White-tailed eagles in the Cairngorms - a look back at the 2022 season

The young bird opened its wings, stretching out its full eight-foot wingspan over the nest, feeling the way the breeze pushed against its feathers. It had been doing this for a couple of weeks now, as though tentatively getting a feel for how to manipulate the streams of air to lift its weight and propel it deftly into the sky. White-tailed eagles usually take their first flight around eleven to twelve weeks old. Any day now, we had been saying. Any day now, for the previous two weeks.

All of a sudden a gathering of strength, of courage, those large wings pulled up and powerful legs springing the bird forward. With one deep wingbeat the eaglet left the video frame, leaving only a shadow on the nest, which too followed its feathered counterpart out into the wide world.

It all happened so quickly, we in the Loch Garten Nature Centre watching the live camera feed didn’t even catch it happening. This eaglet, ringed black/silver G619, had already been spending a lot of time perched just out of sight of the camera, so its absence wasn’t immediately noted. It was only with the information from a satellite tracker we have fitted to this bird that we were able to pinpoint the moment of fledging.

The first flight didn’t go very far, probably just to a neighbouring tree. But within a few hours, the young bird was already starting to explore further afield, using that incredible wingspan to soar for miles over its parents’ territory. As is typical for white-tailed eagles, it soon returned and spent the next few weeks hanging around in proximity to the nest, mum and dad continuing to bring food back to the nest for it.

Once independent though, learning to hunt for itself, it was off to begin the nomadic life of a juvenile white-tailed eagle, roaming the length and breadth of the country, exploring, meeting and getting to know other birds, seeing the landscape of the British Isles in a way that we can only dream of. This will be its life for the next three to five years, until it reaches maturity and tries to settle down with a mate and territory of its own.

This data from our satellite-tracked eagle shows one of its first exploratory flights across northern Scotland. Over the course of three days, it flew down the Findhorn valley, covering an average of 40km a day.

Both chicks on our nest fledged, the younger one ringed black/silver G620 following its nest-mate a few days later. In any year, this would be a big success. White-tailed eagles most often only fledge a solitary chick; Finn and Shona, our resident pair, are great parents and great providers, able to bring back enough food to raise two strong and healthy birds.

Most often we saw them bringing mountain hare back to the nest, by far their favourite food. But the chicks weren’t fussy eaters, also happily tucking into red grouse, black grouse, mallard and pheasant when they were provided. Just once, Finn brought a large salmon back to the nest. White-tailed eagles are very adaptable predators and scavengers, and there is clearly an abundance of natural prey for them here.

The success of this nest feels even more important this year amid failed nests and dead chicks on the west coast, through bad weather in the spring and through infection with Highly Pathenogenic Avian Influenza. Inland in the Cairngorms, thankfully, neither of these factors seem to have affected the eagles here. As the white-tailed eagle population in Scotland continues to grow and return to more and more parts of the country, it will become more resilient to these types of events, safeguarding the future of these magnificent predators.

It will be fascinating to watch the movements of our satellite-tagged chick, to see where it goes over the next few years and learn more about how it uses the landscape. The younger chick we will only be able to follow if someone gets a close enough view to read its leg ring. Where might they both end up in a few years time? There will be plenty of room for them to return to the Cairngorms, perhaps even to make their own nests here within the Cairngorms Connect project area. We certainly hope to see more of these birds over our hills and forests. There is plenty of food for them.

Within Cairngorms Connect, we are restoring habitats across a landscape. As we watch Shona and Finn, hopefully raising chicks on our nest for many years to come, this is the landscape they depend on. A healthy landscape supports eagles. Eagles give meaning to the land. This place would not be whole without them. Isn’t that something we need? The future that I see is full of eagles. Perhaps the descendants of our satellite-tagged chick are among them.

The white-tailed eagle nest camera viewed at Loch Garten was generously funded by the European Regional Development Fund, administered by NatureScot, and installed by Wildlife Windows and External Reality.