A warm welcome to any new visitors to this Blog who have just dipped their toe in after watching 'Autumnwatch' this week. Tonight's your first night without Bill, Kate, Simon and Gordon! How will you cope? Well hopefully you'll enjoy catching up with our wonderful white-tailed sea eagles here on the Isle of Mull and perhaps have a glance back through some of the archive Blogs from the last few months to get an idea of what goes on here.
But first things first - an update on last night's report on the possible accident involving a sea eagle on the main road into Tobermory (see 'A worrying time' from yesterday). Whilst I can't yet give any absolute definitive news as no new satellite data has been received, I do feel more confident that what happened yesterday was a 'near miss' with an adult sea eagle and not with one of our two chicks from Loch Frisa, Mara and Breagha. The police have spoken to both drivers who reported the bird near the road and they are sure it had a white tail and a yellow beak. In other words, a full adult. That then would match the description of the sea eagles I saw shortly afterwards perched on the shoreline nearby. When one of them, a female, flew towards me yesterday I could see grey wing tags on both wings. The male had no visble tags. That description exactly matches the identity of the Territory 20 pair which have a glen in the centre of Mull as their core home range. Whilst the area I found them in yesterday seems to be way outside their normal territory, I can only assume that it is all part of their 'out of season' range where they wander at will. One of them maybe spotted the dead deer remains, the ravens and buzzards and came in for a closer look. It had a very near miss with a lorry and will hopefully never do it again. It's a bizarre, almost freak episode and one I never want to repeat. Today I spoke to Roy Dennis of the 'Highland Foundation for Wildlife' who helped us fit the satellite tags and he promises to send through the latest data for Mara and Breagha as soon as he receives it. And I'll pass it on to you. But tonight, I am more hopeful that they are both well and tonight have hopefully found a good, safe roost somewhere out there in these increasingly windy conditions on the west coast.
Later, as the low November sun appeared briefly through the rain showers and rainbows, I also confirmed that Frisa and Skye are fine. They were perched side by side, almost touching, in the larch trees - both wet through. Every few minutes, Skye threw his head back and called, immediately followed by Frisa's deeper answer. Just like the other pair who lost their chick this summer, Frisa and Skye are also already starting some early autumnnal courtship and reaffirming their special bond. Who knows, fairly soon, I may even see the first signs of their nest site selection - exciting times ahead!
If you want to watch any of the three 'Autumnwatch' Mull Eagle video diaries, you can at www.bbc.co.uk/autumnwatch/meettheanimals and click on 'Sea eagle'. If you want to see more of them in the future, why not make a comment on the 'Autumnwatch' Messageboard? Meanwhile as the crew leave Brownsea Island and Gordon's team head home from the Farnes, we're still here! Come rain or shine, 24/7, throughout the winter, I'm watching out for the sea eagles and keeping you posted on their adventures, past and present. I hope you'll join me here. Have a good weekend and I'll update you with any satellite news if we get it.
Dave Sexton RSPB Scotland Mull Officer
Dave Sexton, RSPB Scotland Mull Officer
Hi everyone
Saturday 2100hrs: I've just checked the e-mails in the office but unfortunately no new sat tag data has been received today so I can't give you any further news on the specific whereabouts of Mara & Breagha. I do now know that a few days ago Mara was still on Ardnamurchan, just NW of our RSPB reserve at Glenborrodale and presumably about the same time as he was feeding on the deer carcase near the Ardnamurchan Natural History Centre. At the exact same time, his sister Breagha was exploring on the west side of Mull. She spent one evening roosting near Kilninian, probably in forestry there. The next night she was on the island of Gometra, just off the west end of Ulva, which in turn is just off the west coast of Mull! Both Ulva and Gometra are lovely islands and Ulva especially is very accessible and well worth taking the small ferry across, if only to visit the outstanding tea room! Then you can walk off your seafood lunch with easy trails along the coast. So, fingers still crossed that all is well with the chicks and ever hopeful of some positive new data tomorrow. I'm aware I've not answered a few of your Blog questions lately and will try to rectify that here tomorrow. As a one-man-RSPB-band on Mull there's alot to keep track of but I promise I will get round to it shortly. I really do appreciate your comments both on this Blog and on the 'Autumnwatch' Messageboard. Best wishes and thank you. Dave
Hi Dave, great to put a face to a name !!
I agree with all that Valerie and BarbaraAnne have said and I've left a post on the message board. I felt Autumnwatch was very poor this year , too much of the presenters not enough of the actual wildlife. The producers had their priorities all wrong and should have given both the sea eagles diaries and Gordon's reports from Farne top spots. I mean, how long can you watch the antics of a daddy long legs ! Zzzzzz.
Hope all is well with Mara and Breagha, roads are such a danger to all our beautiful birds.
Hello...thank you so much for your update...I was thinking about the eagles all day...so hopefully the one that we are all worried about will be fine. I signed up too, to do the autumnwatch message board and did find that some of the replies to some of the mesages posted were not very nice- edging on the rude side of things! It put me off posting a message myself!! Anyway will continue to think good thoughts for the eagles- hope they are not getting too much of a battering from the weather!x
Dave - if you read these comments: I decided to take you at your word in this blog and have just posted something on the Autumnwatch messageboard, headed 'Return of the Sea eagles.....' I don't know if it will be read much, but perhaps it may be of use to your project, should the programme editors read the messages? It said: "Thanks to Autumnwatch for returning to the Mull sea eagles after a long gap. Please continue with their story in future seasons. My family including our teenagers have followed their story ever since seeing one perched on a field wall on a bend in a road in Wester Ross one summer's holiday. We stopped to watch it preening. So much for the old adage that if you see an eagle sitting on a wall or fence, it isn't an eagle. The following summer we drove along the same road - and there on the same wall was... you've guessed it. As in the previous year, we could see no tag on what was presumably the same bird - but even this information interested the RSPB Scotland office when we contacted them. Autumnwatch and Springwatch, please keep us informed about these journey-stopping and life-enhancing birds. Once seen, never forgotten - trite but true." Yes, I know - very trite. But also very true.