Lots of eagle activity for the first week of Mull Eagle Watch trips.

 Having located the new nest of our pair of white-tailed eagles - Iona (female) and Fingal (male) – we have made rapid changes to maintain and improve the visitor experience, which was again awarded the maximum 5-star rating from Visit Scotland last year.  Two new shelters have been constructed to provide cover from which we can watch the eagle…

After leading us a merry dance last week, Iona and Fingal, our pair of white-tailed eagles nesting in Tiroran Forest, Glen Seilisdeir on the Isle of Mull, have decided to nest in a different location this year.  Finally, on Friday, they settled for a completely new nest site in a sheltered location in the broken top of a Sitka spruce and Iona hunkered down late in the afternoon to start laying eggs.  Last years juvenile…

Spring has sprung on the beautiful isle of Mull with primroses and colts-foot flowering in the warm sunshine of the last couple of days.  Frogspawn is developing in the ponds and small birds are singing: our local wren has been calling from dawn 'til dusk, only out-competed by  the repetitive call of a male song thrush singing its heart out from the top of a spruce tree.  A pair of great tits has already occupied one…

The Isle of Mull white-tailed eagles are busy nest-building - getting ready to lay eggs sometime soon.  The Mull Eagle Watch rangers are also gearing up ready for another season showing visitors our pair, Iona and Fingal, at Glen Seilisdeir.  We are aiming for an even better year than last year, when we retained our top 5-star Visit Scotland rating and achieved the highest marks from our 'Mystery Visitor'.  if you…

An invitation to come along tomorrow, Saturday 30th November, from 10am to 4 pm, and visit me at An Roth charity shop in Craignure, Isle of Mull (by the Cal-Mac ferry pier) to support the rspb by buying Christmas cards, calendars, wrapping paper, diaries, cuddly toys, gift memberships, etc.  I will also have a telescope set up (weather permitting) to watch for the Craignure otter and seabirds, dolphins, etc. in Bunessan…

It was a great year leading the Mull Eagle Watch trips, watching the white-tailed eagles at the nest, but it is even more special when the eagles visit me.

When I was out in the garden the other day a large shadow flashed across the ground, and on looking up into the sky I saw a pair of white-tailed eagles soaring overhead.  Without a single flap of the wings they circled above the house, and I could almost see the glint…

There will be beautiful rspb Christmas cards, calendars, wrapping paper, diaries, etc. for sale at events on Mull in the next couple of days.  I will be at Bunessan Bakehouse 11am-4pm on Friday 29th November (with lots of tea and cake!) and will also be taking a scope to spot wildlife in Bunessan Bay (the Bunessan white-tailed eagle pair with any luck).  On Saturday 30th, I will be at An Roth, Craignure from 10am-4pm with…

I will be attending a range of events leading up to Christmas selling a wide range of rspb Christmas cards, calendars, diaires, etc.  The first one is tomorrow, Saturday 23rd November 11am - 4pm at the Calgary Christmas Exhibition at Art in Nature.  I will also be able to provide gift memberships for those wishing to give the gift of nature this Christmas.  Remember ALL of the profits are used for nature conservation by rspb…

After a great season, the trips at Mull Eagle Watch are now finished for the time being.  Forestry operations are ongoing in Tiroran Forest and access to the site is not currently possible.

At the end of the track in Tiroran Forest, where I lead visitors on the Mull Eagle Watch trips, I stood with a party of people taking in the spectacular view over Glen Seilisdeir and out to Loch Scridain: the sea loch where our pair of white-tailed eagles do most of their hunting. Almost giving up hope of seeing the eagles, we turned and started to head back toward the viewing area that overlooks the nest tree where the…

Since our juvenile white-tailed eagle, Orion, fledged at Mull Eagle Watch, Glen Seilisdeir, I have been leading walks to the nest and beyond in search of the birds.  Some days we get distant views of the adults and juvenile flying, some days we don't see any eagles at all, but some days we get really close-up sightings of the birds sitting in their favourite tree roosts.  One such day occurred just over a week ago,…

Our juvenile white-tailed eagle from the Mull Eagle Watch nest at Glen Seilisdeir has recently been named by children from Tobermory School.  They chose Orion from a short-list of names, because in Greek mythology Orion was a hunter who has a constellation named after him, and our young eagle flies high in the sky, almost reaching the stars.  What a great choice!

Today, despite the gusty wind and intermittent heavy showers…

It had been a long wait to see Kellan again back in April (see blog 'Out of the Blue') and I wondered how long I'd have to wait before he appeared again. As things turned out, not very!

We left him safely at roost on that early spring evening at Killiechronan. He was back in the heart of his parent's territory and clearly felt safe and secure. His father (previously wing tagged White X in 1995) and his mother…

Our wildlife walks at Mull Eagle Watch are continuing despite the indifferent weather we have had in the last couple of weeks.  On wet days we are lucky to see much wildlife at all, but on the fine days we are getting great views of the white-tailed eagles, golden eagles and a host of other wild creatures.

On Tuesday this week our morning visitors were treated to a flying display by our juvenile.  It flew low over the…

Now that the white-tailed eagle chick has flown the nest at Mull Eagle Watch, Glen Seilisdeir, we are having to work harder to spot the birds, but both adults and juvenile are returning to the nest tree to roost and feed.  We have also had some great views of the family flying over the Glen, with the bonus of regular sightings of a juvenile golden eagle practicing its hunting technique on the moorland above the treeline…

The white-tailed eagle chick from the Glen Seilisdeir nest on the Isle of Mull has flown from the nest.  On Friday afternoon the 12 week old chick was still exercising its wings on the branches around the nest.  By mid-morning on Saturday it had gone.  No-one saw it fly and so the watching and waiting game was on to check that it had fledged successfully and not plunged to death or serious injury from 70 feet up in the nest…

It has been a week of real development for the white-tailed eagle chick on the nest at Mull Eagle Watch, Glen Seilisdeir.  It reached full size over a week ago, but since Monday it has gradually ventured further and further out on branches around the nest, unsteadily at first, but with more confidence as the days have passed.  The wing stretching and flapping have increased and its call is less chick-like and more adult…

When I arrived at the viewing hide this morning with the early sun shining through the trees, the chick was on the nest and both adult white-tailed eagles were in the nest tree.  The female Iona was sitting high up in the branches above the tree looking her usual majestic self, while the male Fingal was on his favourite branch behind and to the left of the nest.  The chick, anxious for more food, leapt unsteadily across…

Superb weather on the Isle of Mull means that the white-tailed eagle chick at the 5-star Visit Scotland attraction Mull Eagle Watch at Glen Seilisdeir is raring to leave the nest in the next week or so.  Visitors on the trips this week have been amazed at the size of the chick, which is now bigger than the male adult bird, Fingal.  Food, mainly in the form of greylag goslings of which there are large numbers on Mull this…

We are having a wonderful second year at Mull Eagle Watch, Glen Seilisdeir on the beautiful Isle of Mull. Unfortunately, we only have one white-tailed eagle chick on the nest this year, due to inclement weather at the crucial time of egg-hatching, but what a superb bird it is with it’s huge wing-span and dark brown plumage. All through the incubation and fledging periods we have been treated to spectacular views of the…

There have been so many times over the last three years that a young white-tailed eagle from Mull called Kellan has occupied my thoughts. From those early autumn 2010 days when he was in the Scottish SPCA wildlife hospital to the first weeks and months after his release he has never been far away from our minds. We were all so pleased and relieved how well he did to begin with but deep down none of us really knew what…

There are places on this planet that draw you back time and time again. Even on Mull with lots of visitors from Easter to October there are still many stretches of secret coast where you can lose yourself and never see a soul. There's one such place I have the arduous task of having to visit several times a season to check on one of the remotest pairs of nesting white-tailed eagles in Scotland. And actually, it is quite…

Finlay Christine, our good friend and supporter at Mull Eagle Watch passed away on 26 December 2012. His funeral was on 3 January 2013 at the beautiful little church near his home in Lochbuie, Mull. Many friends were able to attend to pay their respects but some were not and many others will have bumped into Finlay - on or off duty - on their visits to Mull over the years. So here in tribute to his amazing and full life…

Autumn is in full swing - beautiful shades of red, gold, orange and brown are everywhere; the rowan trees are laden with berries which are being picked off by the fieldfares and redwings that have recently arrived on the Island.  Autumn is my favourite season - a chance to reflect on the season just past and time to look ahead as the evenings draw in - wondering what lies ahead.

The Mull Eagle Hide has had a fantastic…

(courtesy The Three Degrees)

Wow! What a year it has been!  After a fantastic summer of Olympics and Paralympics - we woke up this morning to the fantastic news that Andy Murray has won his first Grand Slam - the first British male since 1936 - there have been some incredible moments and I'm sure we all have our favourites - all I can say is that I'm glad I don't have to choose Sports Personality of the Year!…