GOLDEN EYE
Golden eagles are now found almost exclusively in the Highlands, but a new project is trying to restore these majestic raptors to the south of Scotland, discovers Cal Flyn
Golden eagles are being made to feel right at home in southern Scotland
Golden eagles are considered an iconic Highland species, but not so very long ago they were common across the entire country, their territories even extending across the border into England and Wales. Centuries of persecution led to a population crash in the 19th century, and this extraordinary species has never properly bounced back. Exterminated from the rest of the UK since 1850, the golden eagle clung on in the far north and west. And though numbers have stabilised there – currently sitting at around 400 breeding pairs – huge areas of Scotland remain sadly free of golden eagles.
In the Southern Uplands, however, an ambitious project is working hard to assist the tiny local remnant eagle population, which until recently numbered fewer than five breeding pairs. As part of a £1.37m programme, last summer the South of Scotland Golden Eagle Project translocated three golden eagle chicks from the Highlands to the Southern Uplands, the first phase in a five-year project that aims to re-establish a healthy population of eagles in this peaceful and picturesque area.
‘You’d think that if there was enough food, and enough habitat, birds would naturally be moving back in to fill the area,’ says project manager Dr Cat Barlow. ‘But we’ve found
that they’re just not moving down over the central belt naturally. There are a lot of suggestions for why that may be the case. It may be they just don’t like flying over that highly populated area – they are very shy birds – or they may be coming down and just not finding enough other eagles to breed with.’
What is known is that the few eagles that remained in the south of the country were doing pretty well, albeit in small enough numbers to be of concern. ‘Some pairs were having quite good breeding success,’ says Cat. ‘So the idea is just to give them a little bit of a boost, and try to get a few young birds back into the population before we risk losing the few eagles that we do have.’
After years in the planning, last June three eagle eyries on sympathetic Highland estates were identified as containing twins. In such cases, one of the chicks will often die due to sibling rivalry, so conservationists sometimes
remove a surplus chick and rehome it elsewhere. Single chicks are not disturbed.
‘We headed up when the chicks were each about seven weeks old. We wanted them to be big enough to be able to pick at food themselves, so we don’t have to hand feed them or even go near them much,’ says Cat. ‘And they have to be big enough to thermoregulate, or keep themselves warm, so they don’t have to be kept inside.’
The first two chicks, a male and a female, came from Jahama Estates in Lochaber (‘from the same estate but two separate nests’). With help from the gamekeepers there, the eaglets were located, removed from the eyries and transported as quickly as possible to purpose-built aviaries in a secret location in the Moffat Hills. A third chick, from another estate, followed shortly after.
‘We had a qualified vet with us who did a health check on all the chicks, to make sure those we left behind are healthy and likely to fledge too. Then we took a chick, and put it into a kind of falconry travel box – it’s dark and well ventilated, and keeps the bird nice and quiet. Once they’re in the aviaries
we leave them be with some food.’
It’s a difficult experience for a young chick, but cameras positioned inside the aviaries showed the birds beginning to relax and eat within 15 minutes of arrival. ‘Being handled is stressful, and we try to keep that to a minimum. After that, they’re fed once a day through a hidden hatch.’
Pupils at Moffat Primary, St Peters Primary in Galashiels and Priorsford Primary in Peebles selected names – ‘Edward’, ‘Beaky’ and ‘Emily’ – for the chicks, who enjoyed a brief period as internet stars when members of the public tuned in to watch the aviary live feed online. But after six weeks, the hatches were opened and the birds were free to fly.
‘In a natural setting, adult eagles would bring them food right through the winter until they can start breeding that next year. So we did the same, providing supplementary food at the release site.’
Initially, the fledgling chicks were bullied by local buzzards and ravens, but as they grew the tables quickly turned. The chicks were soon venturing out into the countryside beyond the release site.
‘Young eagles can leave as early as October, or stay right into March, so we weren’t sure what to expect,’ adds Cat. After a couple of dummy runs, Edward and Emily soon flew the coop – ‘they cover large distances, the male has been seen as far away as Galloway’ – but Beaky started out more tentatively. ‘She made some local journeys, and explored a little bit at first.’ As temperatures warmed up, and daylight hours increased in April, she left the release site for her longest excursion to date and headed north for just over two weeks.
The three eagles’ success has been a major boon for the project, which intends to repeat the translocation process again this June, and for three further years after that. The pioneer birds Edward, Emily and Beaky are satellite tagged to help the project team build up a picture of their ranging behaviour and health. They may wander for five years before settling down to breed.
So keep an eye out if you live in the Borders or Dumfries and Galloway. Sketches of the three young eagles can be found on the South of Scotland Golden Eagle Project website to help volunteers identify the birds by way of their distinctive plumage. And reported sightings are very welcome. ‘We love to hear from anyone who thinks they’ve seen one,’ says Cat.
If you’d like to learn more about spotting golden eagles (‘It’s not as easy as it might sound,’ warns Cat. ‘We get a lot of mistaken sightings of buzzards and ravens’) the project team will be running ‘Eagle 101’ identification courses locally. Further information can be found at goldeneaglessouthofscotland.co.uk.
Further afield, keen birders may be interested in joining the Scottish Raptor Study Group, which has regional branches across Scotland, and whose research papers are an invaluable resource for conservation agencies and government authorities alike. See scottishraptorstudygroup.org for more details.
“
The chicks were soon venturing out into the countryside beyond the release site