The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Eagles’ world explored through Winterwatch
Eagles will be seen feasting and fighting on the Isle of Mull when the BBC’S Winterwatch returns to our television screens next week.
The show brings live wildlife footage from three nations in the UK.
There will be roosting egrets in Northern Ireland, live cameras on the marshland in Norfolk and, of course, the famous eagles on the west coast of Scotland.
RSPB Scotland Mull officer Dave Sexton acts as a consultant on the series, which airs for two weeks starting next Tuesday.
He has given a behindthe-scenes perspective on what can be expected this season after working with presenter Iolo Williams.
Known as Eagle Island due to the high populations of golden and white-tailed sea eagles, Iolo will be discovering more about these amazing creatures.
He will get a privileged view inside a recently abandoned eagle nest – to see how it is built and to gain an insight into their varied diet from the scraps they leave behind.
He will also be looking at ptarmigan, otters, hares and short-eared owls.
Cameras will be trained on a deer carcass to show the array of wildlife that comes to it in the winter months when food can be hard to come by.
Not only eagles will make use of an easy food source.
Mr Sexton said: “I’ve had the pleasure of helping the team with their story ideas and preparations and moving to a whole new exciting location. I’ve been working with cameraman Jim Manthorpe, who lives in Lochaline and knows Mull and its wildlife well having filmed here many times for other productions.
“It’s always a privilege to witness these guys at work and how careful they are around the subject they’re filming.”
He added: “Since this is Mull where wildlife abounds alongside living, working, farmed landscapes, we are usually in with a good chance that something dramatic will happen.
“In Autumnwatch, Jim captured the extraordinary moment a sea eagle happened upon an otter with a substantial fishy meal.
“The eagle tried repeatedly but unsuccessfully to snatch the food from the otter but, as so often happens, the otter slipped into the water and was gone.
“We just happened to be in the right place at the right time to capture it on film.”