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Debby Thorne

Phew - another hectic week on Mull!

Dave has been out and about with the leg ringing team and checking up on our new sea eagle chicks - he will be doing a blog soon to update you on what he's been doing (I think catching up on his sleep at the moment!). 

Our two chicks at Frisa were ringed on Wednesday, both Skye and Frisa were away feeding at the time and were totally unaware that anyway had been near their nest.  I think the only difference was when they returned, some kind person had left some fresh halibut on the nest - a welcome present indeed!  We had confirmation of two healthy chicks on the nest.  A DNA swab was taken (same as us with a mouth swab) and this will determine the sex of the chicks - then we can get on to the important task of finding names for them.  If anyone has suggestions, please let us know and they will all go into a hat for a grand draw.

We have had a couple of school visits to the hide which have gone really well.  Today was the turn of Lochdonhead Primary School, based here on Mull.  They had a great time and Frisa very kindly sat in a tree very patiently so all the children could see her.  What great excitement.  Some of you may not be aware but the monies raised from the hide from visits and donations are split in two - half of the money goes back into the Eagle Watch project and the other half goes back to the Island in the form of grants which groups can then apply to.  Lochdonhead School recently received such a grant and used their money to buy some nest camera boxes and some gardening equipment.  They are over the moon as within a week of installing the camera boxes, Mr and Mrs Blue Tit moved in.  They have been following them daily and are delighted to report that they now have 8 young blue tits.  The enthusiasm shown by these youngsters is so refreshing - I felt so proud when a bird flew down in front of us and one of the younger ones said "its a pied wagtail".  Before I started working for the RSPB this year, I worked at this school and each day they would come asking if they could help me fill the bird feeders - such eagerness and willingness to learn.  Looks like they listened well too!  Our future will be in their hands soon.

 

 

 

Lochdonhead Primary School - Photo Debby Thorne

 

 

 

 

 

Lochdonhead Primary School - Photo Debby Thorne

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lochdonhead Primary School - photo Debby Thorne

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ooooh Look - an eagle! Photo Debby Thorne

 

 

Our other excitment this week, was the visit of Blue Peter.  Dave will fill you in on this visit but what a great team - set a reminder on your TV's 30th June dont forget to watch Blue Peter and see their visit to Mull!

 

 

Blue Peter at the Eagle Hide -photo Debby Thorne

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Andi, from Blue Peter, Finlay our Wildlife Crime Officer and Dave chilling out on the Eagle bench in front of the hide - Photo Debby Thorne

 

Yesterday was my day off so I took my daughter to Iona to hunt down the corncrakes - did we find any? (potential cliffhanger!) - well ..... we heard plenty but sadly couldnt spot them.  But we did see lots and lots of painted lady butterflies. 

 

 

Painted Lady - Iona -photo Debby Thorne

 

 

 

 

 

 

Painted Lady - photo Debby Thorne

 

 

 

Dont forget the Estonian webcam - look at the size of those chicks! Live sea eagle webcam 

 

 And not forgetting our friends over at Loch Garten who are having a rollercoaster of a ride at the moment - we wish them well and hope family life settles down to some sort of normality.

 

Dont forget you can join the RSPB and support our work with the eagles. Just click the 'Join now' button and take a look. 

Also - a reminder to sign the Birds of Prey Pledge http://www.rspb.org.uk/supporting/campaigns/birdsofprey/

Debby Thorne - White Tailed Eagle Information Officer, Isle of Mull

 

  • Sorry I should have said Loch Garten not Loch of the Lowes.

    Margobird

  • Debby so pleased to see the children taking such an interest in all that is going on. This can only be good. So pleased to hear that Skye and Frisa's chicks are so healthy but then again they have wonderful parents. I too hope that all settles down at Loch of the Lowes they have had such a worrying time over the past week but it seems to be settling down a bit now, so hope it stays that way. Thanks for the blog and photos.

    Margobird

  • Lovely photos and thanks for the news update Debby. Wonderful too to hear of the childrens visit..as you rightly say they will soon be the ones to take on the conservation mantle. It is so important to get them young. At that age information absorbed will stay for life.Glad also that the chicks are healthy and well...The Halibut would have been a big surprise like the Tesco's fish at LG last week !!!! Thank God it looks as though things are getting back to normal up here in the Cairngorms and Odin is now bringing fish in again. I think he just got a really big fright and it took him a bit to get over it... Where did summer go ??????????
  • Lovely photos again Debby, and some happy faces too :) As for names, I was about to suggest Debby and Dave (if we have a female and a male again...) but it would get awfully confusing in the blogs!

    Everybody rides on the karma train.

  • Hi Debby good to see the children getting expert information about Skye and Frisa perhaps guardians of wildlife on Mull in the future.Anyone who reads these blogs but hasn't been to Mull and thinks it must be nice well multiply that by ten.Hard to believe how hard Dave and everyone connected with Sea Eagle project has worked to get all information available to the public.The difference over the last five years is unbelievable and just look at the difference in the number of blogs put out in 2008 and 2009 by Dave and yourself which is why we encourage people to comment back on here We are sure lots of people would not want to lose this blog.Best wishes.About 90 days now see you soon so to speak.