Golden Eagles: breeding pair use handmade nest built by conservationist
A nest, handbuilt by an elderly conservationist on a cliffside at the Dundreggan estate in the Highlands, has prompted the return of the first breeding pair of golden eagles to the area for 40 years.
Roy Dennis, a renowned endangered species expert now in his 80s, constructed the eyrie using arm-sized branches while dangling from the top of the crag by a rope in 2015.
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide AdGolden eagles build their own nests in remote and inaccessible places, and are highly sensitive to disturbance.
Earlier this year, Dundreggan estate manager, Doug Gilbert, discovered that the artificial eyrie had been taken over by the pair.
Last week, the eagles successfully fledged a chick in the nest.
Doug Gilbert said the accomplishment was “beyond our wildest dreams.”
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide Ad“I’ve been checking the eyrie regularly since we built it in 2015, hoping to see evidence that the eagles had returned, and now they have,” he said.
“As golden eagles may use their nesting sites for generations, we’re hoping they are back for the long term.”
The 10,000 acre Dundreggan estate, which lies between Loch Ness and Skye, has been rewilded by conservation charity Trees for Life since 2008.
Golden eagles – regarded by many people as Scotland’s national bird – are regularly seen over Dundreggan, but until now there has been no sign of them nesting or setting up a territory.
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide AdHighland Raptor Study Group member and golden eagle expert Stuart Benn said: “This is terrific news – the first time golden eagles have definitely bred at Dundreggan since 1980.
Eagles are undergoing a marked expansion in the Highlands just now, recolonising ground they haven’t been on for many years and even colonising some completely new areas.”
The golden eagle is the UK’s second-largest bird of prey, after the white-tailed eagle. It is native to Britain, but centuries of persecution saw it driven into extinction in England and Wales by the mid-1800s.
The bird has been making a slow recovery in Scotland – though continues to be threatened by illegal persecution, with annual reports of golden eagles being shot, poisoned or having their nests robbed.
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide AdThe fourth national golden eagle survey, published in 2016, showed that Scotland’s population of the birds had increased to 508 pairs, a rise of 15 percent since the previous survey in 2003.
A message from the Editor
Thank you for reading this story on our website. While I have your attention, I also have an important request to make of you.
The dramatic events of 2020 are having a major impact on many of our advertisers - and consequently the revenue we receive. We are now more reliant than ever on you taking out a digital subscription to support our journalism.
Subscribe to scotsman.com and enjoy unlimited access to Scottish news and information online and on our app. Visit https://www.scotsman.com/subscriptions now to sign up.
By supporting us, we are able to support you in providing trusted, fact-checked content for this website.
Joy Yates
Editorial Director
Comments
Want to join the conversation? Please or to comment on this article.