For most of today, the weather on Mull has not been at all conducive to finding eagles. However, all the latest satellite data shows that both Mara and Breagha are fine and continue to spend most of their time on the south side of Loch Frisa. Mara continues to be the more active according to the data which had me a little worried about Breagha. However, whenever I've seen them both together, there is no difference in their apparent levels of fitness or flying prowess. I asked Roy Dennis of the 'Highland Foundation for Wildlife' who helped us fit the tags why the data seems to show Mara as the more adventurous.

He believes one possible reason is that, as the bigger bird, the satellite tag may be deeper in her plummage and therefore covered by Breagha's feathers more often. This means that the miniature solar panel is getting less charge so the data is less precise. We hope this will sort itself out in the weeks ahead. The more they fly, the more exposed the tag is to the sun and the better the detail of the data. The grey weather of late won't have helped either. By late evening though there was blue sky at last and a wonderful sunset in between the numerous rainbows over Salen bay.

It was a high tide tonight which had nudged most of the common seals off their favourite haul out but we did just glimpse two otters near the old boats on our way to Tobermory. I hope it's the mum and her cub as we had an otter killed on the road there just last week which we think may have been her well grown cub from last year. We'll keep watching and hoping that mum and this year's young cub are okay. Tomorrow looks to be a brighter day so we'll see what that brings. For now, all seems well with our sea eagle family, so rest easy.

Dave Sexton RSPB Scotland Mull Officer

2220hrs

Dave Sexton, RSPB Scotland Mull Officer

  • Thanks, Dave - good to know all is well. Sad about the young otter. Goodness knows you can ill afford to lose one, but having been to Mull a couple of times I know how hazardous it can be! I'm not keen on those narrow roads even in daylight! Needless to say, my husband does all the driving!
  • Lovely to know that Mara and Breagha are fit and well. Thank you for the update.. Sad to hear of the young Otter killed on the road though..Do you have sign posts for Otters in Mull ??? In Shetland they have 'Beware Otters Crossing the Road' signs all over the place.. I remember a magical evening in Shetland a few years ago. We were sitting waiting for the Ferry to Yell from the mainland. It was a beautiful still evening with stars twinkilng brightly everywhere and so quiet, a quiet I have only ever heard on Shetland, that you could hear a boat chugging down the sound about 2 miles away...Then magically just in front of the car an Otter popped up on the wall from the shore...It scented the air and then ran down the wall towards us. We froze, hardly breathing as it nonchantly scented through all the stones and then it jumped to the floor and found something to eat, probably something thrown from a car. We watched it for about 15 minutes until someone in a car about 3 in front of us took a photo and the flash went off and startled the Otter which quickly retreated to the shore...I think I breathed for the first time...It will stay with me forever that thrill of seeing the Otter so close you could put your hand out of the window and almost touch him..