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East coast sea eagle project - update

The following are brief summaries of some of the action that we and our partners have done on the East Scotland Sea Eagle Project since the Species Action Framework was launched. They're in chronological order, with the most recent updates at the top of the page.

2011

August 2011 - During their period at the release site the birds were in generally in good health thriving on a diet of  roe deer, haddock and grey squirrel. The only health issue being one bird that had gape worm, however, it was successfully treated and all 16 birds were released during the second week of August.

After four and a half years with the project Claire Smith has left the role of Project Officer to take up another role within RSPB. Thanks go to Claire for all her hard work as Project Officer. Rhian Evans is the new project officer and has moved across from monitoring the reintroduced red kite population in Central Scotland for RSPB and is well suited to the role.

June 2011 - A further 16 sea eagle chicks arrived safely from Norway on 24 June and were welcomed to Scotland by both the new Environment Minister Stewart Stevenson and the Norwegian Consul Mona Rohne. The East Scotland Sea Eagle project partnership continues to be grateful for the support from Norway in both donating birds to the project and for the hard work required on the ground in the monitoring of breeding pairs and the collection of chicks.

January-May 2011 - Despite another hard winter for the East Scotland Sea Eagle Project, survival of the birds appears to have been good, with birds concentrating in areas of wildfowl and showing signs of movement to avoid the worst of the weather. During 2010 five birds were found dead, however, although one or two received media coverage as potential persecution incidents, to date most confirmed causes of death have been electrocutions, and collisions with wires. The survival rate of east coast release birds remains similar to that of the west coast population and is comparable with other European populations. 

The first roost of sea eagles in Aberdeenshire for many years became established last winter and some birds have wandered widely including down the east coast of England and up to Orkney and Shetland.

In 2010 the public reported 313 sightings of individual birds to the RSPB. Below is a summary of the colour-marking code used each year to date:

2007 - white wing tags with black letters underscored with a bar

2008 - birds were colour-ringed with a white & red ring.

2009 - turquoise wing tag with white letters

2010 - yellow wing tag with black letters

2010

November 2010 - Sea eagle numbers soar to new heights - RSPB press release external site   on the latest project news.

August 2010 - Following their usual period in captivity at the East Scotland Sea Eagle Project release site where they received health checks as well as becoming accustomed to their new surroundings, the chicks were released between 16-19 August. Shortly before release the birds were wing-tagged and radio-tagged so that their movements could be followed.

Strong winds shortly after release lead to early dispersal of some birds from the immediate release area with birds noted on the Farne islands Northumberland and Isle of May in late August and a bird in Ardnamurchan by mid September.

June 2010 -  19 chicks (12 male and 7 female) were collected in Norway between 12-24 June, and these were flown to Edinburgh on 25 June. As in previous years the birds received a Ministerial welcome to Scotland from Roseanna Cunningham the Environment Minister. 

23 April 2010 - Currently birds can be seen year round in East and Central Scotland, and are using the Carse of Gowrie, Sidlaws and north Fife, and communal roosts have been established around the Tay estuary. Regularly used area over the last few months have been Tentsmuir National Nature Reserve, Loch Leven, Montrose Basin and Loch of Kinnordy, as well as estuaries in North-east Scotland.

2009

9 December 2009 - The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds have a regular newsletter external site about the East Scotland Sea Eagles project.  Claire Smith, the Project Officer, also has a project blog external site .

During 2007-2009, radio-tracking and sighting data analysis shows that birds are dispersing throughout Scotland, mostly throughout the east coast. Birds have ranged as far as Shetland, Dumfries & Galloway and Mull, at the latter site mixing with west coast birds for the first time. West coast birds have also been seen in the east of Scotland recently which is good news.

Although essentially nomadic, the birds are showing typical behaviour of forming communal roosts, and the birds are showing good survival, with 75% (33 out of 44) of the birds released still surviving. This compares favourably with the survival rates of the released birds on the west coast. Causes of death have included electrocution, collision with trains, and sadly persecution.

This year also saw two important papers on the Scottish white-tailed eagle population being published:

  • Evans, R.J., Wilson, J.D., Amar, A., Douse, A, Maclennan, A., Ratcliffe, N.& Whitfield, D.P. (2009). Growth and Demography of a Reintroduced Population of White-tailed Eagles Haliaeetus albicilla. Ibis 151: 244-254
  • Whitfield, D.P, Douse, A., Evans, R.J., Grant, J., Love, J., Mcleod D.R.A., Reid, R & Wilson, J.D. (2009). Natal and breeding dispersal in a reintroduced population of White-tailed Eagles Haliaeetus albicilla. Bird Study 56: 177-187.

August 2009 - The 15 eaglets collected from Norway were welcomed to Scotland by Roseanna Cunningham the Environment Minister, unfortunately one of these eaglets had a fungal infection and died before release, the first loss of a chick before release since the Project started. The remaining 14 healthy eaglets were released on the east coast throughout August 2009.

2008

RSPB Sea eagle project newsletter 2008 external site  

August 2008 - During 10-18 August 2008 another 15 eaglets were collected and flown to Scotland from Norway in June and July for the East Scotland Sea Eagle Project. Again, all were fitted with radio and wing-tags before release in August. The collection and release were accompanied by media interest with support from Mike Russell MSP, Environment Minister at the time.

March 2008 - A White-tailed eagle project leaflet  PDF document  was produced to inform the public.

2007

RSPR Sea eagle project newsletter 2007 external site

August 2007 - The birds were now old enough to be fitted with radio and wing-tags and were released during 10-14 August 2007. Over 250 sightings of the birds were reported by the public within the first two months of release.

22 June 2007 -The first group of 15 chicks arrived at RAF Kinloss, courtesy of the Norwegian Air Force. Chicks were given a health check before being settled into the release aviaries. This arrival generated much media interest.

May 2007 - Following successfully funding agreement the new East Scotland Sea Eagles reintroduction project begun as a partnership between Scottish Natural Heritage, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds and Forestry Commission Scotland. Release aviaries were built at the release site in Scotland. The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds Project Officer, Claire Smith, was appointed. Preparations were made for the first batch of young white-tailed eagles to be collected in Norway.