Sea eagle nest failure - Lochdon, Mull (1 Viewer)

I was just catching up on the fantastic mullbirds website and noticed the disappointing confirmation that the Lochdon pair of sea eagles have failed this year - possibly due to disturbance (despite 24hr surveillance!). I know it had been mentioned previously on this site but I hadn't seen any official confirmation. It would be interesting to know if there will be any kind of study/investigation into the failure.

Thoroughly bad news for this pair as I believe they are one of the oldest pairs in Scotland - and one assumes they are responsible for a large number of the birds seen in our skies. Particularly disappointing for me, having watched the birds earlier in the year circling majestically over the Lochdon area.

http://www.mullbirds.com/SEAEAGLES.html

Anyone understand why it should still say that birds will not be tagged this year? Presumably there are none to tag and this is just a slightly ambiguous phrase.

Fingers crossed for a productive year on the remainder of the island.

What a shame. Are these the same eagles who lost their nest last year to high winds?,

According to a colleague of mine who is involved with hen harriers, there has been new legislation that affects wing tagging. The new Act prohibits the licensed fitting of wing tags without a vet being present as it was deemed an intrusive procedure. It is to be modified but that will not happen until the autumn and therefore too late for this season. More bureaucratic nonsense making it impossible to identify this year's chicks in the future.

I'm not certain that's the reason in this case but a possibility?

Fingers crossed here too.

Dave H said:

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Anyone understand why it should still say that birds will not be tagged this year? Presumably there are none to tag and this is just a slightly ambiguous phrase.

Fingers crossed for a productive year on the remainder of the island.

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A man was trialled and found guilty of messin with the eagles - see link below.

http://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/Article.aspx/874888?UserKey=

I went to mull this year and was lucky enough to see an eagle at loch Friza at the RSPB hide! It was an awesome bird. I seen them in Poland before but they look better in bonny Scotland! The man should of been fined more in my opinion. There was no excuse cos he could have gone to friza to see em at the rspb hide.

Gordon buchanan ( i think thats his first name ) done a video about his return to the Isle of Mull last year after being away for many years.

It is an excellent video with a lots about the SE on Mull.

He mentions on the video ( cant remember exact figures) that out of the 7/8 pairs on Mull only 3/4 had raised young.

I don't think anyone is clear why breeding is not good but it would be interesting to know why this is happenning.

Why eggs are infertile if this is the reason
Are some of the birds now to old ??
Bad weather/no food ??

Obviously we know about the nest that blew down chicks fell out ( if this was the same year) but what about the other 5 nests if his account on the video is accurate.

surely there must be some kind of report/study of why breeding was so poor.

This is his own full length video by the way all about Mull and nothing to do with Springwatch etc etc

Young sea eagles are no longer being wing-tagged, except for the reintroduction projects
Ian

WTSE Mull

If there are 7-8 pair at Mull and only one and two have young in a year, that will I mean is normal. It can take 30-50 year to wait for all to succeed in the same year. Since I have followed many pair (80-100) for many year, I need not to be worried over the WTSE in Mull. I have followed 5 pair along a better habitat than Mull for 30 years, and only one year so far all have young (2x5).
It is not necessary to ring and disturb the WTSE at all,that have I learn. They will hold they chosen habitat, and stay.I hope there in future will come people so like to see a bird flying without a Wing Tag and a sender. I was glad this year when not Wing Tag was used in West Scotland, I hope indeed that some scientist/other will come in background inn the future.

Hilsen
Harald Misund (71)
(sent 144 WTSE to Scotland)

harald misund said:

WTSE Mull

If there are 7-8 pair at Mull and only one and two have young in a year, that will I mean is normal.

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I presume White-tailed Eagle productivity is better in Eastern Europe. In the ten years I've observed them, the pair on my local patch have never failed to raise young. In the years that I have found others pairs, they too have succeeded. I do not have figures for the country as a whole, but given that the population is rocketing, it suggests productivity is high.

Scottish WTEs fail for a number of reasons, often on the west coast it's wet/stormy weather related at critical times, particularly incubation or young chick stage. Poor weather (again prolonged wet weather limiting hunting/foraging) in late winter can also mean that pairs are in 'poorer condition' for breeding. And there are unfortunately still some human induced failures.

The 10 yr mean productivity/territorial pair(i.e. not all breeding) to 2007 varied from 0.55-0.84 young, which isn't bad.

In that time the number of territorial pairs has doubled and there are a fairly high number of sub-adult birds prospecting so it is expected that the population will continue to grow.

Unlike in the earlier part of the re-introduction there is less reliance now on 1 or 2 'good' pairs which consistently produced young, with more pairs consistently producing young across the range in Scotland, however, the population is still fairly small and vulnerable.

They can cope though, with the odd poor breeding season.

Most of the birds Harald helped bring to Rum in the first phase of the introduction are now thought to have passed on, as they are into their 20s. The vast majority of the breeding populatiion is now comprised of 2nd phase release birds and wild-bred Scottish birds (the wing-tagging has helped follow the demographics of the population as it has built up).

Cheers,
Andrew

The Gordan Buchanan film "Eagle Island" was actually from 2004 so is a bit out of date now. The Lochdon pair were disturbed by a photographer - eggs had been laid and the female was off them for a couple of hours - very difficult to prove that it was the fault of the photographer but this pair have raised chicks successfully for several years. The photographer was fined £600. http://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/Article.aspx/874888?UserKey=
The day old chicks which fell out of the nest were from Loch Frisa last year. This year Skye and Frisa have successfully reared 2 chicks, name Mara and Breagha. Although chicks were not wing tagged they have been ringed. Also, for the first time, Mara and Breagha have had satelite tracking devices fitted to help provide information on their behaviour and whereabouts. More info can be found at http://www.rspb.org.uk/wildlife/tracking/mulleagles/
Breeding of sea eagles on Mull are doing fine! Here is an extract from the report for the 2007 season.
2007 was an exciting year for Sea Eagles in Western Scotland. Six new pairs
were located, bringing the total number of occupied territories to 42. The
new pairs were widely spaced, expanding the breeding range of the species to the N, S and E. 35 pairs laid eggs and 31 broods hatched. 24 pairs bred
successfully fledging a record 34 young.
Sub-adult birds have been recorded in a number of new areas in 2007 and
based upon the number of young produced over the last five-year period, the
population is projected to continue to expand in coming years. One 23 yearold
adult, imported from Norway during the first phase of the project, was
found dead in 2007. It is now thought that most of the original imported
Norwegian birds have been replaced in the breeding population by wildbred young

wild freckle said:

The Gordan Buchanan film "Eagle Island" was actually from 2004 so is a bit out of date now. The Lochdon pair were disturbed by a photographer - eggs had been laid and the female was off them for a couple of hours - very difficult to prove that it was the fault of the photographer but this pair have raised chicks successfully for several years. The photographer was fined £600. http://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/Article.aspx/874888?UserKey=
The day old chicks which fell out of the nest were from Loch Frisa last year. This year Skye and Frisa have successfully reared 2 chicks, name Mara and Breagha. Although chicks were not wing tagged they have been ringed. Also, for the first time, Mara and Breagha have had satelite tracking devices fitted to help provide information on their behaviour and whereabouts. More info can be found at http://www.rspb.org.uk/wildlife/tracking/mulleagles/
Breeding of sea eagles on Mull are doing fine! Here is an extract from the report for the 2007 season.
2007 was an exciting year for Sea Eagles in Western Scotland. Six new pairs
were located, bringing the total number of occupied territories to 42. The
new pairs were widely spaced, expanding the breeding range of the species to the N, S and E. 35 pairs laid eggs and 31 broods hatched. 24 pairs bred
successfully fledging a record 34 young.
Sub-adult birds have been recorded in a number of new areas in 2007 and
based upon the number of young produced over the last five-year period, the
population is projected to continue to expand in coming years. One 23 yearold
adult, imported from Norway during the first phase of the project, was
found dead in 2007. It is now thought that most of the original imported
Norwegian birds have been replaced in the breeding population by wildbred young

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Welcome. I had not noticed you posting here before!

Tiger_mz said:

Welcome. I had not noticed you posting here before!

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Thanks Tiger - I do pop up in all sorts of places!!|=)|