One day like this

"Drinking in the morning sun, blinking in the morning sun"

Frisa felt stirrings beneath her. The first time had been in the middle of the night. If the moon had been full and bright she may even have stood up there and then to see what was happening but in the darkness of a moonless April night, she sat low and tight until dawn.

Skye was unusually keen to arrive at the nest at daybreak to take over his incubation duties. Or maybe he too sensed that the moment was approaching? Whilst he was ultra-keen, Frisa was unusually reluctant to shift. Ten minutes passed when normally a changeover happens in seconds. Skye stalked around the nest rim, round one way and back the other but she was not for moving. He finally jumped to one side and sat on a branch and then to preen as if he didn't really want to take over anyway.

But then Frisa felt that movement again. There was no mistaking it this time. She rocked gently to reposition herself a little higher. And then she couldn't resist a peek. She raised her mighty form and stood, peering beneath her. There in the nest cup beside an empty, cracked egg shell was a wet, wriggly, downy chick. She cleared the egg shell away, ate a little and then just stared for several minutes. The chick half sat up, its head and neck wobbling left and right and looked back at the piercing bright eyes and yellow beak of Frisa. Both blinked repeatedly in the morning sun.

Skye sensed the moment had indeed come. Not wishing to be left out, he could wait no longer and jumped back onto the nest. For a few moments both adults seemed to just drink in the wonderous sight before them. Then, instinct took over. Skye ruffled his feathers, stretched one wing, then the other and then was away to hunt. He now had a job to do.

Tugging at a tiny piece of prey on the side of the nest, Frisa bent lower to feed her precious offspring. She appeared to drool with delight as her saliva mixed the meaty morsels into a nutritious soup for the chick to swallow.

It might be hours before Skye returned with fresh prey. Frisa fed herself a little too and then settled back down to brood the first chick - and, who knows, perhaps a second hatching chick - and to keep everything warm, snug and protected. Woodpigeons called softly from the forest, the chaffinches were now well into their full spring dawn chorus and a great-spotted woodpecker drummed loudly on a dead Sitka. It was looking like a beautiful day.

It had been a long time since Frisa had seen or felt anything like this; over two years in fact. Up until 2010 Frisa and Skye had fledged chicks almost every year, almost like clockwork. It had come so easily, so naturally to them. But then it would, wouldn't it? They're so 'hard-wired', as the scientists will tell us, to breed, devoid of all emotion. Just an endless cycle of courtship, nest building, mating, egg laying, hatching, feeding, fledging, moulting and then it all starts again.

But that all changed for them and us in 2010 and again in 2011 when they failed to nest successfully. It just wasn't like them. Everyone had a theory: "too old", "not Frisa or Skye anymore", "intruding eagles", "golden eagles put them off..." In the final analysis, disturbance - possibly, sadly, intentional and reckless - is the most likely cause for their failure to breed. So in 2012, both they and we needed a new approach to get them back on track.

With the Mull Eagle Hide already set to move to Glen Seilisdeir to follow Fingal and Iona and with less general public access to Loch Frisa in the midst of ongoing timber harvesting and haulage, the time was right for Skye and Frisa to help themselves. In early spring, they slipped quietly away from their long-time favourite and once secure nest near a busy track and into some remote, hidden glade lost to view in the many square miles of the Glen Aros catchment.  And we would, with a heavy heart, let them go.  This was to be their time to regroup and to refocus on what was important in their lives. With just occasional sightings and distant checks, the field signs were often hopeful: one of them flying purposefully homeward at dusk over Salen Bay; another preening on a favourite mound in the morning sun. Never together. We knew they were safe, occupied and we held our breaths.

The plan had always been to wait until any successfully fledged chick (or chicks) would be up and about before looking in earnest for them. Judging by previous dates over their long breeding history since 1998 the time to watch, wait and listen would be early August. And so it was that on a sunny, midge-filled summer's morning, the large, dark form of Sunda, loomed into view over the ridge. Sunda (meaning special and precious in Gaelic), was calling loudly for food. Her flight was still a little unsteady but she'd clearly been on the wing for a week or more. She had spotted Skye and Frisa perched on their favourite rocky outcrop long before we had as she steamed towards them, the food begging calls getting ever louder. She paused briefly in the forest, landing with some degree of agility before launching off again and towards her proud, if already somewhat long-suffering parents. This time she landed less gracefully and almost did an Olympic-style double back somersault over the purple blooming heather before she came to a halt, amazingly upright!

Sunda - Skye and Frisa's chick 2012 - sorry its not brilliant but taken from a distance (photo Debby Thorne)

She lumbered towards Skye who took off and landed again a short distance away; then she changed direction and marched towards Frisa who finally relinquished the remains of some prey from her talons. Sunda had got what she came for. She will do well I'm sure, if given a chance in this uncertain world. Watching from afar, the sight of the three of them together was a dream come true for all of us. There have been dark times in the past two years when we wondered if we'd ever see them like this again. We should have had more faith. With Frisa now aged 20 and Skye just 18, they have many more productive years ahead of them.

The first forestry trucks of the day were beginning to roll and were kicking up some dust. It was time to leave. Frisa, Skye and Sunda - the dynasty continues.

One day like this a year would see me right. It's looking like a beautiful day!

Dave Sexton RSPB Scotland Mull Officer

With grateful thanks to the Mull Eagle Watch partnership of Forestry Commission Scotland, Scottish Natural Heritage, Mull & Iona Community Trust, Strathclyde Police, volunteers and RSPB. And special thanks to Debby Thorne.

The Mull Eagle Hide in Glen Seilisdeir is still running trips. Please book on 01680 812 556