And there it goes! "...Violent Storm 11...perhaps Hurricane Force 12...now only Gale Force 8"

This is not the blog I intended to write but now it's late and I will write more in the morning. I'd planned to brief you on the activities of the females chasing the male sea eagle, of the most recent report of Mara and of the golden eagle and the deer but I've just read the Met Office Inshore waters forecast for Ardnamurchan Point and the title of this blog says it all. I'd been hoping that the dire warnings on the BBC TV weather forecasts might have been over egging it a bit but it appears not - we're in for a serious battering tomorrow night. Tonight it's calm out there, even some stars showing through. The calm before the storm. Tomorrow looks fine first thing but going downhill rapidly in the afternoon. I will keep busy continuing this blog tomorrow with the updates as promised as well as preparing for the night from hell. What on earth do our eagles do in this kind of extreme weather? Are they on the forest floor or clinging on for their lives to a branch? Stand by...it's going to get bumpy. 

Saturday January 17 2009 1400 

It's beginning. Nothing out of the ordinary yet but a hint of what might lie ahead. This morning was sunny and flat calm for a while giving us a chance to get the wood in, the fire set and a quick dash to the shop. But now the clouds in varying shades of grey are rolling in and there are sudden gusts which send the chickens scampering across the garden to the bushes for shelter. At the moment it's a day not unlike the one when I set off in search of Mara after his last satellite fix. It was a blustery day along Loch na Keal with the waves lapping on the shore and bits of marine debris blowing about the road. The mountain top he'd been recorded on was empty. Not even a buzzard was up. But several miles further up the track, I picked up a young male sea eagle hanging in the wind like a giant kestrel on broad outstretched wings above the ridge. I know eagles don't really hover as such but he was doing a good impersonation, clearly putting just enough effort in to maintain his stationary position. I couldn't make out an aerial so can't be sure it was Mara but then he suddenly started to glide quite rapidly along the ridge and the cause of this change in behaviour soon became evident. Flying hard straight towards him with a determined, aggressive air were three larger, presumably female sea eagles, all immatures. The young male was keeping just ahead of them but they were gaining ground all the while. He stopped gliding and started flapping hard to stay in front but very quickly the greater strength and speed of the females overwhelmed him. One by one they pummelled into him sending him spinning through the air. Everytime they attacked, he would turn in mid air and try to present his talons in defense but to little effect. He was just outnumbered and out manoeuvred and he was in trouble. Why would they be so aggressive in this way? As immatures they had no territory to defend but they clearly wanted him out of their patch. The relentless pursuit, one of the longest I've ever witnessed, went on for some 25 minutes. They would disappear and then reappear from behind the ridge, all still flapping like mad, following every twist and turn, shooting vertically up into the air, then diving down and away again out of sight like some military jet exercise. On the last dive, they didn't emerge again. I scanned the hill tops for the next hour hoping to pick them up but they must have continued their chase in another hidden glen or all given up their exertions and returned to their normal behaviour. Or perhaps they were all resting for they must have been exhausted after such a prolonged bout of hard flight. Or...well I'd rather not consider any other possible outcomes at the moment.

Meanwhile on the southern face of the hill, while scanning for the sea eagles I picked up a young golden eagle, still with lots of white on the tail and wings so presumably one of last year's fledglings. As I watched it folded its wings back in close to the body and fell earthwards like a bullet. I could barely keep up with it through the telescope but then it levelled out and dived straight in to a large herd of red deer hinds and calves which had been calmly grazing on the hillside. They scattered in all directions, the eagle shot up again, banked sharply and came in again for another attack, this time making contact with the rear end of a well grown calf. It galloped on across the rough ground, the eagle veered off and went again, this time at a full grown hind and holding on briefly to the back of the panicking beast. It let go and soared up high above the herd which had all come to a halt to watch the eagle and to see what it did next. It looked like it had had its fun for the day. I guess if one of them had stumbled and broken a leg, it would have eventually had a meal but for now it was giving up and drifted off to seek out easier prey. But it did once again show the might of the eagles and what they may be capable of at times. The deer returned to grazing as dusk approached. They'd survived another day in this harsh west coast winter environment. As they prepared for a long night on the hill, I rolled the window up against the strengthening wind and drizzle and headed homewards.

And talking of strengthening wind, it really is now starting here. Heavy rain and sudden gusts howling round the garden. I'd better get out there and do one last check that everything is tied down and try to coax the hens into cover. It's going to be a long night. 

Sunday January 18, 2009

1230pm:  Maybe we were in the 'eye of the storm' but we seem to have escaped unscathed. In fact it seemed alot worse last weekend! Anyway we should be grateful and better to be prepared and safe than sorry. So now we just have a normal Sunday in winter on Mull - the atrocious weather isn't done with us yet: angry squalls of hail and rain persist and it still feels like it's not really light yet. But this is as good as it's going to get. Time to browse holiday brochures for holidays we can't afford to take this year and to survey the garden from the warmth of the conservatory to imagine what will appear where in the coming spring - deer and hens permitting.

Tomorrow it's back on the trail of the eagles, to discover which nests survived the maelstrom and to hopefully get some new satellite fixes for Mara & Breagha. I should just mention that the very latest fix we have for Mara was - bizarrely - directly above our house a few days ago! I thought it was some kind of early April Fool prank by our Data Unit team in Edinburgh but no, he really did fly over the garden. Let's hope he and Breagha found a safe and sheltered place to spend last night and that as this grim weather persists, that they discover a meaty carcase somewhere on the hill to keep them going. They deserve a hearty Sunday lunch after what they've endured last night. Until next time...   

Dave Sexton RSPB Scotland Mull Officer