Golden eagle has landed: Moffat to host new festival celebrating national bird
Perhaps you want to learn how to capture the perfect shot of a golden eagle swooping on its prey or find out how to help save Scotland’s native wildlife. Or maybe you just want to know more about how planting trees could benefit the environment.
All this and more is on the programme for a new festival dedicated to Scotland' s national bird, which is coming to a town in the south of Scotland this autumn.
Moffat is set to host the UK’S first Golden Eagle Festival in September, with the town also becoming Scotland’s first Eagle Town. This transpired after the success of a community-backed conservation scheme aimed at re-establishing the species in the surrounding countryside.
The festival, led by the South of Scotland Golden Eagle Project and funded by the National Lottery heritage fund, will take place between september 19-26.
Leading scottish wildlife film maker Gordon Buchanan is set to deliver the keynote speech. He said :“i’ m delighted to be part of the south of scotland golden Eagle Project’ s first-ever Goldeneagle festival and to support their important conservation work to ensure golden eagles once again flourish in southern skies.
“The thrill of seeing a golden eagle soaring over a Scottish hillside is an unbeatable experience.
“Each glimpse of this magical bird is special, but they should and could be more common in the south of Scotland.”
The programme of events is still to be finalised but will include events and activities delivered by a range of leading wildlife groups, in clud in grs pb Scotland, Naturescot, Scottish Forestry, Scottish Land & Estates, scottish wildlife trust, Saving scotland’ s red squirrels, Wild Eskdale, and the Scottish Raptor Study Group.
There will even be a workshop delivered by a leading wildlife photographer.
The new festival has been greeted with enthusiasm. Leys Geddes, chair of local tourism agency visit mo ff at, said: we are ideally situated to become scotland’ s First Eagle Town, to host the first eagle festival and to celebrate the golden eagle–one of Scotland’s most iconic species.
“The Moffat hills are often described as mini-highlands, owing to our 300 square kilometres of hills, outstanding scenery and rich wildlife, so the perfect area for golden eagles to thrive. It would be wonderful to ensure they become a regular sighting for visitors to the area .”
The South of Scotland Golden Eagle Project has seen four birds moved from the Highlands to the south of Scotland since 2018, with more due to be released there this year.
Before the project began, surveys suggested only two to four pairs of golden eagles were nesting across the Dumfries and Galloway and Scottish Borders areas-despite the abundance of suitable habitat.
Community Engagement Officer Rick Taylor, community engagement officer for the South of scotland golden eagle Project, stressed how important local involvement has been to the success of the initiative.
“It plays an absolutely vital role in protecting this iconic species,” he said. “We’re delighted now to be launching Scotland’s first Eagle Festival, so we can ensure that we can see even more of this magnificent species across the south of Scotland’s skies for many generations to come.”
What goes clatter, clatter, click, click, pop, pop in the woods? It’s the capercaillie - one of Scotland’s rarest and most iconic birds. But those distinctive sounds are being heard less and less.
With the species under threat of extinction in Scotland for a second time, eight local people, including a community ranger and a gamekeeper, have been recruited to form a dedicated team to improve its survival chances.
The new workers are part of the Cairngorms Capercaillie Project, which is spearheading community-led action including habitat improvement, to save the birds, which have been declining dramatically over the past few decades.
The Cairngorms National Park is home to nearly 90 per cent of all the capercaillies remaining, with only a few tiny scattered populations found elsewhere in Scotland.
The project will run for the next two years, thanks to funding from the National Lottery Heritage Fund.
Those appointed bring experiences from a variety of different professional backgrounds but are united in a shared commitment to the people, wildlife and businesses in the Cairngorms region.
“Capercaillie are in serious decline and in the midst of such difficult times economically as well, I’m proud that we’ve been able to bring money into the Park and create jobs that will not only benefit the local economy but also the environment and our local wildlife, which has become so important to our health and well-being over the last year,” says Carolyn Robertson, project manager for the initiative.
The capercaillie, which takes its name from the Gaelic for ‘horse of the forest’, is the country’s largest and rarest native grouse species.
Threatened by habitat loss, predators and collisions with deer fences, it is currently facing extinction in Scotland for a second time.
The species was wiped out in the UK in the mid-18th century, with the main cause thought to have been a catastrophic loss of its woodland habitat. Today’s survivors are all descended from Swedish birds, reintroduced to Perthshire in 1837. The population reached a high of around 20,000 by the 1970s, but crashed over the following decades to an estimated 1,000 today.
Work to boost numbers includes improving more than 10,000 hectares of capercaillie habitat, expanding forests, removing fences and controlling deer.
Advisory officer Molly Doubleday and assistant Helen Gray will be working on the ground with land managers to drive forward this work, while also monitoring the birds and contributing to scientific research into the genetic diversity of the population.
Gamekeeper David “Poppy” Clark, who is stationed at Seafield Estate in
Grantown, said: “Keeping predator and deer numbers low in capercaillie habitat is one really important measure to take if we want to help the species survive. Being part of the project team is a great chance to use the skills and knowledge I have to give capercaillie a fighting chance, alongside all the other things we’re doing to help the bird.”
Meanwhile, community ranger Duncan Macdonald will be working with local groups to help deliver actions to benefit the species and improve the national park environment. The rest of the team are project officer Elspeth Grant, administrator Naomi Kaye and communications officer Jocasta Mann.