eagle family. Turquoise Z (left), Turquoise 1 (right) and their latest offspring Blue X (centre). Image credit Richard Tough

Meanwhile in Speyside twin males 17BlueT and 17BlueO dispersed from their nest in early September, following the typical pattern of behaviour for young sea eagles. They first head north, with Blue T reaching Lossiemouth on the north coast of Moray before heading back to the nest. After a brief rest they then made a more determined move, heading south, this time into Deeside and the Angus Glens where they have been ever since.

GPS track of Blue T (purple) and Blue O (pink) between September and November 2017

The image above shows their dispersal into Deeside but it doesn’t tell the whole story. Although they’ve roosted, scavenged and hunted in many of the same places they are very rarely in the same place at the same time, for the most part staying decidedly separate. Both however have spent time with other sea eagles, particularly 16WhiteL and 16White Diamond – their older sister!

Smile - You're On Camera

2017-11-27T20:11:50Z

Earlier in the year pupils from Tayport primary attended a ‘Celebrating Nature with Schools’ session to learn about the reintroduction of white-tailed eagles to East Scotland. Following their day of outdoor learning they were invited to deepen their knowledge about their local environment further by participating in Scottish Natural Heritage’s schools camera trapping project.

The project was designed to encourage pupils to learn about the biodiversity on their doorsteps by using camera traps to capture footage of local wildlife. Pupils were then challenged to create a short film to be entered into a national competition.

Elizabeth Downes is a committed RSPB Scotland volunteer with a particular passion for teaching children about wildlife in Fife and the surrounding Tay estuary, including the reintroduced white-tailed eagles.

When approached by Community Outreach Officer Sara (Raz) Rasmussen about working with a group on the project, Elizabeth was quick to step up to the challenge. Her experiences of the project follow below.

“When I first saw the email from Raz asking about whether I’d be keen to get involved in the SNH schools camera trapping project, I thought “that looks interesting” and “it shouldn’t take up too much time”. Well, I was definitely right on one count, it was extremely interesting!

Of course I said “Yes”.

A local class from Tayport primary school came out to Tentsmuir NNR to learn about white-tailed sea eagles and following the session I approached headteacher Mrs Holmes about whether the school would be interested in participating in the camera trapping project. She enthusiastically agreed.

Some weeks later, we were ready to start. SNH provided the school with a camera trap, a small mammal box and memory card. I had spent time mastering using the camera trap and mammal box in my garden and had some footage to show the children on our first meeting.

Tayport is situated on the Tay estuary and adjacent to Tentsmuir forest so is surrounded by interesting habitats, however we really wanted to explore the wildlife in the village and start with what the children could see for themselves.

We were going to begin by setting up the camera in the school grounds, but Tayport Primary is unusual in that it has very little green space, just a tarmacked playground and a public thoroughfare through the grounds.

Consequently, Mrs Brankin (the class teacher) and the pupils decided to site the camera in and around the small town of Tayport, concentrating on the community garden that has recently been established just a short walk from the school. The children also took turns to take the equipment home and set it up in their gardens.

The first footage was from a garden next door to the school and created a great deal of excitement in the class, with a wood mouse and various small birds being captured on film.

We then sent the camera home with different children from the class and managed to film a variety of ground feeding birds, chickens, hedgehogs and two cats (both of whom tried to eat the seed we had baited the box with)!

Several committed members of the class also gave up their time in the Easter break to set up the camera trap in the community garden, focusing on filming the bird feeders that had been installed by participants at the project.

The boys tested out how the traps worked by crawling slowly commando style to the mammal box to see when and how they would be triggered. They then used their learning in order to site the traps in the best position to capture wildlife.

We had some interesting footage so the next challenge was to make it into a film!

We had to work on the school laptop and the first barrier to overcome downloading the film-making software. Thanks to Fife Council’s help we were able to get the programme up and running.

During this time I visited the school on a number of Friday afternoons where we recorded the audio clips to go with the video clips, working to a story-board devised by the pupils. Every child in the class was involved in identifying all of the birds and mammals and each recorded an audio clip, which I then linked together with the film clips.

One of the volunteers from the community garden helped with the music and finally we had our film. Organising the titles and adding in photos of art work the children had done took us right up to the competition deadline, but it was worth it!

The film was submitted into a competition with other schools involved in the project. The film was supposed to be 3 minutes or under, but ours was longer to make sure that everyone in the class could be involved.

Unfortunately due to the length of the film we knew we couldn’t win, but that was really irrelevant, the important thing was the ripple effect that the film had, something I hadn’t really considered when I started the project.

You can watch the children's film here;

https://vimeo.com/241842733/

Firstly the film was shown to P6 and Mrs Brankin the class teacher. Watching the children bursting with pride was a moment I will never forget. The head teacher then showed the film to the whole school in assembly and then the film was downloaded onto the whiteboards in each classroom and shown again to each class individually.

Following this, the class teacher organised a showing for parents who could attend during the school day in during the day. By the time the film had done its rounds our short film about local wildlife was shown to most children at least twice in the school.

The icing on the cake was when two children from the class came and talked about their experience to a wider audience during RSPB Scotland’s 10^th anniversary Sea Eagle Festival in Tayport, attended by many members of the public and local MSPs Wille Rennie and Mark Ruskell.

I can’t think of a better way of helping such a large number of children and some of their parents to learn about

the wildlife around them.

Would I do it again? Definitely! I am looking forward to using some of my new found skills again before they get

too rusty!”

What a brilliant learning experience for the pupils of P6 Tayport Primary and a monumental effort from Elizabeth

to guide the class through the process. Never mind Autumnwatch and Chris Packham, I think

we have some new naturalists in town!

Finally, many thanks to SNH for allowing us to participate in the project and huge thanks also to Elizabeth for her

endless patience, enthusiasm, willingness to throw herself into unchartered ‘tech’ territories and of course her time.

Further information about SNH's school camera trap project and competition winners can be viewed here;

https://www.snhpresscentre.com/news/cabinet-secretary-awards-primary-schools-for-wildlife-projects

The Secret Lives of Sea Eagles

2017-11-22T16:00:00Z

Satellite tagging is an important tool of modern conservation science and it is leading to a whole new understanding of sea eagle behaviour in Scotland and around the world. You can find out more about satellite tagging from RSPB Scotland’s head of species and land management here. The particular devices we use weigh 90 grams, or between 1.2 and 1.8% of the birds’ weight. They’re solar powered and fitted with a Teflon harness which is designed to last around 5 to 7 years, after which the hemp thread holding the Teflon together breaks and the tag falls off. This gives us the birds’ exact location anywhere from twice a day in the winter to every hour in the spring, throughout its early years and a short way into adulthood.

Currently we’re learning a great deal about how they disperse in their first year, how they explore the landscape and ultimately which areas are most important to them. Key roost sites and feeding areas are becoming evident as more tagged birds take to the air. With a bit of luck and a lot of patience, eventually we will be able to see how these early experiences lead them to settle in a territory of their own, with a partner they may have met many years before. None of this would be possible with standard fieldwork practices because of the distances involved and the difficulty in identifying individual birds.

There are now 7 sea eagles that fledged from nests in East Scotland carrying GPS satellite transmitters. Four of these hatched just 7 months ago and already most have left their parents protection and ventured out to explore their new home. We’ll look at the dispersal of this year’s chicks in a future blog once they have all moved away from the nest area, so in this blog we look at how the oldest 3 have fared over the last year.

October 2016 to January 2017. White K is in orange, White Diamond is in green and White L is in blue. This shows the first few months of the younger birds’ dispersal and White K’s expedition out to Mull.

White Diamond, Strathspey 2016

White Diamond is a female that fledged from the nest in Strathspey in 2016. Her only contemporary was White L, a male from the nest in Fife. She has been the more adventurous of the two, having covered 6000km in 12 months, compared to White L’s 5000km. During the last 12 months she’s been in every direction, using distinctive ‘loops’ to explore, which contrast strongly with White K’s straight line ‘there and back’ expeditions.

One of her early expeditions took her right out into the farmland of Aberdeenshire and almost to Fraserburgh in the north east corner of the country. Others took her south to Loch Rannoch and west to the fringes of the west coast population where she undoubtedly met other sea eagles. But much like White K she returned to the familiar mountains of East Scotland. Shortly before the Rannoch expedition, which eventually took her within sight of the Isle of Skye, she was in the company of White L in the Angus Glens. White L followed her as far as Loch Rannoch, staying a respectful 7km behind her, but they roosted separately and he flew back the next day.

In April she settled in the Monodhliath mountains, where she has now spent the majority of her time using the rivers and burns to hunt and scavenge. From observations at the roost sites there are plenty of other young sea eagles around, aside from White K probably all west coast in origin. Unlike White K she uses the whole of the mountain range, including the occasional trip over Loch Ness, rarely visiting the same area as the day before.

February to April 2017, showing White Diamonds looping expeditions and White K’s return from Mull

White K, Angus Glens 2015

White K, a male, is the oldest satellite tagged sea eagle from East Scotland. It has now been 2 years and 7 months since he hatched on a nest in the Angus Glens. At the end of 2016 he had travelled all the way out to the isle of Mull on the west coast, where he must have met many other sea eagles. Much to our relief, he headed east again in April and settled in the Monadhliaths. Sea eagles are very sociable and these birds are no exception. White K first met the 2016 female chick from a nest in Strathspey, White Diamond (see below), shortly after she had dispersed into the Cairngorm mountains, where they spent several weeks hunting and roosting together on and off.

May to July 2017. A relatively sedentary time of year of year with White K, the oldest, not travelling more than 20 kilometres from his favoured roost.

Over the last few months they have both been using the Monadhliath mountains, but remaining largely separate and using different the landscape quite differently. It remains to be seen whether this is the quirks of individual behaviour or a pattern associated with their sex. Aside from a short foray into Deeside In October he has remained in this area and has recently been seen hunting over Insh Marshes.

White K in the Monadhliath mountains, September 2017

White L, Fife 2016

White L, a male, fledged from a nest in a Forestry Enterprise Scotland woodland in Fife in August 2016. After spending a few months being fed by his parents, Turquoise 1 (female) and Turquoise Z (male) and building up his courage he left the safety of their protection and ventured off on his own. In previous years young sea eagles from this territory have stayed until February, most likely because there are no other young eagles close by to draw them away, but White L seemed particularly tenacious and left right on time – most fledgling sea eagles will disperse in September or October.

He first headed north through the lowlands of Angus and Aberdeenshire, reaching Inverurie before turning around and heading all the way back to Angus. After a few more weeks in the Angus farmland full of brown hares, rabbits and pheasants, he then headed up into the Angus Glens, probably having spotted another eagle to go and investigate. It wasn’t long before he’d bumped into White Diamond (see above), a female just a few weeks older, and they roosted together in Glen Tanar forest on a few nights.

August to October 2017, showing White L’s exploration of Perthshire and Stirling.

Since then he’s continued to explore the uplands of East Scotland, coming within a few miles of Inverness in the north and Loch Ericht in the west. More recently he has headed south west and explored Pertshire and Stirling, eventually reaching Loch Katrine in the Trossachs, before returning to the Angus Glens.

A Tale of Two Nests

2017-08-16T17:01:00Z

Sea Eagle Project Officer Owen Selly tells the story of a fascinating discovery

In the spring of 2013, six years after the first release of sea eagles into the Fife countryside after more than 150 years of absence, a few of these magnificent birds started to build nests in East Scotland. A pair of 2009 release birds built their first nest in a Forest Enterprise Scotland woodland in Fife , whilst a 2008 release female and a west coast male built theirs on a grouse moor in the Angus glens.

Turquoise Z (right) and his partner of five years, Turquoise 1, near their nest in Fife in 2016. Image credit Richard Tough.

Their fortunes could not have been more different. The Fife pair went on to successfully raise their first chick and have continued to do so every year since. The Angus pair watched as their nest tree was cut down in an act of targeted vandalism. Shortly afterwards the male disappeared and has not been seen since.

The following year, the female, known as A9/90 after her colour leg ring, found a new three year old mate, Red P, and they built a new nest elsewhere in the Angus Glens. This time they were not disturbed, but the egg she laid was infertile, which is not uncommon in younger birds. In 2015 things were finally back on track and A9/90 raised two healthy chicks with the male Red P.

In 2016 they were again seen on the nest early in the breeding season but something must have gone wrong – by mid-April it became apparent they were not going to breed. Sightings of sea eagles in the area were infrequent and individuals were never positively identified. At the time they were assumed be the same pair, A9/90 and Red P, however in hindsight A9/90 may have already been missing which would explain birds being present but no breeding attempt made.

I climbed up into the nest later in the season to see if they had attempted and failed early, but there was no evidence they had done the necessary preparation, such as making a soft lining in the nest with a shallow depression, known as a cup.

As the 2017 breeding season approached, I was not optimistic that they would return, but in February during a coordinated watch to help locate nesting pairs, two adult sea eagles were seen on the nest.

Staff and volunteers continued to monitor the area and sightings of two other birds nearby were passed off as just being nosey and had visited to see what was going on. We even posted on facebook about a visit by one of them – sea eagles are a social species and often seek out and investigate other eagles.

The new birds were 2011 Red Z, a big female who had previously been seen in Argyll, and none other than Turquoise Z, the male from the Fife nest. He is easy to identify even from a distance as at some point in his early years he lost his right wing tag. It had been known for some time that he occasionally visited the Angus Glens to hunt, despite the distance from his own nest, so it was surprising but not astonishing to see him flying overhead as we watched the nest.

Turquoise Z when he was first seen near the Angus nest in February 2017.

Then, at the beginning of April I set off on my usual hike up to a vantage point overlooking the nest and I was delighted to find a sea eagle laying low amongst the branches, clearly incubating eggs. From my position it was impossible to read the wing tags in the harsh light but the female, A9/90, doesn’t have wing tags so I assumed it was the male, Red P. That day I hadn’t seen any other sea eagles, but I knew the other bird would be off hunting and would return to take their turn incubating the eggs.

With great care not to disturb them I worked my way closer to a new vantage point, 700 metres from the nest. From here I was able to read the wing tags – orange (faded red) with a white Z – Red Z, the big female who had been seen in the neighbouring glen a month earlier. The nest had a new female. The fate of A9/90 is not known, but I was still thrilled to see that Red P had managed to attract this new female and start afresh.

Typical spotting scope view from early monitoring of the Angus nest showing the difficulty of reading wing tags from this distance.

A few days later I returned to check on their progress and I hoped to catch a glimpse of the male, which I did, but he was not who I expected. A large bird came into view over the ridge and dropped rapidly into the valley then swept west towards the nest as Red Z called out in greeting. I couldn’t read the letter on the tag yet but I knew who this was. A single turquoise tag on the left wing could not have been more obvious as he banked sharply away from me and up onto the nest.

I watched in astonishment as Turquoise Z, the male from the Fife nest, landed on the edge of the nest. Red Z got up, let off a few more piercing calls and flew off in search of food. Turquoise Z then took his place on the eggs, settling in for a long shift.

Polygamy – when a single individual has multiple breeding partners – is not unknown in sea eagles but it is very rare, typically they mate for life. It was recorded a handful of times during the early years of the west coast release. In these cases a single male mated with two females on nests a few miles apart and it resulted in the failure of both nests on every occasion.

The demands of raising a chick make it almost impossible for a single male to provide enough food and take on enough of the incubation duties for two females. A single chick can require 1kg of food every day to keep growing and the adults themselves need 500g to stay healthy.

This nest in the Angus Glens is not just a few miles away from his usual nest in Fife; it is 28 miles as the eagle flies and at a higher altitude.

At this point we’d still not found the new nest in Fife; the Fife pair build a new nest every year, just a few hundred metres from the old one and they are usually finished building by January. I was not at all confident Turquoise Z would return to his usual mate, Turquoise 1, despite their success over the last four years, because of the large distance between the nests and was preparing to tell volunteers that there was unlikely to be a nest this year.

Dedicated volunteer and Fife native Richard Tough however was much more optimistic. He has watched these birds week in week out for the last three years and knew it would take more than a far flung affair to break their bond.

I set more of our volunteers the task of watching the forest in the hope of discovering the new nest site and they spotted Turquoise 1 carrying sticks into the same area of the forest where they have nested for the last three years.

We went in for one last sweep and found the new nest in a stand of trees I had searched just a few weeks earlier. She had built a new nest very late and very fast, just in the nick of time. On the west coast sea eagles have usually laid their eggs and started incubating by mid-March, at least two weeks before Turquoise 1 had started building.

There was still no sign of Turquoise Z, but on 9 April, Turquoise 1 started incubating eggs. A few agonising days later, Turquoise Z was at long last seen in Fife, flying into the nest and taking over incubation. It was finally confirmed – he had two females, two nests, four eggs and a lot of flying to do in between.

The first images of Turquoise Z at the Fife nest (top) making some last minute adjustments and at the Angus nest with Red Z just visible incubating. Both in early April 2017.

Over the last three months, a team of nest watch volunteers in Fife, Raptor Study Group members in Angus, RSPB Scotland and Forest Enterprise Scotland staff have watched both nests and I must take this opportunity to thank them publicly for all their hard work.

In Fife we have 30 volunteers watching the nest throughout the breeding season, recording their behaviour and ensuring the birds aren’t disturbed. This is not possible in Angus and we rely on a much smaller team of volunteers. The local famer also keeps an eye on the birds and any comings or goings of people near the nest.

During our observations a pattern started to emerge – Turquoise Z seemed to be alternating every other day between the two nests, travelling from Fife to Angus mid-morning. On several occasions he was seen leaving the Fife nest and arriving at the Angus nest between 60 and 90 minutes later. A long journey for this remarkable bird, who still had to take shifts incubating, provide food for both females and feed himself.

Even with this extraordinary effort the females had to take on much more of the incubating than they would normally. But they were up to the task and in May I got my first glimpse of two tiny, fluffy grey heads on the Angus nest, followed a week later by two more on the Fife nest. This is my favourite moment in this job, seeing the chicks for the first time and knowing they have safely made it through the precarious incubation stage where even a minor disturbance in cold weather can result in failure.

Turquoise 1 and the larger Fife chick at 4 weeks old in June 2017.

The chicks are still very vulnerable for the next three weeks however as they are unable to maintain their body temperature and need the parents to cover them and keep them warm when it’s cold or shade them from the sun when it’s hot, a behaviour known as brooding.

At some point in the first week after hatching one of the Angus chicks died, but the other flourished and continued to grow rapidly. On the Fife nest the chicks almost reached six weeks before one of them also died. It is quite rare for the second chick to die at such a late stage, indeed sea eagles often fledge two, but this has happened at the Fife nest for the last three years. Sadly it seems that one of the chicks becomes dominant and starts to outcompete the other for food.

Red Z at the Angus nest with surviving chick just visible behind her in June 2017, aged 7 weeks.

By July the remaining chicks, now one in each nest, reached eight weeks old. At this age they are almost full size but not yet able to fly, so this is when we fit them with satellite tags and wing tags. These are important tools for conservation as they allow us to study their behaviour – where they roost, where they hunt and even how they interact with other sea eagles. Three sea eagles from previous years that were fitted with satellite tags are still exploring East Scotland and giving us invaluable insight into how they spend their first few years of life.

The surviving chick at the Angus nest in early July aged 8 weeks, having just been put back in the nest after being fitted with wing tags “Blue V” and a satellite tag.

The female chick on the Angus nest was fitted with blue wing tags with a white V. The Fife chick, also female, was tagged with blue wing tags with a white X. At the time of writing they are 13 and 12 weeks old respectively and Blue V has taken her first tentative flight into an exciting new world. Blue X will surely follow within a few days. Given all they have known for their short lives to this point is a pile of twigs and branches two metres across, this must be quite an experience.

They are able to cover large distances using very little energy, thanks to their huge 2m wing span and their eye sight is one of the best in the animal kingdom. Combined with their social nature this makes meetings inevitable and all of the young sea eagles we have satellite tagged so far have met and spent time together. As long as they survive the difficult early months out on their own, it is almost a guarantee that Blue V and Blue X will meet each other before the end of winter, not knowing of course that they share the same father.

The surviving Fife chick, Blue X, during tagging in early July. Image credit Richard Tough.

These two nests are now connected by this curious quirk of behaviour, but it is striking how different their stories have been.

In Fife Turquoise 1 and Turquoise Z have bred successfully for the last five years, living alongside humans seemingly unperturbed by cars, planes, helicopters, dog walkers and everything else that comes along with us.

In the Angus Glens, far away from our towns and villages, the first three adult sea eagles that have been involved in breeding attempts have vanished along with one of the previous years satellite tagged juveniles – three more have disappeared elsewhere, also on grouse moors. The circumstances for each individual remain a mystery, but sea eagles usually pair for life so the pattern is hard to ignore, especially in light of the overwhelming evidence for satellite tagged golden eagles disappearing under suspicious circumstances on grouse moors.

There is cause for hope however. Already the presence of these sea eagles from the reintroduction in Fife has attracted birds from the much larger West Scotland population. Until 2016 all but one of the seven chicks fledged from East Scotland nests had died within their first year, but now three have reached this milestone and continue to do well. In another few years they may be building nests of their own.

Timings of the changes at the Angus and Fife nests, with the tiles representing individual adults.

750 pupils celebrate the return of white-tailed eagles to east Scotland

2017-07-14T00:26:00Z

It's been a busy 7 months for 'Celebrating Nature with Schools' team and I'm delighted to say we have reached the milestone of engaging 750 local primary pupils from Perth & Kinross, Dundee, Angus and Fife with the project.

Thanks to £20,000 of funding from players of the People's Postcode Lottery and People's Postcode Trust we have been able to provide transport for schools to join us at locations around the Tay Estuary, including Tentsmuir National Nature Reserve.

Each session has taken pupils on the yearly life cycle of the white-tailed eagle, beginning with learning about the size, weight and different types of feathers of a sea eagle.

Pupils then explored pair bonding and choosing a nest site (blindfolded to add to challenge of building trust), before building a life size nest using their bare feet and mouths just like a sea eagle!

Ok maybe we didn't go that far, but it was fun to see how many children began to take their shoes and socks off when it was suggested!

Pupils then learnt about the incubation period, tuning in their hearing and highly developed eagle sense of sight, by using sit spots to record what wee beasties they could see and hear around them.

Bell Baxter High School wrote this amazing group poem during their collective sit spots, whilst undertaking their John Muir Award and exploring the eagles' hunting ground.

Predator and prey games, including the action packed 'food pirates' activity drew out the competitive spirit of each class.

Errol primary were particularly lucky to even see Turquoise Z fly by on a hunting mission during one such game! He was being mobbed by some local crows, which he deftly saw off with two 360 degree barrel rolls and a flash of his talons skywards.

Owen, our Sea Eagle Officer who out visiting the project for the first time, must have been our lucky charm as it was the only time we saw any sea eagles during a teaching session.

After dodging some particularly heavy thunderstorms we wrapped up the programme with a series of outreach sessions at Fife Coastal and Countryside Trust's Loch Ore Meadows. St Patrick's, the local primary school walked down to the park as part of their health week and learnt that sea eagles (just like humans) need shelter, food, rest and relaxation to remain healthy.

So now with the summer holidays upon us, it's time to reflect upon the success of the project and plan for next year's delivery. It's been great fun sharing our passion for these magnificent birds with the next generation of nature's champions, and I'm pleased that the feedback from schools has been really positive.

Following their trip the pupils of Inverbrothock Primary School said;

“Seeing where the eagles hunt made it all seem so much more real.”

“Doing the activities was a much more interesting way to learn about the eagles than talking about it in class.”

“I am amazed how big their wings are!” and

“It is brilliant that the eagles are returning to Scotland!”

Their class teacher reflected further on the experience;

"The children had a fantastic experience learning about white-tailed eagles in the beautiful outdoor surroundings of Tentsmuir Forest. They were able to understand the life-cycle of the eagles through active learning activities including a race to find food, making a life-sized nest, and using the five senses to think about our surroundings.”

We are hoping to be able to replicate a similar programme next year, so any primary teachers please do get in touch and register your interest with Community Outreach Officer, Sara Rasmussen; sara.rasmussen@rspb.org.uk

Finally, once again thanks to the People's Postcode Lottery, Kirsten, Elizabeth, Conor and Lynsey (our amazing team of volunteers) and all our supporting partners who have made the project possible; Forestry Enterprise Scotland, Scottish Natural Heritage and Fife Coastal and Countryside Trust .

Enjoy the summer!

What's on this summer for East Scotland Sea Eagles?

2017-06-06T20:00:23Z

We're running our popular sea eagle guided walks at Tentsmuir again this summer in partnership with Forest Enterprise Scotland. Join us for a 4 km walk along Tentsmuir beach in the search for these magnificent birds of prey that use the coastline as a hunting ground. The walks are on Wednesday 26 July, Saturday 29 July, Saturday 5 August and Wednesday 9 August, and start at the picnic area by the Kinshaldy car park at 10 am. Booking is essential as there are limited places available, please contact 01738 630783 or email perth.admin@rspb.org.uk

Guided walk at Tentsmuir by Mandy Strachan

It's the 10th anniversary of the East Scotland Sea Eagles reintroduction project this year and our special Sea Eagle Festival event at Tayport on Saturday 26 August will be a chance to celebrate! The event is taking place at The Common, Tayport promenade from 12 - 4 pm and activities include willow weaving a giant nest, storytelling with Chatterbox Stories, creating eagle cartoons, a guided bird walk and much more. To mark the 10 year anniversary, we've invited a few people involved in the project to give a short talk from 3 pm and there will also be music from the Ferryport Fiddlers to enjoy!

Bug hunting activity at sea eagle event

We look forward to seeing you there!

East coast sea eagles hanging out together

2017-04-11T17:32:26Z

An update on our east coast sea eagles from Owen Selly (Sea Eagle Project Officer)

In 2016, two sea eagle chicks fledged from nests in East Scotland. White Diamond (named after the identifying wing tags), a female, fledged from a nest in Speyside and White L, a male, fledged from a nest in a Forest Enterprise Scotland woodland in Fife (see here). Both birds were fitted with satellite tags that allow us to monitor their dispersal from the nest and understand how they use the landscape. White L’s satellite tag was generously funded by Blair Drummond Safari Park.

White L shortly after fledging. Image by Richard Tough

In October, both young sea eagles headed to Deeside and met for the first time in Glen Tanar where they roosted together. Juvenile sea eagles travel widely and form non-breeding communal roosts. After going their separate ways, White L and White Diamond have bumped into each other a few times, most recently at Loch Rannoch in Perthshire. It is amazing to see how far these magnificent birds roam in their first years of life, learning the landscape and undoubtedly meeting lots of other eagles along the way.

Satellite tag data from White L (blue) and White Diamond (green) during November 2016

Sea eagles, or white-tailed eagles as they are otherwise known, don’t reach full maturity until they are five years old so these young birds still have a long way to go, but who knows, in another four years maybe this encounter will lead to them building a nest of their own together.

We hope you will join the staff and volunteers here at RSPB Scotland in wishing these very special birds another successful year on the east coast of Scotland.

Giant nests, guest visitors and a trip to Parliament

2017-03-21T23:04:09Z

It's been a busy time throughout the winter for the 'Celebrating Nature with Schools' project. Since the first hardy primary class in November there have been 10 further schools from Dundee, Angus, Perth & Kinross and Fife, joining us at Tentsmuir NNR to learn about the return of our magnificent white-tailed eagles

Groups have explored the yearly life cycle of the local pair who hunt along the Tay Estuary through a variety of activities, including; pair bonding and talon grappling, building giant nests (some as big as a double bed!) and engaging in fierce competitions for prey

There have even been quite reflective moments tuning in our eagle eyes and ears to all the noises of the forest.

February saw a few guests come to join in the learning adventure, including Calum Munro from the People's Postcode Lottery, who are kindly sponsoring the project. We were also excited to be invited to be part of the Scottish Environment Link event; 'The Future is Now' at the Scottish Parliament.

It was inspiring to see the variety of education projects encouraging young people to connect with their local wildlife and become the next generation to step up and 'Defend Nature'. We also had the opportunity to chat with Mark Ruskell MSP and species champion for the white-tailed eagle about our work.

Despite the best efforts of Storm Doris we have been blessed with some glorious weather. One stand out day included a visit to the Eden Estuary, supported by Ranald Strachan, ranger with the Fife Coastal and Countryside Trust.

The group had a great time not only learning about sea eagles, but the special mud flat habitat that supports a wide variety of wading birds. Who knew that jelly sweets and chopsticks could be so effective at demonstrating the foraging techniques of waders?!

So with many more schools due to join us in the coming months and the skylarks heralding Spring by singing high above the sands at Tentsmuir, we look forward to perhaps catching a glimpse of our native sea eagles, flying past on another hunting mission.

Calling intrepid nature explorers - Free outdoor learning for local pupils

2016-10-26T06:01:00Z

With autumn in the air and the leaves a blaze of colour, it's a brilliant time of year for children to get outside and learn about the nature on our doorstep. Thanks to funding by the People's Postcode Lottery we are delighted to announce the launch of a brand new project; Celebrating Nature with Schools.

We are excited to offer P5-P7 pupils in Perth and Kinross, Fife, Dundee and Angus the opportunity to join us on an outdoor learning adventure in beautiful locations around the Tay Estuary. Join us in learning about the return of the magnificent white-tailed eagles, explore your animal senses and discover the amazing local wildlife.

Pupils will get to explore first-hand the habitat of the white tailed eagles and learn about its life cycle; from pair bonding and nest building, to raising chicks, hunting and fledging. There will also be a chance to use the radio tracking equipment that RSPB Scotland staff and volunteers use to monitor the birds.

Activities will be fun, interactive and designed to engage pupils’ head, heart and hands in learning about these fantastic birds and the other wildlife that shares their world. There’s no better way to connect to nature than to learn about it in its natural habitat outdoors, so come join us!

What’s on offer?

Workshops are on offer year round and will be 2-3 hours long depending on location. Free transport will be on a first come first served basis. So book early to avoid disappointment!

Book your FREE session today or get in touch with Community Outreach Officer Sara (Raz) Rasmussen to find out more; Tel: 01738 630783, Email: sara.rasmussen@rspb.org.uk