RSPB Scotland's Mull Officer Dave Sexton shares some of the tough realities to be faced for white-tailed eagles. Watch 'Wild Animal Rescue' on Channel 5 today (Thursday 23 January) at 11.15am and 7pm to see some of the work Mull Eagle Watch do.
Mull Eagle Watch - The Trials of Life
We were on a mission! The pressure was on. It was early autumn and the film crew for Channel 5 from Daisybeck Studios had just one day’s filming time on Mull. They wanted nice weather, a good story but above all else they needed white-tailed eagles. At that time of year I’m doing final checks on sea eagle nests to ensure any chicks have successfully fledged. By the time the chicks get to three months old, they are fully grown and, in theory, they can fly. Their 2.5 metre wings are fully developed. They’ve been exercising them in the nest by flapping and bouncing around for weeks. As they launch themselves into the air for the first time on their dramatic maiden flight, what could possibly go wrong?
Well, quite a lot as it happens. In the past, I’ve seen things go horribly wrong. I’d been monitoring a nest in Tiroran Community Forest for months. The chick was 11 weeks old, fit, healthy and very active on the nest. Just what I like to see. Fledging could be just days away. But it happened even sooner than I thought! The next day the nest was empty. The adults were perched nearby, preening. All looked normal. There was no sign of the chick but that’s not unusual as they often glide down to the ground and then walk about for a few days. Not quite the majestic first flight you might imagine for the UK’s largest bird of prey and the 4th largest eagle in the world. The parents do food drops and I can tell from afar that all is well by hearing the food begging screeches of the chick echoing through the forest.
But two days later I still wasn’t hearing any calling and the parents were not behaving normally. They were often calling to each other, sitting close – side by side and not going hunting as they should. I feared the worst and knew I had to go in for a closer look. The last thing I wanted to do was to flush a young bird if it was fine and just resting on a tree stump but I needed to know all was well. I slipped and slithered down a muddy bank into an eerily quiet conifer plantation. With a sense of impending doom I neared the nest tree – a vast 50 foot high Sitka spruce. There was little reaction from the adults. If there had been a live chick nearby they would be calling at me in alarm by now. And then I saw it. A big, dark, crumpled heap of feathers at the base of the tree. The healthy, exuberant chick had misjudged a practice flap and jump and tumbled down through the branches to its death. It was a bitter blow for the community and locals who had watched over this precious eaglet since it hatched back in April. I gathered up the lifeless body in my arms and trudged back to the Landrover. The parent eagles watched me go; their whole breeding cycle had abruptly and tragically ended. Hearing them calling again to each other as I left was enough to make you weep.
So, as the film crew and I entered the nest wood to check on the Mull Eagle Watch pair of sea eagles ‘Scalla’ and ‘Anna’ which breed overlooking Craignure golf course, all I could think about was what I’d found on that fateful day. Again, this oak wood seemed unnaturally quiet and the adults were no where to be seen. The director looked anxious; the two cameramen readied their kit. Together, we all took a deep breath, crossed our fingers and waded through the tall bracken and into the nest wood…
Find out what happened next with presenters Steve Backshall, Lindsey Chapman, Miranda Krestovnikoff and Bill Oddie on ‘Wild Animal Rescue’ Channel 5, Thursday 23 January at 11.15am and 7.00pm