Flying home for Christmas

A young white-tailed sea eagle which fledged from a nest in the Cairngorms has flown west to visit her family on the Isle of Mull. It’s that special time of year when you visit the relatives and in this case, some very famous members of the extended family.

This summer at RSPB Scotland’s Loch Garten Nature Centre visitors were treated to a live video feed from a sea eagle’s nest on Cairngorms Connect ground. It was a UK first (thanks to Wildlife Windows) and the stunning images revealed the intimate family life of the eagles from nest building in the snow, through courtship, egg laying, two chicks hatching in spring and eventually fledging in July. One of the chicks, the female, was satellite tagged and since then, every flap of her journey has been closely monitored as she began to explore further and further away from home.

The chicks have an amazing ancestry and their lineage can be traced all the way back to the pioneering female ‘Blondie’ who successfully reared the first sea eagle chick in the UK for 70 years on Mull in 1985. But whilst their historic great-great-great granny has sadly long since vanished from our skies, the chicks do still have some long-lost family alive and well on the island. ‘Skye’ and ‘Frisa’, the pair of sea eagles made famous by their regular appearances on the BBC’s Springwatch and other films and TV are their great-great grandparents. They are getting on in years now and Skye is now a record breaker since, according to the BTO, he’s the UK’s oldest known wild sea eagle at 28 years of age.

Sure enough, as the days shortened, the young female Cairngorm eagle drifted westwards until she eventually landed back in the land of her ancestors. Young sea eagles spend their first five years exploring. They will often link up with other immatures birds and will regularly interact with territorial adults and sub adults. They are sociable eagles and will form ‘youth clubs’ at winter roosts where 10-15 youngsters have been recorded. They learn along the way how to hunt, scavenge and survive in the unforgiving winter landscapes of Scotland.

Our adventurous young eagle didn’t exactly take the Lochaline to Fishnish CalMac ferry but she wasn’t far away. After exploring the wild and remote cliffs of Ardtornish on the Morvern Peninsula she spent the long winter’s night there before heading out high at first light and across the Sound of Mull before beginning her descent and landing just south of Fishnish. Here she was in the territory of another well known pair of sea eagles at Craignure Golf course where Mull Eagle Watch was once based.

For the next few days, she explored the south of Mull and even at one point called into Loch Buie where her great grandparents’ nest. The female of this pair is Skye and Frisa’s first ever chick to fledge way back in 1998. We can only imagine what kind of a reception she might have had at Loch Buie. Some distant, ancient flicker of recognition of the new clan member? It’s unlikely that her reception will have been hostile. Adult sea eagles are usually remarkably tolerant of young birds in their dark brown juvenile plumage. They’re no threat to the territory. It’s only when they get to three to four years of age, when the plumage lightens, the beak and eyes change to sunshine yellow and the first hint of white appears in the tail. Then, they’re likely to be far less welcome – family or not!

It’s unlikely the young eagle will stick around to see in the New Year. She’ll be on the move again soon. Some dispersing youngsters have headed to Islay to try their new-found hunting skills on the thousands of barnacle geese at the RSPB’s Loch Gruinart reserve. Others head north, perhaps to NatureScot’s Isle of Rum National Nature Reserve where a rescued young eagle from Mull spent some time last winter. He’d found a red deer carcass to feast on and was seen on a camera trap proving that he’d made a good recovery from his trauma thanks to the amazing vets and staff at the Scottish SPCA Wildlife Rescue Centre. Other young eagles learn to follow deer stalkers in the expectation of receiving a warming meal from the juicy ‘gralloch’ left on the hill – and hope it doesn’t contain any lead fragments as more and more estates switch to using copper ammunition when stalking.

Four or five Christmases from now she’ll have moulted into her beautiful adult plumage and will hopefully be paired up and on territory – somewhere in Scotland. The satellite tag will help us track her, as they do on other birds of prey, throughout the year and to learn more about her movements. And to respond rapidly if the tag data shows there’s a problem. Sadly, far too many of Scotland’s birds of prey still suffer from illegal persecution. We will be watching this young eagle very closely.

Frisa (L) and Skye (R). Image credit: Jim Manthorpe, BBC Springwatch.

As the cold snap deepens, there will be gatherings of young sea eagles up and down the west coast. At the light fades early on a frosty, winter afternoon, our young eagle will lose height from her soar over the glen and drop expertly into the trees and the comfort of a dense plantation. There’s an open glade there where Skye and Frisa roost as it’s protected from the worst of the gales and snow. Other eagles may join them. There will be some calling and chasing before the light goes completely. But as the full moon rises, they will see each other again; dark shapes perched on the sturdy branches; they’ll all sleep and preen on and off throughout the night. The youngster from the Cairngorms is perched a little too close to Frisa than she’d prefer but on this Christmas night she tolerates her great-great granddaughter. She is family, after all.

All being well, visitors to the RSPB Loch Garten Nature Centre next season will be able to see live footage of Shona and Finn the resident sea eagle pair raising their 2023 brood