Young sea eagle takes up residence among Oxfordshire's red kites

Bird is one of six released on Isle of Wight as first residents in England for 250 years

Patrick Barkham

Fri 17 Jan 2020 12.39 GMTLast modified on Fri 17 Jan 2020 19.40 GMT

It is one of the country’s top predators, with a 2.4-metre (8ft) wingspan and a preference for plucking fish from the ocean.

So a young sea eagle’s choice of landlocked Oxfordshire as its home is unexpected. More surprising still is that the bird has lived for four months almost completely unnoticed by the public close to the M40 and the commuter belt.

The eagle, known as G3-93, is one of six satellite-tracked specimens released on to the Isle of Wight last summer, when they became England’s first resident sea eagles, or white-tailed eagles, for 250 years.

“He thinks he’s a red kite,” said Steve Egerton-Read, a project officer for the reintroduction programme led by Forestry England and the Roy Dennis Wildlife Foundation. “Like all young birds, he tries to learn from other birds. In the absence of other eagles, he’s learning from red kites. He flies around picking up bits of dead stuff – dead rabbits, dead game birds.”

Scavenging carrion is normal for young sea eagles, which rarely learn to hunt live animals in their first year. According to Egerton-Read, G3-93 is living on private land where the bird is safe from persecution by humans.

“Oxfordshire is full of game shoots but there’s no ill-will towards it and the landowners are very pleased to have another exciting bird to add to their list,” he said. “I don’t have many concerns for their safety over southern England and there is much more food for them here than in Scotland.”

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Gamekeepers search for missing sea eagle

10 May 2018

Gamekeepers and land managers from an Aberdeenshire estate have appealed for help in locating a missing sea eagle.

The bird's satellite tag was last recorded in woodland near the River Dee on the Invercauld Estate near Braemar.

The estate said its ranger and gamekeepers were working hard to find the one-year-old eagle, named Blue T, whose tag last signalled on Saturday.

Pellets are understood to have been found in the the search area, which suggest it had been roosting there.

RSPB Scotland confirmed Blue T was raised from a chick at Abernethy before it fledged.

The tag was said to be last operating within a native woodland and Scots pine regeneration zone on Invercauld.

But neither the bird nor its tag have been located within the woodland or estate.

One other sea eagle - also known as a white-tailed eagle - and two golden eagles have been spotted but there have been no known sightings of the missing bird.

Shooting estates are often blamed for bird of prey disappearances, but the Invercauld estate insisted it was committed to conservation.

Estate manager Angus McNicol said: "We have spent the last two days trying to locate any trace of the missing sea eagle and we will be continuing our efforts to watch the area in case there has been a technical malfunction of the tag and the sea eagle returns to roost again.

"For several months our ranger has been working with the RSPB's sea eagle project officer to track the movements of the sea eagles in our area and if the tag is no longer transmitting then it is a concern to us.

"Invercauld hosts a vast range of bird species and other types of wildlife and we want to learn if any harm has come to the bird.

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Mull sea eagle thought lost is found in Sutherland

26 August 2017

A sea eagle whose movements could be tracked online has been found raising young in the north Highlands.

Known as Shelly, the bird was satellite tagged and also fitted with a blue and silver leg ring when it was a chick on the Isle of Mull in 2010.

The tag, which was designed to come off the bird after a period of time, was found on the Isle of Lewis in 2013.

The bird has recently photographed fishing in Sutherland and found to be raising young in the area.

Shelly was identified by her leg ring.

Iain Paterson, who took the photograph of the eagle fishing, alerted conservationists to the bird's ring.

He also found Shelly's nest site where she has been raising two chicks with a male bird that was ringed on Lewis.

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RSPB Mull Officer ‘heartbroken’ to have lost ‘medical miracle’ sea eagle Kellan

Posted on January 5, 2015 by newsroom

A young sea eagle, Kellan, released in Mull four years ago,by RSPB Scotland after major injuries has just been found dead. Kellan, who had been hailed as a ‘medical miracle’ by wildlife experts and was known to followers around the world, has been found dead on the Isle of Mull. His remains were discovered by chance by a hill walker on Mull over the Christmas holidays.

Kellan was hatched at a nest on the island of Mull – known to millions of Springwatch viewers as Eagle Island – in 2010. He took his first flight during that summer. But within a few weeks he was found on the ground, badly injured, by a local farmer, was rescued by the RSPB and later taken into long term care by the Scottish SPCA.

After X-rays, Kellan was found to have a badly broken wing and a broken leg, injuries possibly sustained during a misjudged landing following his first flights. He was also seriously underweight and malnourished having been unable to hunt and feed.

He underwent major operations to correct the injuries to his wing and was overseen by specialist vets who usually work on exotic animals at Edinburgh Zoo and overseas. He was in captivity at the SSPCA Wildlife Rehabilitation Hospital for three months – looked after personally by Colin Seddon – before being considered fit and healthy for release back into the wild.

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'Shoved' sea eagle chick on Mull flies nest

18 July 2014 Last updated at 21:28

A sea eagle chick, featured on BBC Springwatch, which was seen being pushed out of the nest by an intruder eagle has successfully flown the nest.

The young chick, which fell 30ft, was seen via webcam being shoved out of the Mull nest by another bird - behaviour never recorded in Scotland before.

It was returned to the nest by Forestry Commission Scotland (FCS) rangers.

Worried viewers noticed the nest empty again but it was confirmed that the chick fledged successfully on Thursday.

The three-month old was seen perched in nearby woodland and was flying strongly.

Dave Sexton, the RSPB's Mull officer, who has been monitoring the nest, said: "We were initially concerned as there was no sign of the chick and I couldn't hear her either which was unusual.

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Final batch of sea eagles released from secret location in Fife

Six sea eagles have taken their first flight in Scottish skies, marking the end of a successful reintroduction programme.

September 2012. Over the past six years, 85 young birds have been released from a secret location in Fife in a bid to restore the species to its former range in eastern Scotland. Each bird has been fitted with a radio and wing tags so both project staff and the public can follow their future progress.

Once a regular sight in Scotland's skies, the sea eagle was driven to extinction in the Victorian era. It only returned to the UK following a successful reintroduction to the West of Scotland, on the Island of Rum in 1975. Although the majority of the Scottish population remains on the west of the country, the species is now regularly spotted in Eastern and Central Scotland too.

The partnership, which consists of RSPB Scotland, Scottish Natural Heritage and Forestry Commission Scotland, with additional financial support from Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) and Fife and Rural Tayside LEADER 2007-2013 Programme, now hope the birds will begin to produce young on Scotland's east coast in the coming years.

Environment Minister Stewart Stevenson said: "We have been pleased to support this project over the last six years. The return of sea eagles to the skies of Scotland's east coast marks an important step in ensuring we now have a viable population of these magnificent birds. As well as fulfilling a role in our ecosystems, the birds are an important feature for our growing nature -based tourism industry."

Continued: http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/fife-eagles-2012.html#cr