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White-tailed eagle spotted on Farne Islands06/09/2010 08:18:20
A White-tailed sea eagle has been spotted on the Farne Islands for the first time. Photo credit National Trust Farne Island first The bird took up residence on 27th August and was identified as one of the young eagles that were released in Fifein mid August. This bird is resident on Staple Island and has been, as you can imagine, causing quite a stir amongst the resident sea birds. The last interesting visitor to the Farne Islands, owned and managed by the National Trust, was an otter in the autumn of 2008.
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Your report on this subject tells only part of the story and the final paragraph also significantly misrepresents the Farnes.
It is surprising it does not mention the eagle was one of the 19 juv W-t Eagles released on August 19 (nine days before its Farnes arrival) in the latest stage of the Eastern Scotland re-introduction programme (release site more than 100 miles from the Farnes).
The final paragraph - "The last interesting visitor to the Farne Islands, owned and managed by the National Trust, was an otter in the autumn of 2008" - is ludicrous because of the numerous rare and unusual migrant birds that have occurred since then. Over the past month alone Wryneck, Thrush Nightingale, Marsh, Icterine and Barred Warblers, Common Rosefinch and Ortolan Bunting have occurred on the islands (info from BirdGuides Online).
Returning to the eagle, the following email was sent to me by Claire Smith, RSPB East Scotland Sea Eagle Officer, on Sept 01 after I queried whether the Farnes bird was one of the recently released juveniles:
Yes, the juvenile white-tailed eagle is one of this year's Fife releases, it is a male, tag V. The colour of the tag denotes the year of release and each bird then has an individual letter/number.
This bird was released on the 19th of August and believe it or not, is one of our smallest, (weighing only 4.1kg on release, our females reach 6.5kg!), it is approximately 4 months old, and looks like it was carried by the strong winds, arriving on the Farnes on Saturday. I've been informed that it has caught a shag and also eaten some fulmars and gulls. It always amazes me to see the young re-introduced birds catching their own wild food so soon after releases, although half the birds are still coming into our food dump.
This is the 3rd time that one of our released birds has headed into England, with a 2008 heading down through Northumberland, Yorkshire and ended up at Blacktoft Sands in Lincolnshire at Easter before heading back up to Scotland via Haweswater.
Another 2008 birds spent an afternoon at Bowness on Solway in February 2009 causing much excitement amongst local birds.
You can keep up to date with the project on the blog:
blogs.rspb.org.uk/eastscotlandeagles/default.aspx
I havent yet updated it with info on the Farnes bird, but will do so later today and stick on a link to the Farnes' blogspot if thats ok?
Each year one of our birds heads to the Isle of May and feeds on much the same things as this bird on the Farnes and until this year, this is the furthest a bird has gone immediately after release. Although once the birds get to their second spring they often also find the northern isles seabird populations.
I'd be grateful if people can keep me updated on its movements and hope everyone is enjoying the sight! Please do not hesitate to get in touch if you have any queries about the bird or project.
Best wishes, Claire
Claire Smith
East Scotland Sea Eagle Officer
Posted by: Brian Unwin | 10 Sep 2010 15:02:28