I didn't just retrace my steps in the mud. I pretty much jogged as fast as my exhausted legs and aching body could manage. Admittedly that probably wasn't very fast but it felt like a Herculean effort to me at nearly 6 o'clock in the evening.

I arrived back at where I'd started; checked the phone message and grid reference again, set up the 'scope and aimed it at the point my informant had told me he'd seen…

Our male white-tailed eagle chick from Mull this year, Oran, has made a dramatic flight south. He had seemed settled and has spent the last few weeks just across the water from here on Loch Sunart; then he came home for a while but has now headed down to the island of Jura. We are hearing more reports lately of young eagles on nearby Islay perhaps attracted by the thousands of wintering geese. Maybe this is where Oran…

If she'd stayed in Scotland, there's no guarantee she would have been any safer. And yet I can't help feeling we betrayed her. A young golden eagle chick from Mull - like others before her - was donated last year to the bold and successful golden eagle reintroduction project in Ireland. She was from a brood of two and was whisked off to her new home along with other young Scottish goldies. Her sibling fledged successfully…

...but in my heart it's spring" (Love Unlimited Orchestra 1973).

January 2nd message...just to say that I've just read a blog from Mark Thomas of our Investigations Dept about our campaign called 'Good Men Stand Up'. It's inspiring and I urge you to read it. It's on our RSPB web site and is the most recent blog posted. Hopefully the winds of change will blow across our countryside in 2009 and some more good men…

At last, we and indeed the eagles, have been enjoying some warm sunshine - and I really mean warm.  In the last week, the larches have started sprouting and have that lovely green hue about them.  The number of sand martins has increased and there is a really frenzy of activity with them relining their burrows.  Peacock and small tortoiseshell butterflies are out and about and a lovely sound to be heard was the welcome return…

Well we are being spoilt on Mull at the moment!  A lovely spell of warm, sunny weather - clear blue skies and glass like seas and lochs - just beautiful (although it is definately chilly at night although that gives us some great stargazing opportunities).

Loch Frisa has been stunning as usual and giving us some extra surprises!  We knew we had one otter in the loch but on Wednesday as we were admiring Skye and Frisa sat…

Well what a week its been here on Mull - where do I start?  Well I guess the weather as that is the subject we seem to talk about most!  We have been enjoying a return to summer - clear blue skies and warm sunshine which gives us chilly evenings with some incredible starry skies.  We are fortunate to have some of the darkest skies in Europe and at the moment we are getting some great views of the moons surrounding Jupiter…

Breaking news:

Skye and Frisa proudly announce the successful fledging of their healthy, bouncing, miracle chick. She weighs in at about 6kg, plumage and eyes are brown and she's already taken her first wobbly flaps. Mum, dad and chick all doing well.

Blog to follow but for now raise your glasses to Skye, Frisa and ????

Dave Sexton RSPB Scotland Mull Officer

Mull Eagle Hide: 01680 812 556

One of the great highlights for me every year is to actually see the young white-tailed eagles which you've watched over and fretted about for so long, actually in the air and flying! After all it's what they're born to do. Whilst it's the one thing we have little actual control over (as Loch Frisa proved this year) to see the chicks through hatching, growing and fledging is how we judge the success or failure of our…

As mentioned before, this year Mull Eagle Watch is located at 2 sites on Community Woodland, North West Mull Community Woodland and South West Mull & Iona Development Trust  The eagles at both sites are well into incubation and we are now onto countdown to the day when we await hatching.  

At Tiroran, Fingal and Hope continue to give our visitors great views but this week they haven't been the centre of attention…

As ever, it was a report from one of the farmers here yesterday which alerted me to some exciting developments. Many of the farmers help me so much in my field work and monitoring and they also do their bit to protect the eagles and help make Mull the wildlife haven it is. This call came from a farmer on the far south-west tip of Mull, down on 'the Ross'. He wasn't entirely sure what he'd just witnessed but he knew it…

Many readers may have seen news reports this week of the tragic canoe accident on Loch Maree involving a father and his son. The man involved was Mike Madders with his seven year old son Daniel. Mike worked here on Mull in the 1980s when the first sea eagles settled on the island before he moved to Islay and latterly Poolewe. Mike wrote the 'Birds of Mull' with Philip Snow and 'Where to Watch Birds in Scotland' with Julia…

When I arrived at the viewing hide this morning with the early sun shining through the trees, the chick was on the nest and both adult white-tailed eagles were in the nest tree.  The female Iona was sitting high up in the branches above the tree looking her usual majestic self, while the male Fingal was on his favourite branch behind and to the left of the nest.  The chick, anxious for more food, leapt unsteadily across…

Only this week I was watching the fabulous Frisa with the winter's sun beaming down on her and thinking how much like her mother she looked. Of course to some, all white-tailed eagles will look the same. Maybe they do? But for a while there I was transported back 25 years to those lonely but wonderful days on the edge of the loch watching Frisa's mum Blondie raise the first wild bred chick in the UK for 70 years. How…

Well they certainly are at Loch Frisa.  What am I talking about?  Well, we have just been awarded 4 Stars "Excellent"  Wildlife Attraction category by VisitScotland!  

As you can imagine, we are over the moon.  It is great to receive the recognition that the whole experience of paying a visit to the Eagle Hide is truly "Excellent".  Of course, we knew that but to be told officially, receive a certificate…

Well our visitors to Loch Frisa have certainly had plenty to entertain them over the last few days.

A bout of high pressure has brought us sunshine and blue skies - a great relief after the constant rainfall last week.  It seems as though everything has gone into overdrive.

Suddenly we are inundated with warblers, peacock butterflies, and bees.  We have been hearing the cuckoo for about a month and one is regularly seen…

courtesy R Kelly

Well I'm sat at the computer with a huge grin on my face.  Our chicks were 11 weeks old last week and the average age of fledging for white-tailed eagles is between 10 and 12 weeks.  The larger of the 2 chicks (quite possibly a female but we await DNA results to confirm) has been doing some serious wing flapping for several weeks now.   At the beginning of the week she took her first tentative steps…

Its amazing how we drag ourselves through winter with the long dark nights and then all of a sudden, its Spring! 

Skye and Frisa are now well and truly into the routine of incubation.  Frisa tends to do the night shift on the nest, with Skye taking over for a couple of hours first thing in the morning while she has a preen.  They then take it in turns throughout the day though if its wet, the bird on the nest will stay…

I was used to handling eaglets from the nest when they were being ringed at 4-5 weeks old and even at the satellite or wing tagging stage when they're usually 8-9 weeks old. But what lay before me was a totally different ball game. This was a fully grown eagle who had tasted freedom and was not about to surrender it lightly. Maybe it was just too risky to attempt it alone. If one talon pierced something critical I could…

(courtesy the Moody Blues I think!)

Well, I normally start with the weather and so delighted to report its been sun, sun and more sun.  We have been thoroughly spoilt on Mull for the last few weeks.  Beautiful clear blue skies and warm sunshine - almost a heatwave with the garden thermometer reaching 30.9°C - Dave wont believe it when he returns.

As usual, this is a really busy time on Mull - the English schools have…

As I type this blog, the rain is falling hard and fast - our house sits on a slight incline, and the rain is running down the front path forming a small river, then turning into a mini waterfall at the front door step!  It has rained everyday since last Tuesday - not just drizzle but heavy, persistent rain while a lot of the UK has been basking in sunshine and hot temperatures.  To test the power of positive thought, please…

From across the glen, the heat haze was too strong but I could just make out some flapping on the nest. One chick was still there. During the morning both Frisa & Skye came in but went straight to the nest. As the heat of the day intensified, I moved in to watch from near the hide. The haze was less but still only one chick was visible. Then I ventured into the cool of the dark forest where a gentle summer breeze kept…

(courtesy of The Police)

Sorry for the title - I can hear the groans from here! 

Many of our visitors have been completely enthralled by our family of barn owls.  You may recall, a couple of posts back, the 3 chicks had their leg rings put on and were put back in the nesting box.  Well less than a week later, the 2 larger of the chicks decided it was time to leave home.  Things had got cramped in the box as the youngsters…

Last Thursday the call went out for stories and ideas for a new specially commissioned programme for BBC Two: 'Snow Watch'. The Springwatch/Autumnwatch team wanted to know how the current freezing temperatures were affecting the UK's wildlife. The following day our good friend, cameraman and presenter Gordon Buchanan was on his way north from Glasgow across Rannoch Moor en route for the Lochaline ferry to Fishnish on…