Mixed weather this week with great views of white-tailed eagles and golden eagles on sunny days and long periods of inactivity from the birds on wet days.
Our female, Iona, laid her first egg on 29th March, so that means it is 13 days old today – just another 25 days until it (hopefully) hatches. She has probably laid at least another egg, possibly 2, but we won’t know for sure until they hatch. Fingal, the male, has been taking his turn incubating the eggs, allowing Iona to leave the nest to feed. We are getting the impression that there is a red deer carcase somewhere up on the moorland above the nest site, as we have not seen any small prey items being brought in. Both adults have favourite perching branches near the nest and we have watched them preening for long periods. On one occasion we even saw Iona fly down toward the burn that flows near the nest tree, presumably to drink or bathe.
There have been two other white-tailed eagles in the vicinity of the nest this week: a juvenile, probably Orion, their last years young, and a sub-adult bird that cheekily landed on the nest. Fingal half-heartedly chased it away, and the two eagles were seen soaring together over the forest. The other bird was noticeably larger than Fingal and is probably offspring of the pair from 3 or 4 years ago.
On most days we have seen golden eagles soaring above the moorland and mountains that form the backdrop to our nest, and their has been a great deal of interaction with our local ravens that appear to have fledged young already. Buzzards have been getting in on the action too, while a sparrowhawk, hen harrier and peregrine have all made appearances on different days.
Our feeders near the hide are being emptied every day by a horde of chaffinches, siskins and coal tits. Common crossbills have been seen and heard most days too, as they flit through the tops of the spruce trees, rifling the cones for their remaining seeds. A new owl nest barrel has been erected in a tree close to the hide which has a camera in it and we hope that it may soon be occupied by a pair of barn owls or tawny owls. We have also had a report of a pine marten from a nearby garden this week.
The camera that relays live pictures of the nest to the hided has been relocated because of the new nest site chosen by the eagles this year. We hope to have it up and running next week and will be attempting to get a live webcam going soon.
Today we had some great children at the hide who spent most of the afternoon constructing the most fabulous full-size replica of a white-tailed eagle nest. Check out our new Mull Eagle Watch facebook page to see the photos.