That title relates to our Half Pint and his/her sibling!  We had a beautiful afternoon on Mull today - lovely blue skies, sunshine, bit of a breeze - perfect fledging weather I thought!  As I made my way to get a good view of the nest, I was half expecting to just see one dark brown chick sat on the edge of the nest - but oh no - two beautiful sea eagle chicks, sat in the sunshine, looking as chilled as they could be.  They…

but not quite yet!

This evening I went to check up on Half Pint to see whether he has fledged yet.  He and his sibling were 12 weeks old today!  Its a bit of a precarious walk and loaded with a telescope, binoculars, daughter in tow, we tentatively made our way to the best position to view the nest without any of us tripping up, dropping the scope or the other threat, getting soaked to the skin by the heavy, intermittent…

Well, Heather is turning out to be a quick learner.  On Friday as we watched her in a field in front of the Hide, it was clear she had caught something and was feeding.  It was very difficult to see what it was, but I was surprised how quickly she had managed to work out how to catch something.  Today, she took another step forward in her journey towards independence.  As we looked out of the Hide window, we saw a large bird…

Sorry for the delay in news but as you may have read we have now moved over to a new blog software!  Still finding my way round it so hope this works!!  I am holding the fort for a few days while Dave has a well earned rest.

The one piece of news I wanted to share with you is the naming of our chicks.  This year Ulva Primary School chose the names and the names chosen are Heather for our female and Bracken for our male…

courtesy Simon and Garfunkel

Well we arrived home yesterday evening after a great week over on Speyside and the Black Isle.  We had some great views of the osprey family at Loch Garten who are doing really well.  I also love seeing the red squirrels too - something we don't have on Mull!  We then travelled up to the Black Isle for a few days - I can nearly say I swam with dolphins - in fact I had my trousers rolled up to…

Ok so we're a bit early to celebrate the first landing on the moon by the lunar module but it was 40 years ago today that Apollo 11 blasted off from Cape Canaveral. Our second chick at Loch Frisa, a female, blasted off from the nest over a week ago. Although I've made sure I've heard her each day to ensure she's ok, I just wanted to see her. But she has kept herself well hidden. After what happened to the male chick…

I know. There is terrible news from Afghanistan so I won't linger for long on the death of one young eagle but just to bring you quickly up to date on some news from Loch Frisa which I know many of you have been thinking about. Thank you all for your support. The first chick we thought had fledged was found dead Friday afternoon. We had all hoped so much that he would make it. We now know the chick was a 'he'. Ironically…

It's amazing that after all the years of watching sea eagles, I've never actually witnessed a maiden flight - until yesterday! Watching from Glen Aros, still searching in vain for chick no.1, I could see chick no.2 bouncing about on his favourite branch just to the left of the nest. He's been there many times before. Usually he then bravely launches himself off - and lands straight back in the nest. But yesterday…

As I drove to the Hide this morning, my favourite band, Simple Minds, came on the radio singing "Dont you forget about me".  As I started to sing along I also began to think about our youngsters at Loch Frisa.  One has already left the nest and when I left the Hide on Friday, the second chick was doing some serious jumping and wing flapping.  It was my day off yesterday so thought it had probably fledged too.  I felt…

From across the glen, the heat haze was too strong but I could just make out some flapping on the nest. One chick was still there. During the morning both Frisa & Skye came in but went straight to the nest. As the heat of the day intensified, I moved in to watch from near the hide. The haze was less but still only one chick was visible. Then I ventured into the cool of the dark forest where a gentle summer breeze kept…

I'd like to bring you some definitive and positive news on the 'missing' chick at Loch Frisa but I'm sorry I can't. However, you always tell us you want to know the facts as they happen so I'm afraid there is no easy way to say this: I am worried tonight. As ever there is good news and bad news. Let's get the 'bad' news out of the way and keep positive. Compared to previous years, it is…

Well a very strange day indeed.  After hearing the news that our two chicks may have fledged I felt quite emotional.  Having spent all this time with them, from the day they hatched and watching them grow day by day, it was as if my own child was about to leave home. 

As I drove to Loch Frisa this morning, not knowing what I might find, my stomach was doing somersaults.  Usually, when I arrive at the Hide, I spend the first…

Where are our chicks at Loch Frisa? Some very strange and uncharacteristic behaviour from Frisa & Skye today by all accounts. Skye was down at the larches for much of the day staring intently down to the ground. Only one chick has been visible all day on the nest flapping like mad so clearly healthy. Where was No.2? And no food delivered. What's going on? Late tonight, Frisa came into the nest then quickly up onto branches…

The following is an article which appears in the summer edition of "Scotland Outdoors".  Here is the link to their website.  http://www.scotoutdoors.com/

Dave Sexton, RSPB Scotland, Mull Officer

"I have lived and worked on the Isle of Mull with my family for six years now, but I first came here more than 30 years ago. I was on a school geography field trip exploring glaciated glens, ring dykes and sea arches…

As I drove to Loch Frisa this morning, I wondered what the day held in store. The weather looked like it could go either way - either lashing rain or glorious sunshine - I am certainly equipped for all eventualities. As I unlocked the Hide, I noticed something white on the water - a swan!  There have been several mute swans in Salen Bay for several months now so assumed one had come to visit us.

I then squelched my way…

It was time to try again. Half pint had barely stirred during the last nest visit a week ago. His older, bigger sibling was standing up, his developing wings outstretched and hissing at our ringer Justin as he edged up over the nest rim. Half pint lay almost motionless in the nest and was clearly in no state to be ringed or measured. His first few weeks of life had been a real struggle. He had probably food begged and …

A week ago we visited a sea eagle nest on Mull with two chicks in it. This was to be the last nest check on Mull this season. We hoped we'd end the week on a high - and with the nest some 50 feet up, it didn't get much higher. These two were almost a month behind our twins at Loch Frisa and it showed.

While Frisa and Skye's chicks are now well feathered, these two were still very downy - a grey down with only…

Just a quick update tonight but what an update!!

As mentioned earlier, our chicks at Loch Frisa were ringed last Wednesday.  One of the guys working for the Forestry Commission (Scotland) who was helping took some photos of the chicks.  It is just so exciting to be able to see them so close rather than staring at them through a telescope and binoculars.  They will be 8 weeks old tomorrow and are ever edging closer to fledging…

Hi all, apologies for the radio silence from me and thanks to Debby for keeping this blog afloat. As she explained it's been quite a week and I'm only now getting a minute to update you on it. I'm forced to sit down and write due to the fact that at the moment I'm pretty much incapable of doing anything else!

Something went horribly wrong with my back yesterday simply by standing up, which after all the…

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…

Buzzard - Photo Debby Thorne

Dave is busy dashing round the Island - its leg ringing time and we have Blue Peter helping out!  I will let Dave tell you all about that. 

Well - what a start to the day - blue skies, sunshine and very, very warm that I was forced to wear short trousers (not a pretty sight!).

Our first group in the morning consisted of 5 visitors - which I thought was a mistake as the trips have been virtually…

Well, having just sat through all the acts for Britain's Got Talent, I'm glad I didn't have to choose the winner - they were all so good.  Congratulations to Diversity!

Well someone has finally heard my pleas - the weather here has been glorious, buckets of sunshine, blue skies and very, very warm.  The Factor 50 suncream had to come out today.  This weather is great for growing chicks too - its gives Skye and…

I returned to the Eagle Hide today, having had a couple of days off.  What do you do on your day off on Mull?  Why, check on the other eagles of course!  I had a great day and had some wonderful views of both white-tailed eagles and golden eagles - we are so lucky on Mull to have both these magnificent birds - I don't think I could ever tire of watching them. 

Both trips today were fully booked and the visitors were not…

Live sea eagle webcam 

Well, actually I do. Usually. But to wake up to the mizzle (mist and drizzle?) again was a bit of a let down. Especially when the rest of the UK seems to be basking in wonderful warm sunshine.  However, undaunted, two true-grit groups assembled at 10am and 1pm and were not put off by suggestions that we might see absolutely nothing at the hide. They would take their chances. True the mist was down…

First of all, on behalf of Dave and myself, we would like to say thank you for all your comments. They certainly make interesting reading and it's great to know so many of you take an interest in our work with the sea eagles. 

One subject that everyone talks about on Mull is the weather!  Yesterday and today were absolute contrasts.

Yesterday the forecast told us to expect sunshine and showers but instead we had wall…