A great year for Sea Eagles in the UK

If you have been following Autumnwatch on the BBC this year, you will have seen the White Tailed Eagles on Mull.  This year has been the best for Sea Eagle breeding with a record number of 50 breeding pairs in Scotland having raised 46 fledglings.  It is worth remembering that they were only reintroduced relatively recently, in 1975 on the Isle of Rum.

More details can be read here.  I was lucky enough to see them at very close quarters in the wild this year on a boat trip out of Portree on Skye, as blogged here in June.

Reintroduction of the species into England has been a troubled process.  There has been an attempt in East Anglia but this has been thwarted so far largely by the farming community it appears who seem to think that it will spell disaster to them.  Guess they haven't thought through what their Scottish counterparts have been through.  Certainly the majority of opinion on Mull has been to welcome and jealously guard and protect the birds as a huge tourism opportunity.

Having completed nearly all my Christmas shopping today, it got me thinking about setting up some Christmas gift ideas for us wildlife photographers.  Over my next couple of posts, I will bring you a series of things to think about it to either buy for yourself, or get your spouses to link from us.

Martin

Eagles on Mull on the TV tonight - UK only

Just a quick notification if you are UK based and read this before 22.20, make sure you check out BBC for a short (ten minutes) programme on Sea Eagles on Mull, filmed by Gordan Buchanan.

Sorry if you are not UK based :-(

But here's a nice little vid that you might like to make up for it

Martin

News - some bad, some good, some not so sure

Well you regular readers know now that when I do one of my updates on news it is because either I am a bit light on new photo stuff or am short of time to write.

I guess today's is a bit of both.

But there were some stories that caught my eye that I thought I would share with you - all from a site that I have shared with before Wildlife Extra.

Firstly, back in February, I posted this blog about problems for the Formby Red Squirrels. Well sadly, things have got worse with a 90% drop in numbers from as recently as November 2007. This really is bad news and I desperately hope they can make it but it doesn't look promising. The full story can be seen here.

The next story is one of mixed feelings for me. This is about further reintroduction of White Tailed Sea Eagles, this time in Suffolk. Now as a lover of these fantastic birds from my many visits to Mull, I do have concerns about further reintroduction. OK you say, they were initially reintroduced to Scotland to get them going again, and that would be a fair argument. The full story is here, and I do find myself tending to agree with the comment left by Mal Tyler on the thread. Let us know what you think in the comments.

Finally, the good story also concerns White Tailed Sea Eagles who have had record breeding successes in Scotland. Again the link to the story is here. 46 breeding pairs have produced 36 chicks, with a total of over 200 of these birds in Scotland. So I suppose my conclusion to the previous story is that I would be in favour of natural dispersal of these birds to find their own way now they are considered to be established.

Martin

News (sad) - Sea Eagles on Mull update

I posted this story a few days ago which was good news at the time.

Well I received an email from the Isle of Mull Bird Club today with the sad news that chick no.1 at the RSPB Loch Frisa site has died. He was retrieved from under the nest site a couple of days ago by the Dave Sexton, RSPB Officer on Mull.

This bird had appeared to fledge early, approximately one and half weeks early. A post mortem will be carried out but it is thought possible that it had fallen out, and sustained an injury.

The good news is that the second chick now fledged normally and is being fed by it's parents in the usual place. So if you are on Mull over the next few weeks, good views can still be had from the hide. Details can be found here.

Mustn't forget to mention my good friends Pam and Arthur Brown who run wildlife tours with Discover Mull, and have never yet not seen Sea Eagles when I have been out with them.

And on a final note it is Happy 70th Birthday to my Mum today - have a good one Mum

Martin

Trip Report - Isle of Mull Day 1

I arrived on Mull yesterday after a very wet drive up, still it made for some great snow up on Glencoe.

Once on Mull I went to one of the first of the Wild Isles Week events, Confessions of a Wildlife Cop, an illustrated talk by Sgt Finlay Christine of the Argyll Police Force.

Finlay is a great guy and does fabulous work protecting the wildlife on Mull. My advice to all photographers who visit is to get in contact with him and let him know you are going to be on the island photographing. I make a point of letting him know before hand, with my car details so it is one less for him to worry about. There is a great network on the island who guard there wildlife passionately.

Great weather today - it has been pretty bad the last few days so I am told so was grateful for that.

I went on the Discover Mull trip today with 7 others. I usually do this on the first day as it is a useful reconnaissance to see what is about. Successful day with 68 bird species, 6 mammals, tow butterflies and a Common Lizard.

Saw all the big five of White Tailed and Golden Eagles, Hen Harrier, Red Deer and Otter by 2 pm. In fact the Golden Eagle count was seven separate birds by the end.


Wheatears, like this one were very common.

And just as I sit outside writing this, a Male Bullfinch has just flown over my head, glowing in the evening sun. Simply beautiful

Off to Iona tomorrow and will probably stay out overnight in my little tent so if you don't hear from me tomorrow you will know why.

Hope to be back the following day with some Corncrake pictures.

Martin

Trip Reports - Mull - Day 4

So on to the last full day on the island. I woke up to dry conditions today, but sadly still grey.

While sitting down finishing off breakfast the first of today's White Tailed Sea Eagle was seen as it flew over the house in Dervaig.

I went to the south of the island today with Pam and Arthur who were doing a BTO Tetrad Bird Count.

En route, another two White Tailed Eagles were seen in separate locations, two separate pairs of Dipper.

For me, once I was settled down to my location, the photo opportunities were limited for a while although there were some great sightings of Goldeneye, Golden Eagle (three separate birds), and a female Hen Harrier amongst many other birds.

The best sight as I walked back to the van was a large Dog Otter coming across the loch towards me with a very large multi coloured fish in its mouth. Under the best cover I could achieve, and picking my moments to move while he was under water, I got myself as close as I dare to where he was going to come ashore. Laying down on the grass and stones with my camera and lens resting on the bean bag, he seemed totally oblivious to the sound of the shutter clicking.




Well I got a good few shots off but I have not been able to identify his lunch, a large fish with red and black parts and large white spots, so if anybody is up on their sea fish identification I would be most pleased if someone could let me know in the comments section.

After lunch, we pushed on further down the loch and had fabulous views of another female Hen Harrier, but much closer this time, with just a little sunshine too. Stunning views - too far for photos sadly, but great all the same.

So that is it for another short trip to Mull. I will be pleased to take a better look at the images when I get back on the large screen and with some better processing software to hand. And as I sit here and type this up, I am listening to Tawny Owls calling.

I have found some great opportunities for when I am back here in May, and look forward to seeing the summer migrants by then.

Update: - Well it seems like the Otter lunch was a Ballan Wrasse. Takes me back to when I was a small child fishing at Blackpool Sands in Devon with my father. Thanks to Alan Spellman and Arthur Brown from Mull for the id

Martin

Views - Subject comes before Photo

Now clearly for the majority of wildlife photographer this is stating the blinking obvious, but trawling forums and other places in web land, there are a remarkable number of people who are not aware of the Laws, certainly here in the UK.

The Wildlife Photographer's Code of Practice is compiled by the Royal Photographic Society Nature Group in conjunction with the RSPB and the three Statutory Nature Conservation Councils. So it is worth a reminder that many bird species, including such birds as the Kingfisher and Barn Owl are Schedule 1 species and require the appropriate consideration of the Law when photographing at certain times of the year. Ignorance of the law is no defence as we all know so please familiarise yourself with the relevant points as we head towards nesting season in the next couple of months or so.

Last year on Mull, a photographer disturbed one of the White Tailed Sea Eagles nests, resulting in the bird abandoning the nest and subsequent failure for that pair for the year. More details here. This sort of behaviour is completely unacceptable and causes more problems for other photographers afterwards.

Mull is a fabulous place to visit, with wonderful wildlife throughout the year and a place that I try to get to every year to see my friends Pam and Arthur Brown who run Discover Mull Wildlife Tours.

Anyway, I'll step off my soapbox now, but if we do really care about what we are trying to photograph, we will make sure that their welfare comes first, tempting as that shot of lifetime might be.

Martin