There was something in the air this Valentine's week. Something had changed. There was more a sense of an urgency to Frisa and Skye. It's as if they've suddenly realised the clock is ticking, the nights are shorter, the days are longer. It may only be four weeks to go before that first precious egg appears. It was time to start making some decisions.

They were calling regularly to each other. Every few minutes…

After being away for a few days, I always need to get a quick fix of the big birds. So I headed into the Valley of the Eagles to see who was about. It's weird: there are some days when you think you know where to look, where to go. How wrong can you be? The conditions were perfect: clear blue frosty skies, even a hint of some warmth in that winter sunshine. But try as I might I just couldn't connect with anything. Not…

Even though we are getting our satellite data through regularly and we know they are both fine, sometimes you just want to set eyes on one or both of our young sea eagles - just to be sure!

This is just a short update as I'm on the move for the next few days. We know from the latest satellite data that on Monday night, Breagha was almost back home and roosted on the opposite side to Loch Frisa from where her nest was last…

The famous pair of wild Scottish sea eagles at Loch Frisa are being as indecisive as usual. Frisa, the female is in her 17th year. Her loyal mate for the last 12 years, Skye, will be 15 years old in April. You'd think by now they'd know what they wanted. But no. As I write they are adding sticks to at least two different eyries and it's anyone's guess which one they'll finally settle on. They have previous form. Almost every…

This is a big year in Scotland. The 'Year of Homecoming' has just been launched to coincide with the 250th birthday of Robert Burns. The hope of the Scottish Government and of everyone involved in tourism is that as many people as possible will think about 'coming home' to Scotland in 2009. Whether your ancestors once travelled from the Motherland to the New World and you want to see where they once lived…

It's been quite a day on the other side of the pond. Quite a day for all of us. Watching the coverage on TV, on cold, clear days like this in Northern Virginia, I'm transported back to my favourite university class in the US: 'Ornithology 1' - especially the field trips! I couldn't wait for those fantastic winter excursions in to the marshes and woods around the James River identifying cardinals, yellow-bellied…

This is not the blog I intended to write but now it's late and I will write more in the morning. I'd planned to brief you on the activities of the females chasing the male sea eagle, of the most recent report of Mara and of the golden eagle and the deer but I've just read the Met Office Inshore waters forecast for Ardnamurchan Point and the title of this blog says it all. I'd been hoping that the dire warnings on the…

Well it may seem like a long time for some of you since the last blog on Mull eagles but believe me, it isn't - at least it shouldn't be and for me, for one, it wasn't. I wrote one on Saturday night. I mean with no X-Factor or Strictly now, we have to fill our Saturday evenings somehow. I clicked on 'Publish' only for the screen to go blank. Gone. Lost forever in that great blog in the sky. Oh how we laughed... …

Just to keep you in the picture on the movements of our young sea eagles. Since the last update, nothing today on Breagha but her brother Mara has been drifting about the centre of Mull and has moved up Glen More and over the hills to the north from his last fix. As of 1210 yesterday 7 January he was over a mountain called Beinn Ghraig on the SE side of Loch na Keal and in an area renowned for its concentration of eagles…

Satellite data just in shows that our two Mull sea eagle chicks are home alone on the island. At lunchtime today, Mara the male was just in mid Glen More near the three lochs which lead down to Loch Buie. In fact if he'd taken a short flight down the glen towards the loch and the remote Laggan Deer Forest, he may well have encountered his big sister Breagha who was recorded on the south side of the peninsula at the same…

...but in my heart it's spring" (Love Unlimited Orchestra 1973).

January 2nd message...just to say that I've just read a blog from Mark Thomas of our Investigations Dept about our campaign called 'Good Men Stand Up'. It's inspiring and I urge you to read it. It's on our RSPB web site and is the most recent blog posted. Hopefully the winds of change will blow across our countryside in 2009 and some more good men…

Okay so we never managed the walk on Christmas Day but 24 hours later saw us heading for the heart of Mull for a picnic lunch of turkey sandwiches, mince pies and mulled wine. The skies were overcast but with the occasional ray of light breaking through. The air is completely still and has been for days now. The glen looked deserted. Not even a buzzard broke the skyline. Kids rapidly becoming disenchanted after the promise…

It used to be Blondie's wood. Regular readers of this blog may recall an earlier posting titled 'The blonde bombshell'. You can read it again in the archive blog section for September. It's the place where it all began for Scottish sea eagles. The place where the first wild bred chick began his life. At this time of year with the leaves all long since blown into the deep waters of the loch, the wood seems…

We've had some really bleak midwinter weather here on Mull lately but every now again, it all blows through and we're left with a stunningly beautiful day. There is invariably snow left behind on the high tops of the Ben More range and the clarity of the air can be breathtaking. It all makes you instantly forget the endless days of grim wet and wind which can make your spirits sag.

That's why one day recently was…

It was a flat calm day, not a breath of wind. Not exactly ideal eagle weather you'd think. They just can't get the lift they need from the air currents to make soaring easier. Usually they sit around alot in conditions like that just waiting for the wind to pick up. But what do I know?

Just as I was sitting there thinking nothing would show, first one, then a second golden eagle cruised through. They were both…

News just in for Mara: a few days ago on December 8th he was roosting at Glencripesdale on the south side of Loch Sunart. He had travelled from Glengorm on Mull where he was a couple of days prior to that. The area he roosted in is one of woodlands and cliffs within a National Nature Reserve. He's clearly roving around between Mull and the mainland. Looking forward to news of Breagha soon. Conclusion to the X-Factor…

Weekend sat tag update:

As hoped our male sea eagle juvenile Mara has popped up with a good signal on 4 December. At 0723, as dawn was beginning to break, he was a few miles west of Tobermory in the north west of Mull not far from Glengorm castle. That is probably where he spent the previous night (in a Sitka spruce plantation not as B&B in Glengorm Castle which is very nice but he prefers to roost in trees). I'm heading…

Contrary to popular belief, it's not only eagles we care about here on Mull. Calls from islanders and visitors to our local bird hospital (at Wings over Mull), the police or me at the RSPB are about everything from otters to owls, from herons to gulls. On the mainland, the Scottish SPCA would respond but here on the island we have to make do as best we can. So when the call came in early one morning about a bird in desperate…

I've seen that look before and it worries me. At Loch Frisa today as the hail, sleet and snow storms raced through, I found a stranger lurking in the woods. I've seen her before. She's doing the rounds. Last time I saw her at Loch na Keal eyeing up the territory there. Then she moved north and then back south to Loch Frisa. She was there a month ago but I didn't particularly think anything of it. But today…

Just a little more detail on the latest data from Mara and Breagha. On the 16th November, Breagha was on the south side of Loch Buie in the south of Mull at 1005. Her brother Mara was just north of Salen on Mull's east coast two days later on the 18th at 0648 so he had probably roosted nearby - and not a million miles from his old nest site at Loch Frisa.

The sat tags are now on their winter timings which means, I…

I didn't just retrace my steps in the mud. I pretty much jogged as fast as my exhausted legs and aching body could manage. Admittedly that probably wasn't very fast but it felt like a Herculean effort to me at nearly 6 o'clock in the evening.

I arrived back at where I'd started; checked the phone message and grid reference again, set up the 'scope and aimed it at the point my informant had told me he'd seen…

There are some days which put you on top of the world and for me, one day earlier this year was one of them. There is a pair of sea eagles on the Scottish mainland which is just so elusive you wouldn't think they had eight or nine foot wingspans! I mean how could anyone miss them? And yet, year after year, they have proved very difficult to track down.

They have now had three or more different nest sites, all many miles…

For a brief update on recent developments please see the Comments under this blog. For now, for various reasons it's important that this story stays here as the main posting. A new blog will be coming in the next few days but meanwhile any news will be under Comments. 

After the unfolding events of this week, there could only really be one subject for the blog at the moment For details of the case of White G, please see…

NEWS ALERT 

In The Guardian newspaper today, Monday 10 November, there is an article relating to an ongoing police enquiry after a young sea eagle hatched on Mull in 2007 was found dead on an estate in Angus.

The eagle (a male, wing tagged 'White G' from Scottish Territory no. 29) had died from eating an illegal poisoned bait.

Whilst this is not one of Frisa and Skye's chicks or one of the two satellite tagged eagles…

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…