This morning, at around 9am, I sat down at the telescopes in the cafe to see what birds were around. I scanned over the wetland, seeing whoopers, teal and wigeon happily feeding away, then to the loch where pochard, tufties and goldeneye were diving in the calm waters. Next was St Serfs - were the eagles still around? As they've been doing regularly for the last few weeks, the eagles were sitting out in the open - nice and bold and easy to spot. Before long the male (X) took flight, heading west over the loch, with the larger female (H) not far behind, he flew out over the water, then effortlessly swooped down a plucked a sizable fish from below. As H began to catch up he doubled back and headed to the island once again to have his breakfast, althought the female soon caught up eager to share the feast.
Chris Gomersall (rspb-images.com)
For the past couple of days the white-tailed eagles have been spotted fishing successfully on the loch, this is an impressive sight as the massive birds swiftly catch the fish and carry it back to feed. The crows don't take long to move in, hoping for a few scraps, but today the eagles ate part of the fish and abandoned the rest, they're obviously not too worried about finding food in the area.
Come along to Vane to check out the eagles for yourself. And next Sunday (15th) our very own Chris Tyler, who usually works in the white-tailed eagle hotspot of Skye, will be giving a talk on Scottish eagles 3-4:30pm. Booking is advised (£2 non-members / £1 members / children free).
Tomorrow we have our 'guide in the hide', where you can come along and meet a friendly face to help show you what's around and help with any queries you might have. 11am-12pm and 1-3pm