Now THIS is what you call a bird

Sea eagles - yes, they can be massive. The first time I saw one it was on the ground on Gruinard and I was a good half a mile away on the mainland. Through the scope I felt like I was right next to it. I was just awed by the size of it. On a serious note, I don't know if the concerns of the local farmers/crofters about the introductions have been resolved, or what, if any, impact they have on the golden eagle population. On a light hearted note, there's a cafe in Shieldag in Torridon where the wifi password is seaeagle. The number of people who just don't get it. 'What's the wifi password?' 'Seaeagle'. 'Is that C.............' Lady owner turns to us and says 'I knew I should have made it Liathach...........'
 
Jannyfox said:
I knew I should have made it Liathach.
Click to expand...
, but that could have caused its own problems :).

There was an experiment in the Gairloch area of putting radio tracked coats on lambs as a way of finding if the lambs were being taken by white tailed eagles. I don't know how big the study was but none of the coats were tracked to eyries. There is also a study in Argyll of using laser beams to deter the eagles from taking lambs as an eagle was seen taking a lamb. I'm sure eagles do take lambs from time to time but I don't know how big is the problem. I can understand the concern of crofters especially as the white tailed eagles were a reintroduced species, but it seems a major prey item of these eagles is fulmar. I found that a surprise until I saw a video of a white tailed eagle hunting south of Kyleakin - it was very maneuverable for such a large bird.

It would be easy to imagine there would be an impact on golden eagles but I have not heard of any. On a boat trip from Gairloch around the Shiants about 18 months ago we saw both white tailed and golden eagles flying around the islands. The bloke running the trip said it was the only place he knew where both eagles occurred so close together, but I suppose in the breeding season food is plentiful there.

Dave
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top