The Old and the New – summer and autumn

Despite the disappointment of both pairs failing to breed in 2011 it is always worth watching eagles throughout the year, even during the summer months when eagles are harder to locate.   The morning of the ninth of July was rainy so when the skies cleared at mid-day I headed out to vantage point overlooking part of the young pairs home range.  No sooner had I sat down I saw the male hunting over a ridge above a native pinewood.  The bird appeared to be behaving mischievously, it stooped at a roe deer causing it to flee downhill and into the woodland and then from nowhere, the female’s appearance triggered one hour and forty minutes of the birds chasing each other through and under the woodland canopy, mock fights on the moss covered boulders on the woodland floor and pulling pine branches off the canopy of one particular tree.  The next visit was on the ninth of October, the birds were only seen for a short time on the southern part of the same woodland. The birds were again chasing each other and picking up and retrieving items from the heather and also breaking bits off the trees on the upper tree-line.   These young birds were clearly at home in the old pinewood and I could not help wondering if these birds had been brought up in tree nests or are all young eagles adept at flying through open woodland?

A few days later I was at a vantage point in the old pair’s home range by 1030, it was quiet at first with a few thrushes, a crested tit and a buzzard breaking the silence.  At 1150 the old male appeared circling below me lower down the slope, it was soon flying low over the tree I was sitting under and my note book summed up this encounter in one word – amazing.  The male then went in to a full display over the trees higher up the slope before heading off east with purpose.  I quickly followed round the hill to another vantage point.  The next sighting was about twenty minutes later, the male was over a far ridge displaying again and soon after his mate who was about half a kilometre away was also in full display mode.  It took about another ten minutes to find the reason for the adult’s behaviour – two young eagles were in the middle of the old bird’s home range.  The old birds were clearly in control of the situation and at no point did they make any aggressive attacks towards two young birds who were recently fledged juveniles, which I suspect the adults are likely to have recognised.   Incredibly, both juveniles were satellite tagged and they remained in the area for at least another hour.  A couple of phone calls over the next few days confirmed the origin of these unrelated young birds.  One was from a nest two home ranges to the east and the other from a nest more than 50km to the east.  The tracking data for the latter bird confirmed that this was its first trip away from its natal home range and, that it returned home that evening.

2012 for both the young and old birds mirrored 2011, neither pair laid eggs.   At the start of another year hopes are high that the young pair will breed for the first time in this, the Year of Natural Scotland.

Keith Duncan, January 2013

The Old and The New – Spring

Spring and early summer seems to have flown by and I missed my deadline for the second posting by a long way.  It’s now early July and raining outside so a chance to catch up.  I managed a couple of hours watching the young pair yesterday making the most of a short weather window in the afternoon.  The birds were not where I was expecting to see them and showing some interesting behaviour but more on that in the next update.

The signals in early spring were promising when the young birds were seen mating on the sixth March.  Four subsequent visits between the second and seventeenth April however confirmed that they were not going to breed this year.  On the second and ninth of April only one bird was seen, working the high ground on both dates and a single observation hunting along the tree line of the pine wood.  On the sixteenth April neither bird was seen.  One of the old cliff nests had been built up but was unoccupied.  This day was notable however for a record number of people on the bird’s favourite ridge.  Fifty eight people in one group with a further 13 nearby are, by far, the largest group of people I have recorded on the high ground in twenty years in this home range.  No wonder the birds were absent.  On the 17^th April both birds were eventually located in mid afternoon on the outer edge of their home range just above a tree line.  The female was only seen briefly but the male hung around for a while flying over the canopy of the pines that we were walking underneath unaware of our presence.

The old pair also showed typical spring breeding behaviour when they were observed carrying nest material to a tree nest in early February.  A subsequent check of this nest in April found it to be empty.  The other known nests in the forest were checked and were also empty.  Both birds were seen in April so are still alive and no further evidence of breeding has been noted.  This is the first time in over twenty years that this pair has not been known to lay eggs.  This old pair reared young nearly every year up to the mid nineties (1995), thereafter only rearing young four times, the last being in 2006, despite laying eggs every year during this period. 

In a remarkably similar pattern, the old birds who previously occupied the young pair’s home range also produced young annually up to 1996; thereafter no chicks were reared up to 2005 despite eggs being laid in most years.  In March 2006 the old birds were behaving as normal but in April only one bird was seen.  Thereafter, despite a number of visits over the rest of this year neither of the old birds was seen again.  In 2007 no eagles were present and a pair of peregrines was occupying the cliffs.  In 2008 the peregrines bred in the highest eagle nest at around 3,000 feet and reared two young.  On the fifth of April 2009 a pair of young eagles was present in the upper part of this home range hunting ptarmigan – there was no sign of the peregrines.  These young birds have held on to this home range for just over two years and they are now attaining their adult plumage.  It is five years since the old birds who held this home range disappeared, it took three years for a very young pair of eagles to occupy this range and two years on they are still too young to breed.  Where are the near adult birds who should have occupied this home range as soon as it became vacant?      

The summer visits are currently underway and I will aim to post an update in the autumn.

Keith Duncan

Sad to report that the young female hen harrier, Tanar, has almost certainly been killed – probably on a grouse moor in eastern Aberdeenshire or north Angus. After wintering near Loch Ryan she travelled north and spent a month or so near Dalwhinnie. She flew back to the Glentanar area (where she was reared last summer) on the first days of June and then frequented heather moors on both sides of the Aberdeenshire and Angus border to the east and west of Mount Keen. Her sojourn in the east did not even reach the end of the month. Illegal persecution of this species remains intense – I was shocked to hear a report that only 5 pairs remain in England. But equally I know how difficult it is to find any nests in the Cairngorms National Park. Fortunately, there are a few places and a week ago we satellite tagged a female harrier from a brood of four (the other three were males) and then three young peregrine falcons. Now we are aiming to tag golden eagles and ospreys.

Roy Dennis

These are expensive projects and we urgently need sponsorship for our transmitters and lesser amounts to sponsor the annual transmissions charges – if you would like to help with this important conservation work – please email me at roydennis@aol.com

The Old and the New – Mid winter to early spring

Since late last year I have set myself a project to follow a year in the life of two contrasting pairs of golden eagles in the Cairngorms National Park.  I have been monitoring one of the eagle home ranges for over twenty years and the other home range infrequently over the same time period.   The identity of two home ranges is not important the key issue is why I have chosen to follow and write about the birds occupying these particular home ranges.   The clue is in the title, the old is as the name hints a home range that is occupied by an old pair of eagles and the new, a range occupied by a young pair – contrast number one.  The second contrast is that the old pair’s nests are in a Caledonian pine wood at relatively low altitude but the bird’s home range includes high mountain tops. The young pair occupies a home range whose cliff nests are at high altitude, up to around 3,000ft, and whose range also includes lower level moorland and forest.  Contrast three is the old pair are nearing the end of their breeding lives and the young pair have yet to start breeding.  

The two home ranges are owned and managed by people who are protective of their eagles. I am in regular contact with people on both estates and they fill in a lot of the gaps in my knowledge of what the birds are up to in between my visits.  The worrying issue for me is that in a healthy eagle population neither pair should be holding these home ranges.  Both home ranges should be occupied by birds that are aged somewhere in between the ages of these two pairs.  In a healthy population there should be birds of near or at breeding age challenging to take over good home ranges, including those ranges that are occupied.  Instead we have an old pair that in the past regularly reared young and who still lay eggs each year but fail to hatch and, a young pair that has held a home range for two years now and may only now be old enough to breed for the first time.  So what’s going on, well there are not enough young adults of breeding age out there.  More on this issue and the history of these two home ranges in the next update.

Over the winter period I made three visits to the old pair’s home range.  The stand out feature of these visits was the varying hunting techniques the birds employed to suit the prevailing weather conditions. The first visit was on the fifth of December 2010, there was complete snow cover and sub zero temperatures that had during that week dropped to overnight lows of around -16c. One of the old birds was picked up over the middle of the forest in the early afternoon heading towards the upper tree line.  In the strong wind the bird soared up the slope well above the forest where it broke off then contoured across the slope at speed just above ground level.  The bird was targeting the exposed ridges where the wind had scoured the snow leaving patches of heather where red grouse and mountain hares congregate in such condition.  The eagle would head for these patches presumably aiming to surprise an unwary meal.  At the end of each attack the bird ended up back down near the tree line where it caught the wind and headed back up to the top of the slope to repeat this method another three times.  The bird failed to catch anything and it switched to a new area with more wind scoured slopes on a small gulley and later, up on the high plateau.  The second visit was on 4^th January on what started as a fine sunny cold day with patchy snow cover.  However just after arriving at our observation point low cloud, rain and a strong wind arrived from the west.  About an hour later a handful of black grouse flew round the wooded hill towards us suggesting something may have flushed these birds.  Soon after and on cue one of the old eagles flew in to view flying along the woodland edge at canopy height.  The eagle flew to a point above us and as we were hidden under a tree it did not see us.  After searching around the woodland edge the bird landed in the canopy of a tree with a good view of the open ground and scattered trees below.  A lone male black grouse sitting in the canopy of a tree below us would have been visible to the eagle but the eagle would also have been visible to the black grouse so the option of surprise was lost.  Nevertheless the persisting strong wind, rain and low cloud probably meant that perch hunting was the best option available in these conditions and the bird remained on this perch for the next twenty minutes before heading back around the hill and out of sight.  The third visit on the 23^rd January saw contrasting wind conditions with very light winds down in the forest but strong winds high up on the ridges, noticeable by the speed of clouds drifting through.  With these two options available, when one of the old birds was eventually spotted it was high up hanging motionless in the strong winds over the summit ridges.  These examples demonstrate the birds making the best available use of the weather conditions for hunting both in terms of energy expenditure and for targeting the most likely locations where prey would be located.   

Only one visit was made to the young pair, it was the 6^th of March and it turned out be a frustrating visit with more questions than answers as is often the case with eagle watching.   Following a long walk in to the centre of the home range it did not take long to pick up the first young eagle over a mid elevation ridge which both birds were to use for most of the day.  The frustrating element was that much of their time was spent on the other side of this ridge and out of my view.  One promising piece of behaviour however was for the first time these birds were seen mating.  They also spent some time on their favourite cliff but with no known nests on this cliff, no nest building or collection of nest material being observed the question of whether they will attempt to breed this year or have already selected a nest site was still to be answered.   

The main spring visits are currently underway and I will post an update later in May.

Keith Duncan   21st April 2011

The recent long distance round trip flights by Vega are really interesting. We have never seen this information before but it shows how a young peregrine is checking out ‘future potential nesting sites’ by visiting as many peregrine eyries as possible. Many of the sites she visits are ancient peregrine nesting sites, some occupied but alas many are now unoccupied, some due to illegal persecution. Here’s hoping that she stays alive and doesn’t come to grief visiting some of these unoccupied eyries. There’s been no more signals from her sister Freya, and I’m afraid that the most likely outcome is that she has been illegally killed.  These flights also put meaning to the meaning of peregrinations – or peregrine the wanderer. All very fascinating.

This morning, 9th March, there was an amazing meeting in Glen Clova at 8am. Last summer, we tagged two eaglets in the same nest near Forsinard in the flow country of Caithness.   The male (107) left last autumn and travelled down the west coast of Scotland as far as Dunoon, then back up to Fort William and then down into the boundary hills of Perthshire at the Sma’ Glen, he then headed east all the way to Glenfiddich and then down to the Angus glens, and had recently settled just north of BlackwaterReservoir. His sister (106) stayed in their parents home range through the winter and it was not until early this year that she left to go wandering. She also travelled down the West Coast but only as far as Fort William before heading down into Perthshire, she then changed direction and headed towards the Cairngorms. In the last few days she set off towards Angus and at 8 a.m. today she was flying along the hills on the eastern side of Glen Clova. And exactly the same time her brother was on the hills on the other side of Glen Clova, just 6.4 kms apart at 8am.

It seems certain they would have seen each other, and outside the two hourly GPS location fixes the chances are that they could have soared together.  It seems likely they would have recognised each other as siblings, but if they did there was no encouragement to stay together. The female stayed there but her brother, despite living in this area for at least a month, headed off strongly to the north and by 2pm was north of the River Dee on the north side of a hill called Morven. He stayed in that area to roost overnight. It was as though he had made a conscious effort to avoid his sister!

Check out their travels on the Highland Foundation for Wildlife website at eagle 106 and eagle 107

The meeting - 106 in yellow track, 107 in red track

News

Report shows persecution is a significant factor stopping the spread of hen harriers

17-FEB-2011

A new report by the UK’s nature conservation co-ordinator on hen harriers in the UK says that persecution is a significant factor limiting growth of the hen harrier population. The Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC) report, released today by Scottish Natural Heritage, considered scientific evidence on the distribution and nesting success of this bird of prey across all four home countries.

 Scientists writing the Hen Harrier Conservation Framework, to be published this Friday, looked at a range of factors affecting the distribution of hen harriers (Circus cyaneus) throughout the UK. The report’s authors looked at eight factors which could affect the hen harrier population, ranging from grazing pressure, which might reduce the heathery habitat important for prey species, to wind farms. Results showed that illegal persecution is a significant constraint on hen harriers in some areas, preventing them from achieving healthy populations in suitable habitats throughout large parts of the country. In some regions there are other constraints, such as shortage of prey and suitable nesting habitat; and predation by other animals, such as foxes and crows, can be a constraint on breeding success.

Persecution was considered to be a particular problem in areas associated with grouse moor management in Scotland, notably in the northeast and central Highlands, the Cairngorms, the western Southern Uplands and the Border Hills. In England, illegal persecution is such a constraint that the hen harrier is threatened with extinction as a breeding species. There is some good news in Wales, Northern Ireland and The Isle of Man, as well as the western and northern Isles of Scotland, where hen harriers are increasing in numbers.

The report identifies key areas of further research needed, particularly on the effect that foxes and other predators have on hen harriers and on the management needed to support prey and nesting habitat for harriers. The report is also clear about some of the data and therefore modelling limitations notably in relation to habitat quality and numbers of predators.

Environment Minister Roseanna Cunningham said: “Hen harriers are one of Scotland’s special birds and an important part of our biodiversity. It is pleasing to see that Scotland remains a stronghold for hen harriers, however we cannot deny that persecution, amongst other issues, remains a live threat. This Government continues to take a robust approach to persecution of birds of prey. The Government’s inclusion of vicarious liability in the Wildlife and Natural Environment (Scotland) Bill will ensure that those who direct or turn a blind eye to persecution can be held to account.”

The bird has been identified as a priority species by the UK Government in terms of combating wildlife crime. The last survey (2004) estimated there to be 633 pairs in Scotland, 11 pairs in England, 43 pairs in Wales and 63 pairs in Northern Ireland. A survey of hen harriers was carried out again in 2010, and once the data are collated an updated version of the framework will be produced. The bird is included on the red list of birds of conservation concern in the UK. In addition, because it is considered vulnerable within Europe, it is included on Annex I of the EU Birds Directive, which means that special conservation measures must be taken to protect the bird and its habitat.

Professor Des Thompson, SNH principal adviser on biodiversity, said: “This report identifies persecution as a significant problem hitting hen harriers hard across some parts of the country. Providing more evidence to tackle this issue is a key aim of this framework. This report will feed into the strenuous efforts that are being taken to conserve this bird, and to resolve the conflict between hen harrier conservation and red grouse management which underlies persecution. The Langholm Moor Demonstration Project, the Natural England-led Environment Council harrier project and various activities under the Partnership for Action Against Wildlife Crime (PAW) have to work if we are to arrest the problem.”

The hen harrier is one of the extroverts of the bird world. In spring, they display exuberantly over breeding territories in the uplands of Scotland, flying steeply upward then tumbling back towards the ground, or soaring in ever-increasing circles, gaining steady height over their moorland haunts. This has led to their informal name of skydancer.

Patrick Stirling-Aird, secretary of the Scottish Raptor Study Groups.said: “The Scottish Raptor Study Groups welcome publication of this report following its lengthy process of preparation and note that the report confirms that criminal persecution of hen harriers in the interests of red grouse management for shooting purposes is the overriding cause of their dire population status in much of the UK.”

 Stuart Housden, Director RSPB Scotland , commented: ”This report serves as a wakeup call to the grouse shooting industry, builds on the best and most comprehensive scientific evidence available, and confirms the huge gaps in the distribution of hen harriers that are now apparent to many ornithologists. It reveals the true impact of the systematic and illegal persecution associated with the industry, which is having severe consequences for the species’ fortunes in Scotland, and pushing it close to extinction in England. This is a sombre moment, and a challenge for the industry to put its house in order. The question is are grouse managers prepared to accept the seriousness of the challenge before them and take firm action to stamp out this criminal activity? We sincerely hope so, but more fine words and letters of denial are not the answer; a significant recovery of hen harriers on grouse estates is.”

Check out:  http://www.jncc.gov.uk/pdf/jncc441.pdf

for a full copy of A Conservation Framework for Hen Harriers in the United Kingdom. JNCC Report 441.

For more information, contact SNH press & public relations office:

The young golden eagles, Cullen and Strathy, were satellite tagged at the same nest in Strathspey, and have been away on their travels for three months – they may have seen each other on rare occasions in the Monadliaths but overnight on 12th/13th February we know that they met up and roosted in the same tree or the next door trees on Coignafearn Estate in the Monadhliaths. The roost site is a group of scattered ancient birch and goat willow trees overlooking the River Findhorn. Cullen had arrived from the north after visiting the Contin area in Easter Ross via Dunmaglass, while her brother Strathy had flown north from the Kingussie area and Garrogie Estate. Next morning, Cullen headed down river while Strathy went in the opposite direction to Garrogie. Siblings meeting up by chance must occasionally happen, and they almost certainly will recognise each other, but this is probably the first recorded instance of it definitely happening.

Today, Marc Hindley has been given me some extra lessons on tweeks to the website and in the next few days we hope to add a twitter feed so that you can sign up and receive immediate information of any exciting changes to any of the birds – such as big new movements or return migration.

Overnight roost site for Strathy & Cullen on 12th/13th February

I’m back from having a winter break with my daughter and family in Java and Sulawesi, and today have checked on all the birds. The two peregrines have reached the New Year, and have surprised me by wintering locally. I had expected them to migrate away from the Cairngorms to southern coastal Scotland, England, Wales or Ireland. One possible explanation for their stay-at-home behaviour is that the numbers of adult peregrines in the inland areas of the Highlands are much lower nowadays so competition is reduced. The population decline is due to illegal persecution on some grouse moors in the east and central Highlands and a lack of wild prey, due to ecological degradation,  in the west and north leading to lower densities. 

All three young eagles are wintering in the general area of their natal home-ranges.  Tom, our oldest tracked golden eagle, on the HFW website (www.roydennis.org) is still living in the western Cairngorms and is entering his third year - as the birds mature we start to learn new information, so his movements will become even more interesting  during the build up to the new breeding season, although he is still too young to breed, he should be learning for the future.  The male eaglet (107) from the Flow Country of Caithness is wintering at present in the Ladder Hills after wandering widely through Scotland.

Tanar, the female hen harrier, continues to winter in the very SW of Scotland near Loch Ryan, but there have been no recent reports from her sibling Glen. He could have died or been killed, or just possibly his transmitter needs more sun to recharge the solar battery. We’ll see in the coming month. The same applies to Corrie the young merlin – did he die last autumn or is there a chance that stronger sunlight in the spring will reactivate his tiny transmitter. Meanwhile Aeshna the hobby continues to winter north of Lake Volta in Ghana.

My Indonesian sojourn gave me time to think about nature conservation in the vitally important tropical forests of SE Asia, and also to think how well we carry out the conservation of nature and natural ecosystems in Scotland, the UK and Europe. Not very impressive is my short answer, and that was supported by the appalling decision at New Year to give the go-ahead to the Dunmaglass wind farm in the heart of the Monadhliaths.  Cullen and Strathy, the two young golden eagles from Strathspey, are both in that area now along with other younger eagles – the reason being that the Monadhliath Mountains is prime golden eagle habitat with an excellent prey base, including blue hare, rabbit and red grouse. SNH and the Government failed to protect it as a SPA because the numbers of adult pairs of eagle did not reach the criterion (and that was due to illegal persecution in some parts of the range),  so strong opposition to the wind farm failed and another wild area for nature is ruined.

Raptor tracking project spreads its wings

18th November 2010                                 Press Release from CNPA Press Office

 Species of raptors, which have never been satellite tagged before in the UK, can now be followed day and night on the world wide web.

 The project in the Cairngorms National Park has seen satellite tags put on two peregrine falcons named Freya and Vega, a hobby called Aeshna and a merlin named Corrie. Two hen harriers and more young golden eagles have also been tagged in 2010, to follow up the earlier satellite tagging of golden eagles and ospreys in the National Park.

The partnership project involves Roy Dennis of the Highland Foundation for Wildlife, the Cairngorms National Park Authority (CNPA), Scottish Natural Heritage, Natural Research and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds as well as local land mangers across the National Park. Additional funding has come from the Cairngorms Local Biodiversity Action Plan and the Partnership Against Wildlife Crime.

Raptor Track aims to raise awareness of the movements of raptors within the National Park, as well as their travels into other parts of Scotland and further afield. It also gathers information on the lives and movements of these individual birds, which will help with future protection and conservation efforts, including deterring wildlife crime.

Roy Dennis explained: “Tracking by state-of-art satellite transmitters adds enormously to our knowledge of raptors gained from field study and ringing. We can follow them as individuals and understand much more about their daily lives and the problems they face. Using the web is an exciting way for people to learn about and enjoy the raptors of the Cairngorms National Park.

 ”There’s the excitement of ‘what next’ – Vega the peregrine made a day trip to the Cromarty Firth last week, while my computer tells me today that Tanar, the hen harrier, roosted last night in the Angus glens while Aeshna, the hobby, had flown from Senegal to Guinea in West Africa – one day she will hopefully return to Strathspey.”

 Convener of the CNPA, David Green added: “There are 18 species of raptors within our moorlands and forests of the National Park, some which are resident here year-round and others using it as a breeding ground or to winter, so it makes the Park a very important place in global terms for these birds. It is important we have as much information as possible in order to ensure that as a planning authority, we are making the right decisions but also as the Park Authority - working with our partners - that we are doing our utmost to protect these key species so that future generations can enjoy them.”