courtesy Black Eyed Peas
We are back! Today was the first day at our new location in Glen Seilisdeir on the western side of the Island. Set against the stunning backdrop of Ben More, with lochs, forestry, plantations, we are in fantastic eagle country.
Due to ongoing forest management, Skye and Frisa will be stepping (or flapping!) out of the limelight for a while - they are fine and we will bring you news on them this spring as and when there is anything to report.
Glen Seilisdier, which means Glen of the Irises is home to Blue 9 (male) and Green T (female), a pair of white tailed-eagles who have made this stunning location their home since 2002. It was with great excitement that I greeted our first visitors this morning. We settled into our new forest hideaway and watched as Green T carried out the important duties of incubation. Every now and then, she would gently lift herself up onto the edge of her nest, gently roll her precious eggs before settling back down again. And then we saw a white flash - and in came Blue 9 to give his mate a break so she could go off to feed. She took some persuading but eventually lifted off and flew just a short distance to the conifers directly in front of us. We hardly dare breathe as the 2 of them called to each other. Blue 9 settled down and his mate flew off to find some lunch. Back at the hide, we had great views of the siskins on the feeders, chaffinches looking for nesting spots, goldcrests flitting about the trees, and a buzzard displaying to its mate. A great start to the season. Just time for a quick bite then off to collect the afternoon group. It was funny to watch him re-arranging the contents of the nest, that his mate had painstakingly arranged earlier in the morning. Then out of nowhere, unable to stay away too long, Green T returned. She was happy to sit on the edge of the nest and let her mate do his fair share of incubation. Then we caught sight of something large flying close to the nest and as we were trying to work out what it was, a third adult white tailed eagle flew straight over the nest - where it came from and who it was, we have no idea but what a sight.
Here is a photo of the male Blue 9 taken today having relieved Green T of her duties - shortly after taken this picture a snow blizzard came through! Please note photo only possible from the Mull Eagle Watch viewing area; Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) licence required for schedule 1 species (photo Debby Thorne)
Back at the hide, high above the glen, 3 huge birds were circling together. Even without looking through binoculars, there was no doubting they were golden eagles. On two of them, the white markings were clearly visible indicating juveniles and an adult. Across the ridge by Ben More, 3 buzzards enjoyed the an uplift and swooped and dived effortlessly.
What a fantastic start to the season. Our first visitors of the season went away on cloud 9 - a great start to their Easter holidays and raving about our new location.
Trips run Monday to Friday at 10.00 and 1.00 and can be booked through our friends at Craignure Visitor Centre on 01680 812556
Day 1 of the all new Mull Eagle Hide
L-R Michael Russell MSP, Moray Finch (General Manager, Mull & Iona Community Trust and Mike Cantlay (Chairman, VisitScotland)
at the VisitScotland Visitor Information Centre, Craignure who take the bookings for trips. Mull Eagle Watch and the new Eagle Hide at Glen Seilisdeir opened for business today. Call VisitScotland
on 01680 812556 to book a trip Monday to Friday 10.00 and 13.00.
Photo courtesy Alan Jack
Dont forget you can get up to date information by following us on Twitter @skyeandfrisa and on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/?ref=tn_tnmn#!/groups/65385337670/
Debby Thorne
White-Tailed Eagle Information Officer
Isle of Mull
Thanks Debby look forward to seeing you in August and the new nest, of course any chicks will be out and about by then. I am following Shelly so it will be lovely to see one or both of her parents. I see on the tracking there are no new points for Mara, does that mean his device has now fallen off like Breagh or that something has happened? Good luck for the season and hopefully an even better year for chicks on Mull.
Thank you all for your kind comments - its great to be back - what a contrast today with the weather - as I drove around Loch Na Keal, snow swept across the hills,covering Ben More and then briliant sunshine - very chilly at 1 degree. Crossbills on the nest tree today and young golden eagle flying overhead. I will answer your questions as best I can!
Sylviamac - we dont know how many eggs and will only know once the chicks hatched - last year this pair successfully fledged twins.
Jillian - this pair had 2 chicks satellite tracked - Oran in 2009 who went missing in June 2010 and Shelly who was tagged in 2010. You can follow our sat tagged chicks here www.rspb.org.uk/.../mulleagles
Not sure how bit your motorhome is - its forestry track has been used by variety of vehicles.
To view the areas we drive into the forestry, park and its a short walk along the forestry track to a viewing area within the forestry so we are "outdoors" to view the eagles and not sat in in a hide.
cheers
Debby
So good to have the blog back :) Can't wait to come up to Mull in less than 3 weeks. Good luck to all the eagles this season
It sounds wonderful Debby - can't wait to hear how Blue9 and GreenT get on, and hopefully I'll even get to see them!
~ Karen ~Pet & Widlife Artist living in southern Perthshire. A self confessed White-Tailed Eagle-holic!
A great Blog Debby, thank you. Am so pleased to understand (which I didn't) that forest management and the new centre had taken up everybody's time. It looks a super new centre. Good luck attend this year to Skye and Frisa and Blue 9 and Green T with the incubation and subsequent hatching with this new phase of hostile weather.