(what a great song that was from Ian Dury!)
I know over recent weeks, its been hard to be really cheerful with the failure of the nest at Loch Frisa but we do have lots of things to be really cheerful about.
Our most exciting news is that one of the eggs on our buzzard nest has hatched! Our female buzzard has been incubating two eggs for just over a month - there is a camera on the nest with pictures beamed back into the hide. The first egg was due to hatch over the weekend and I couldnt get to the hide quick enough on Monday morning to turn on the camera and see if we had a chick. And there it was! A small ball of fluff, hardly able to hold its head up - and there was the proud mum, feeding the tiniest morsels with such tenderness and gentleness - I felt truly humbled to be watching this touching scene. And here it is - the first public viewing of our buzzard chick - I have taken a capture from our monitor so apologies for the quality but thought you would like a glimpse!
You can see the 2nd egg next to the chick - fingers crossed for hatching in the next day or two!
Here is a screen capture of Mum feeding the tiniest morsels to her new arrival!
On Tuesday we also spotted our first chicks out on the Loch - our female mallard set out across the Loch followed by her newly hatched brood of 10 chicks. We are pretty sure the sand martins have or are pretty close to hatching. We now have a camera set up alongside the quarry with close of views of the sand martin burrows so we can watch their comings and goings from the hide. This morning we were treated to a male hen harrier hunting across the far side of the loch - the first view of a harrier for several of our visitors.
What about Skye and Frisa I hear you ask? Well not to be outdone, they have provided some pretty spectacular displays this week. For a couple of days they had returned to a favourite knoll where they have great views of the glen - sat side by side enjoying the wonderful warm sunny weather we are enjoying at present (long may it last!). Unfortunately the lapwings were not too impressed with their choice of perch and certainly gave them a serious telling off - probably too close to their nest. Both Skye and Frisa then took off and did a wonderful flying display, across the fields and over the loch. Frisa still feels the need to spend some time on the nest - so strong is her instinct to carry on incubating the egg that must still be in the bottom of the nest - but these spells are getting shorter and shorter, mainly overnight. The pair of them are back together again and looking splendid in the sunshine.
Of course the siskins are still here - as feisty as ever and a real hit with our visitors.
Siskin - Loch Frisa, photo Debby Thorne
We also have a camera in an owl nesting box - the barn owl is a regular visitor and we have everything crossed he will take up residence in this newly installed nest box.
The weather has been truly wonderful - bright sunny days with beautiful blue skies - we really do have lots of reasons to be cheerful. So you can see, there is a great deal going on at Loch Frisa - do come and see us - we have lots to show you! Full details of Mull Eagle Watch.
Debby Thorne
White Tailed Eagle Information Officer
It is hard to find cheer when something you're watching doesn't work isn't it? Our 7 nestcam bluetits all died, we think a cat got the mum and by the time dad came back with food it was too late. I wonder if I should have intervened and would probably do so in future as I wouldn't want to think I could have done something to help and didn't even though the other instinct is to let nature take it's course. However I was in the garden, feeling glum and saw a sparrow with her young bring them into the garden and then as I was finishing off filling the feeders a couple of field mice placed themselves under one of the feeders just a yard or so from me and that restored my positivity in the garden! You have to just accept that the wildlife you chose to observe was unlucky this year but there are so many other things that are succesfull and you are doing some good!
Hope we will be getting an up-date on all the other eagles there on Mull, as well as on your buzzards, please...
Breagha has been/is back with you on Mull? Another 'Reason to be Cheerful'!!
Hi Debby and Dave (sounds like a comedy act). Good to read your latest blog and pleased to hear that our fantastic eagels are out and about a bit more now.
As someone else said, too many fantastic webcams to watch, I am watching 40 at the moment and by accident yesterday tuned in to check on the large (8 week) bald eagel chicks on one of 8 nests in USA I have been following, Pelicna Harbor nest on the channel Islands off California. As I turned it on there was a man sitting on the side of the nest placing carefully one of the large chicks then the other in bags and lowering them to the ground for banding . I thought that was it but no another camera went on and the biologists were being filmed for television. After measuring beak depth, large toe, leg, taking blood for DNA and to check if there were any signs of DDT from the food they had eaten, they were ringed and a number placed on each wing. Chick one had a transmitter put on. There was a lot of sibling rivalry so the 2nd chick was quite a bit small but from the measurments they thought 1 was female and the 2nd a male. They were out of the nest for 45 mins and the biologists were quietly spoken and very careful with their procedures. It was absolutly fascinating to have whitnessed through the internet and they are beautiful birds like our white tailed eagels. It was only when someone was holding them could you make a comparrison with their true size.
JILLIAN
Talking of the Estonian webcam, can Dave/Debby/anyone help bloggers there with prospective research on nesting patterns (eg male/female egg-sitting, etc) - do you know of any studies of the breeding behaviour of sea eagles, published or on-line?