Today, the last white tailed eagles to be released as part of the east Scotland  reintroduction took to the skies!

The sunny weather and light windy conditions were perfect for the young birds to take their first flight, and they all did incredibly well. Anyone would think they’d done it before!

The last release today was covered by BBC and STV after Tuesday’s planned release was cancelled due to heavy rain and…

Yesterday saw the first release of the final cohort of white-tailed eagles to be released on the east coast of Scotland!

Volunteers that have been involved in all aspect of the project from radio tracking and data entry to event volunteers came along to see Grey “A” and “T” take to the skies for the first time.

“A” was the first bird collected from Norway this year, and “T” is the largest female…

Join RSPB Scotland at Jamesfield Organic Centre, Abernethy on Sunday 19^th August 2012

Spend the day with RSPB Scotland and learn about the UK’s largest bird of prey, the white-tailed sea eagle. This is a great opportunity to find out more about these magnificent birds and why RSPB Scotland is re-introducing this native bird to the east coast of Scotland. 

Event name: Eagle Extravaganza!

 Date: Sun 19^th Aug

Yesterday, the six young white-tailed eagles to be released over the next couple of weeks were fitted with their wing tags and VHF transmitters.

The wing tag colour that we’re using this year is grey with yellow letters. We had to make sure that the tags wouldn’t get confused with the ones used in previous years. I think this will work pretty well, and the yellow letters really stand out! The letters we have chosen to…

At the end of last week, we finally received the results of the blood tests that would inform us of the sex of the chicks!

On arrival, the chicks were all weighed and measured and their sex was estimated from these measurements. The females having all round larger dimensions than the males, being heavier and the larger of the two sexes as is the case with all birds of prey. In adult white-tailed eagles, females weigh…

The six white-tailed eagle chicks have been settling well into their new home in Fife.  On arrival, the chicks were given a health check by the vet and blood and faecal samples were taken.  The blood samples will be used to confirm the sex of the individuals as well as to screen for disease.  Although, we are still waiting confirmation from the blood samples, we have estimated that we have three males and three females!…

Unfortunately, the theme of single chicks and empty nests continued. Despite another 3:30 am finish, and no matter how many nests we visited, it became apparent that the Norwegian white tailed eagles were having an “off year”. We visited some incredible areas during this time. We ventured deep into the fjords and scaled some harsh and steep terrain to check nests. On the other hand there was one nest on an island 400m…

This year’s trip to Norway to collect the final batch of sea eagle chicks got off to an ambitious start. Being the last year of the project, there were high hopes of getting the maximum number of 20 chicks to bring back to Scotland! I had even been in training to try and keep up with Alv Ottar Folkestad of the Norwegian Ornithological Society, who has been monitoring white-tailed eagles  for about 40 years. He is…

The final cohort of sea eagle chicks have arrived in east Scotland! On the 22^nd of June, the chicks were flown from Norway to Edinburgh and were greeted by RSPB staff and representatives from SNH, Forestry commission, Scottish Government, and the Norwegian Honorary Consul General; David Windmill. Unfortunately, due to lower than average reproductive success in the Norwegian sea eagles population this year, only six chicks…

Preparations are well underway for the arrival of the new cohort of sea eagle chicks this year. 

Licences have been granted, flights have been arranged, now it's all down to the birds to get on with rearing the chicks until they are ready to be collected.

The team have been working hard to prepare the 10 aviaries for the chicks to be kept in. The walls, platforms and perches have been scrubbed, the ground has been…

One of the young birds released in August last year from east Scotland has recently been making a guest apperance at a selection of RSPB reserves in North East Scotland! This individual with red wing tags and the letter "A" has recently spent time on RSPB Loch of Strathbeg, and last week at Broubster Leans in Caithness. "Red A" who is a young male was joined at Strathbeg by another young bird "Red Z"- a…

The East Scotland Sea Eagle team has trippled in size over the past month with new recruits  Miriam Kayoueche-Reeve and Heather Richards joining me at the RSPB Tayside and Fife office!

Miriam is the new Sea Eagle infomation officer, and her post has been funded by Rural Tayside and Fife LEADER. Her role is to promote the east coast sea eagle to the tourism industry and to attend lots of events over the busy summer period…

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…

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…

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…

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…

After an unsuccessful attempt to release the Irish sea eagle recovered from the Aberdeenshire coast yesterday at RSPB’s Loch of Strathbeg reserve, the bird has now been taken to SSPCA’s national centre for further rehabilitation. Despite having recovered at the vets from his ordeal last week, it became apparent when he was released that there were still some issues that needed to be addressed. The bird was unable to take…

A new exhibition, which opens on Wednesday this week (9^th November), is offering residents of Broughty Ferry the chance to help design the finishing touches to a Sea Eagle sculpture planned for the banks of the Tay.

In November 2009 students from the illustration programme of Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design, University of Dundee, created work telling the story of the return of Sea Eagles to East Scotland…

A sea eagle, released as part of a reintroduction project in the Republic of Ireland, has been the subject of a dramatic rescue on the Aberdeenshire coast.

RSPB Scotland, with help from Banff based business North 58˚ Sea Adventures, were called to a remote cove, inaccessible by land, near Pennan, following reports of an injured bird.

The distressed eagle was first spotted by sea kayaker John Creighton and his wife on…

This coming Sunday (30th of October), East Scotland Sea Eagles will feature on Countryfile. This will be shown at 18:25 on BBC1, and will show some of this year's birds on their big day being released into the wild! Don't miss it!

Thanks to everyone who joined us at the Wild Connections sea eagle tracking event on Wednesday evening! The outing was a success with dry weather, and great views of four young sea eagles. The group got to grips with the radio tracking device before setting off to try and find some eagles as they settled down to roost. We were lucky enough to see three juveniles from the 2011 release cohort (Red E, P and 2) and also a…

On Wednesday the 12^th of October I will be leading a Sea Eagle tracking event at “Wild Connections”, highland Perthshire’s wildlife festival. It will run from 2pm until 7pm meeting at Birnam. We will be radio tracking the birds that have been released since 2007, and hopefully get some glimpses of them too! Visit the Wild Connections website for more details and for online booking. www.wildconnections…

Apologies for the lack of action on the blog page for the past month or so. I have recently taken over from Claire as East Scotland Sea Eagle Officer, and have been welcomed with a baptism of fire! I’ve had a lot to learn and to catch up on, as well as keeping track of this year’s release cohort which are now in the skies over Fife and Perthshire. 16 birds were released and I was fortunate to be involved with this just…

The news was finally official yesterday that RSPB has been awarded £235,000 to fund sea eagle work across Scotland for the next three years. Many thanks to everyone who pledged support for our bid and our partenrs who helped us right such an exicitng bid.

Entitled SEEVIEWS, the See Eagle Education, Viewing, Interpretation and Engagement within Scotland project will primarily focus on engaging and educating the…