Ice, Ice Baby

courtesy of Vanilla Ice and more recently Jedward!

The beautiful weather continues on Mull.  Crisp, frosty mornings with blue sky and sunshine with the thermometer creeping up to about 5 degrees at lunchtime.  Crocuses are out and love is definately in the air.  I have been watching oystercatchers displaying and males chasing off the competition.  The garden birds are singing their hearts out as the circle of life turns another notch and they find a mate and start the flurry of nest building.

On Wednesday this week, I took a lovely group of visitors down to the hide all eager to see either Skye or Frisa - some of the visitors had managed to catch a glimpse of an eagle during their stay on the Island but for some, they were keen for that first view of our spectacular birds. 

We arrived down at the Loch which has remained frozen for several days now to find Skye sat in one of his favourite trees.  I had set the telescopes up ready so as they arrived they all had  a good look at our handsome male in case he took off before they had a close up view.  After my talk about the eagles, I suggested we go outside as it was such a lovely day when suddenly Skye took off from his tree, heading in our direction and then put his legs down as if to land on the Loch.  "He cant land on the ice" I said.  As if he heard me, he came down on the ice and landed without a slip or slide and stood there as if to say "Oh yes I can!".  He stood there looking about while we were all oooing and aahing and wondering what he was thinking.  Had he seen a fish through the ice - its possible as the Loch is filled with brown trout.  Then out of the corner of our eye, we spotted Frisa, also sat on the ice down at the head of the Loch - she had sneaked in whilst all eyes were on Skye.  Considering the eagles have a wing span of about 8ft, they can still manage to sneak up on us!  So there we were, both our adults sat on the ice - Torvill and Dean of the eagle world!  They then began to call to each other - heads thrown back and a call that possibly said "what are you doing over there, come over here!" - with that Frisa flew the short distance to Skye and landed gracefully on the ice and there they stood side by side.  Well what happened next I will leave to your imagination but we all felt like we were spying on a very special moment - not dancing on ice but mating on ice. 

After that confirmation of their bonding (again!) Frisa took off and landed on the hillside next to the hide - Skye followed her shortly but instead of landing kept flying so she had no choice but to join him.  The pair of them spent abut 15 minutes flying together, enjoying the sunshine and each other.  It really was a very special moment and the visitors were so excited at what they had seen.

Skye on the ice! photo Debby Thorne

Frisa on the left, Skye on the right

We are receiving lots of eagle sightings from visitors to the Island - this is really a great time to see them - as I came back from walking the dog this afternoon, a youngster flew across the field in front of me before disappearing up a glen.  Dont forget the hide is open.  Full details here Mull Eagle Watch.

And as I sign off, it is with a heavy heart as reports of a young golden eagle has been found poisoned on the Sligo/Leitrim border http://www.birdguides.com/webzine/article.asp?a=1977  Some of you may have heard this week that our Birds of  Prey Petition was handed into Holyrood - a big thank you to everyone who added their name to this campaign.  Let's hope that an end is now in sight to this pointless killing. 

Debby Thorne

White Tailed Eagle Information Officer, Mull