I got the call from Strathclyde Police this morning at 1100. A local lady driving near Tobermory was sure she had just seen a sea eagle by the side of the road - the main road into the town. She thought it was struggling to take off. I wasn't too far away so quickly made my way to the scene. When I had passed this spot an hour or so earlier I was surprised to see several ravens hanging around by the road. I assumed some…

Earlier on 'Autumnwatch', we saw Mara make his maiden flight and Breagha wasn't too far behind, both unaffected by their satellite tags. Both are now doing well as you can see from the current map. But that time of joy at seeing the two chicks in the air was short-lived. As you can now see on the full unedited version of Wednesday's Mull Eagle Diary on the BBC 'Autumnwatch' website (click on 'Meet the Animals…

For tonight's Blog, please visit:

http://blogs.rspb.org.uk/mulleagles/archive/2008/08/28/Highs-and-lows.aspx

When the dawns are as bright and autumnal as we've been having this week, there's really no argument about the plan for the day. A quick breakfast, make a packed lunch, a flask of coffee, into the landrover and away into the glens. At this time of year, just when some people think life is slowing up on the islands, we're actually full on trying to establish which pairs of sea eagles are where, what has happened to this…

As we'll see tonight on 'Autumnwatch', the process of fitting the satellite tags can be a stressful one for all concerned. We were very fortunate this year to have Justin Grant, who is very experienced and careful with handling young sea eagles in the nest whilst on the ground Roy Dennis was waiting to fit the tags. He is one of the few people in the UK able to do this and has decades of experience of handling…

We had already postponed the fitting of the satellite tags to the two sea eagle chicks at Loch Frisa at least twice. The weather just wasn't good enough. We needed dry, settled conditions. You wouldn't think that was too much to ask in June but the perfect day remained elusive. Not only that, but I was also trying to coordinate the date with our expert tree climber Justin Grant, our world renowned bird of prey specialist…

Following in the wingbeats of Itchy and Scratchy (the Springwatch stars of 2005) was never going to be easy. The following year, Frisa and Skye produced two more healthy, bouncing twins. They were named by the children of Lochdon Primary School during one of their visits to the eagle hide. The chicks already had their wing tags on: yellow was the colour for 2006 and the letters were H for one male chick and O for his brother…

I'm relieved to report that the chick (whichever one it was) was seen back feeding on the red deer carcase after the clash with the golden eagle and the golden eagle flew off unharmed. So 1:0 to Mara/Breagha!  We still have no new satellite data so the ID remains unsolved at this time. It's not that unusual for there to be brief battles between eagles of the same or different species at something as prized as a carcase…

The office phone rang late today. An excited, breathless Ricky Clark, from the excellent Ardnamurchan Natural History Centre on the stunning mainland peninsula just to the north of Mull, was on the 'phone. He'd just reviewed the footage recorded earlier in the day from their remote cctv cameras placed near a golden eagle feeding area. They beam back amazing live pictures to the centre for visitors to watch without…

I couldn't stay couped up in the somewhat compact RSPB Mull Office any longer! I'd done the reports and data entry I'd needed to, the weather had eased (was that the sun out there today?) and so I made a bid for freedom. By now it was late afternoon and I wanted to see if Mara or Breagha might come into roost at Loch Frisa after their trips away.

Indeed the sun did briefly emerge, casting an autumnal golden 

OK, so our sea eagle chicks are not exactly likely to be migrating to Senegal to see Nethy anytime soon (but I'm sure they could if they wanted to!)  Mara and Breagha have come home - they just couldn't stay away too long. Yesterday afternoon, Mara was just north of Ardnacross just to the north of where I'm sitting writing this, riding out the winter hail and sleet squalls. He must have hopped back across the Sound…

Mara is on his way! The latest satellite tag data from Mara, the young male sea eagle from Loch Frisa on Mull, shows he too has now taken a major step in his life and has left Mull. The data shows he is on Morvern on the Scottish Mainland. Meanwhile, his sister Breagha remains in the same general area of the Argyllshire mainland as previously reported. They have both now gone their own separate ways as they begin their autumnal…

The eaglets are never far from my thoughts. It's not that you can do much, if anything, about the challenges they will face now they are well and truly on the move. It's just that you worry about them and that's not going to change. Day by day, week by week they are exploring more of this wonderful part of western Scotland. It's what they should be doing of course. It's what we want them to do. But with every new flight…

While Dave is on holiday, here is a short update on the eagle chicks from the RSPB Data Unit. We’re the people who process the satellite data from the eagles (with the help of Roy Dennis) and assist Dave with updating the map on the web site.

The first piece of exciting news to report is that Breagha is the first of our two youngsters to make the hop from Mull to the mainland! The latest data we have shows that…

As ever, it was a report from one of the farmers here yesterday which alerted me to some exciting developments. Many of the farmers help me so much in my field work and monitoring and they also do their bit to protect the eagles and help make Mull the wildlife haven it is. This call came from a farmer on the far south-west tip of Mull, down on 'the Ross'. He wasn't entirely sure what he'd just witnessed but he knew it…

Some of you may have watched the first 'Big Cat Live!' tonight. Some seem to be a little confused - to say the least! Well, sadly no, I didn't just make a 24 hour dash to the Masai Mara to join the Big Cat team but that didn't stop me re-living a trip to remember from when I was lucky enough to join them for a month as a 'spotter' on the leopard team. It was for my RSPB sabbatical which is a four week study break we're…

I checked now and again on the pair during their 38 day incubation. Every time I crept carefully through the dense trees to my hideout, I always expected to find an empty nest with both adults soaring high above or perched together nearby indicating their usual failure. But every time, I could still make out that familiar sandy-coloured head of a sitting bird on the nest. I had to be so careful and quiet, any snap of a…

For some white-tailed eagles, like Frisa and Skye, things seem to come naturally to them. They are a highly productive pair and take everything in their stride. But for some other pairs, nothing ever seems to go right for them.

The mature birds which occupy Territory 19 on Mull are just such a case. They are a similar age to Frisa and Skye but try as they might, year after year, they never quite manage to raise a chick…

Despite the great news that Scratchy was alive and well and teasing sheep dogs with fish bones in Roybridge, it had been a very long time since we'd heard any news of his brother, Itchy. In fact the last confirmed record I'd had was from one of our wildlife tour operators here on Mull. He was seen down near Loch Spelve, looking fine but that had been nearly 18 months ago. Where was he now?

One late winter's 

I know many of you are thinking of the loss of Deshar tonight, as are we all, but as has been said, it's also time to think of the many positive things that have come out of this summer. It's time to concentrate our thoughts on Nethy, Mara and Breagha and to realise what an amazing, dangerous, wonderful and beautiful natural world we have around us. We are all focussing in on a tiny handful of very special birds - but…

It wasn't quite what I'd planned for Monday morning. But at 0500 this morning, the alarm went off, waking just about everyone but me. A sharp jab in the ribs did the trick though. By 0530 I was in the landrover, it was pitch black outside, the rain was tipping down and I was wondering what on earth I was doing. The plan was to do two live interviews on GMTV at 0650 and 0810, primarily about the claims from a few…

Okay, I confess, I've not been to Loch Frisa today. It was family time, a bit of gardening, sorting the pond and getting the firewood in the woodshed. I guess we all prepare for seasons in different ways. But for the autumn and winter ahead, the birds in the garden were doing their fair share of stocking up. Bullfinches were on the rose hips, chaffinches were, well, everywhere and a buzzard was hunting voles out in…

For most of today, the weather on Mull has not been at all conducive to finding eagles. However, all the latest satellite data shows that both Mara and Breagha are fine and continue to spend most of their time on the south side of Loch Frisa. Mara continues to be the more active according to the data which had me a little worried about Breagha. However, whenever I've seen them both together, there is no difference in…

At some point I must have wandered back from the phone box to Eastcroft. The team were exhausted but couldn't sleep. We began to prepare ourselves mentally for what had probably happened out on the loch today. And we began to prepare how we were going to explain it to the waiting conservation world. There was little sleep for anyone. We just longed for the dawn to come. Some morning light so we could survey the scene…

It really had been the most extraordinary summer. We had been watching history unfold. Finally, after ten long years of waiting, the first pair of white-tailed eagles to nest in the wild in the UK had produced a chick. So much effort had been invested in this very important eaglet. It had been 70 years since white-tailed eagles had last nested here. This was the moment everyone had been working towards. Blondie and her…