Home of the Haggis

Following in the wingbeats of Itchy and Scratchy (the Springwatch stars of 2005) was never going to be easy. The following year, Frisa and Skye produced two more healthy, bouncing twins. They were named by the children of Lochdon Primary School during one of their visits to the eagle hide. The chicks already had their wing tags on: yellow was the colour for 2006 and the letters were H for one male chick and O for his brother. It took the school children all of five minutes to come up with the winning names: Haggis and Oatmeal (or Oatie for short). Brilliant.

The two chicks fledged normally and went through the normal pattern of post fledging behaviour: hanging around mum and dad until the last possible minute, following them to explore their territory and eventually by the autumn of 2006, drifting away from the island, much like we're seeing Mara and Breagha do this year. The two brothers could never quite live up to the celebrity status achieved by Itchy and Scratchy but they gave it a pretty good go. Their best exposure came when Kate Humble visited us for 'The One Show'. Kate was thrilled to see her old friends Frisa and Skye's latest offspring. We tracked them down to a part of the forest near that year's nest and both chicks put on a fine display for the cameras - still flying unsteadily at that point and landing in a bit of a feathery heap but it was great for a new audience to share in their development. When the cameras stopped rolling and everyone had left, it was back to just them and me. Slowly they gained in confidence and spread their wings to pastures new. Oatie was the first to leave and he headed for Morvern, only to return briefly soon after (sound familiar?). After that, sightings of him became more sporadic. He has been seen since at various points on the mainland, back on Mull and on other islands but we've had no definite word of him now since last winter. I hope he's out there somewhere, safe and well. On one extraordinary occasion, over a year after they had gone their separate ways, both Haggis and Oatie were seen back together again down at Loch Scridain on Mull. A lovely coincidence and who knows, perhaps a flicker of recogniton between them? They stayed together for a few days before the brothers parted again, mayber this time for good.

And so what of Haggis ? Well, we know from sightings that he made a long distance journey way out west to the Outer Hebrides. He was seen on the Isle of Lewis, only briefy, and then he vanished. I have to say at that point I was concerned. There are some chicks (and Haggis is one of them) who just seem to get seen regularly and all over the place. But now sightings of him just dried up completely. We feared the worst and time moved on.

This week I got a message from Bryan Raines who runs 'Wild About Mull' tours here. He had spotted a young sea eagle with yellow tags but as so often with wing tags, they never seem to be facing the right way! Eventually, keeping the bird in his sights, he got a better view: Yellow......H! Good old Haggis had come home. He was looking fit and well and is now a strapping young sea eagle 'teenager', over half way towards adulthood. Already his dark beak and eyes are turning a pale yellow, his feathers are paler and mottled and there is just the earliest hint of white about the tail. He's got a long way to go yet before he attains the full, fine plumage of his parents Frisa and Skye and we wish him well over the next few years. Do let me know if you spot him on your travels on the west (or east coast) of Scotland. But with Haggis safely accounted for, my thoughts turn to long lost brother Oatie. Maybe, just maybe, they have a pact to meet up on Mull every year or two? Let's hope he'll show up here soon and we'll see them side by side again, perched by the loch edge: for just a wee while, brothers together once more.

Dave Sexton RSPB Scotland Mull Officer

Autumnwatch and the Mull Eagle Diary begins Monday 3 November BBC Two 8pm.