Nineteen white-tailed sea eagles, gifted to Scotland as part of a reintroduction programme, have been released into the wild from a secret location in Fife. The birds arrived from Norway in June for the fourth year of the East Scotland Sea Eagle reintroduction project, a partnership scheme between RSPB Scotland, Scottish Natural Heritage and Forestry Commission Scotland. Since their arrival, the birds have been reared in specially built aviaries until they were old enough to fledge. They will now join Scotland’s growing white-tailed eagle population and help restore this species to parts of their former range in the east of Scotland.
This project is also contributing to wider conservation efforts across Europe for sea eagles. The ‘flying barn door’, once a regular sight in Scotland’s skies, was driven to extinction by game preservers and collectors in the Victorian era, with the last individual bird killed in 1916.
Sea Eagles only returned to the UK following a successful reintroduction to the West of Scotland, on the Island of Rum in 1975. Claire Smith, RSPB Scotland East Coast Sea Eagle Project Officer, said: “A diet of pike, haddock and roe deer has helped make sure these birds are fit and ready for life in the wild.
Each bird has been fitted with a radio and wing tags so both project staff and the public can follow their progress. Already we receive many calls from the public thrilled to have seen a sea eagle on the east coast. For 2010 we’ve chosen yellow wing tags with black letters and numbers, and as usual any sightings can be reported to us via email on [email protected].
Since the start of the east coast project in 2007, the survival of the released birds has been good. We now expect that in the next few years some of our older birds will begin to set up territory on the east coast of Scotland and, one day produce chicks of their own.”
You can check out the details by following the attached link: http://www.rspb.org.uk/community/blogs/eastscotlandeagles/archive/2010/08/20/finally-they-re-out.aspx
I wonder how many of these unsuspecting birds will survive the rampant illegal poisonings and the uncontrolled persecution that befalls so many of our other Raptors.
nirofo.
Sea eagles are magnificent birds but I disagree with human interference with Nature by artificially re-introducing these birds into Fife, an enviroment that has greatly changed changed since they last existed in it,.from peat moors to arable farming This goes against the preaching of the R.S.P.B. that we should not interfere with the natural order of things.
To turn a blind eye to the damage that these birds could cause to livestck and poultry farmers seems pretty callous,we cannot subsist on tourism and to try and turn our farmlands into a wildlife park seems to be a very short sighted and overly romantic view ,ultimately destined to failure.
I have spent many years of my life in Central Africa and watched the constant battle between the indigineous farming population and the animals that destroyed their crops and killed their cattle., It is a difficult position, the welfare of the people and the conservation of the animals.
It is foolish to artificially stir up resentments, which these romantic programmes will inevitably do.
I’m sorry to disagree with Margaret but I believe the RSPB are doing a fantastic service to the wildlife of Scotland and far from interfering are actually restoring the balance by reintroducing a species of bird that was native to our land.
The only regret is that persecution by man has resulted in a sad loss from our natural history for many years.
I agree with Scott Rennie as introducing Sea Eagles is a very beautiful thing. In Europe the only place to see such a bird flying is only in Norway or you have to travel far to Alaska to see some Bald eagles. I think it is a very good idea to see such large birds in their natural habitant