Sea eagle chicks fly in to start a new future

But the 16 white-tailed sea eagle chicks flown in from Norway will soon have to learn to fight for their very survival in the wilds of Scotland.

The chicks, which arrived on Friday at Edinburgh Airport, are the penultimate contingent in a drive to re-establish the raptors in Scotland.

Sea eagles, Britain's largest bird of prey, were hunted to extinction in the UK, with the last killed in Shetland in 1918.

More than 100 from Norway have already been released on the West Coast over the past 30 years, with latest figures for 2010, showing there are now more than 200 in Scotland, including 52 breeding pairs on the West Coast.

Claire Smith, RSPB East Scotland's sea eagle officer - and a trained climber - described how she took the chicks from their two-metre wide nests, sometimes while their massive parents circled overhead.

"We have to hike out to where the nests are and start climbing up trees and cliffs carrying a hessian sack to put the chicks in," she said. "The nests have already been monitored and we only take the young from nests which have twins or triplets. The chicks get a fright and 'flatten' themselves in the nest so we need to reach in and get them. While this is going on you sometimes get the parents flying around nearby issuing an alarm call but they don't attack us. They don't seem to realise their own strength.

"The scariest part is trying to get them in the big hessian sack before abseiling back down to the ground. But they tend to calm down once they are in the dark in the sack."

Over the past four years 64 birds have been released in the east of Scotland, of which a maximum of 45 remain alive - a survival rate of 70 per cent in line with their counterparts on the West Coast.

One has been known to have been poisoned while others have flown into overhead electric wires.

Only one white-tailed sea eagle, in the mid 1990s, has ever flown back across the North Sea to Norway.

The 16 chicks will stay in purpose-built aviaries at a secret location in Fife for the next few months until they are strong enough to fly off and survive on their own. Although only around five to eight weeks old, the chicks are already about a foot-and-half tall, weigh approximately three kilos and have sharp beaks and yellow talons the size of a human hand.

When they are fully grown they will have a wing span of around 8ft.

They were captured last week by conservationists in the Hordaland, Sogn og Fjordandem and More og Romsdal counties of western Norway.

At their temporary home in Fife the chicks will dine on Arbroath smokies, venison, grey squirrels from culls and road kill. In about two months' time, when they start stretching their wings, the birds will be released in small groups and fitted with tags and tracking devices.

Stewart Stevenson MSP, minister for the environment and climate change, was at Edinburgh Airport for the chicks' arrival.

He said: "The reintroduction project has been a long haul but the care and effort invested has achieved remarkable results - the white-tailed sea eagle is now a frequent and glorious sight in Scotland's skies. Undoubtedly a major draw, both for local and visiting wildlife watchers, the return of these magnificent birds to take their place in Scotland's rich biodiversity has also provided a significant tourist attraction."

For the first time, an official representative from Norway was also at the airport to welcome the sea eagles to Scotland. Norwegian consul Mona Rohne said: "Norway and Scotland have a long-standing collaboration in releasing sea eagles in Scotland and we are delighted to yet again see the arrival of the Norwegian sea eagles."

Rhone added that there are currently around 7,000 of the birds in Norway.

White-tailed sea eagles bring in at least 5 million to the economy in Mull alone, according to an independent study commissioned by the RSPB, but have not been welcomed by everyone. A number of crofters and farmers have complained of losing livestock and say the sea eagles are to blame.

Patrick Krause, chief executive of the Scottish Crofters Federation, said there was a lot of "romantic and nostalgic" thinking in bringing the sea eagles back to Scotland.

"We question what the benefits are of bringing back sea eagles," he said. "Obviously there is the economic aspect but it seems to be a bit irresponsible to bring a predator into the country which is at the top of the chain. It is bound to have some sort of repercussion and nothing is going to eat them.

"A Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) report a few years ago denied there was a link, but I know that certainly surprised a lot of crofters when they have seen with their own eyes sea eagles taking lambs. Perhaps if more crofters had been involved in the study it would have highlighted the problems being faced.

"Since the reintroduction, lamb losses have being going up and people inevitably make a connection. Whether it is always the sea eagles that are taking them or whether they have upset the food chain and are forcing other predators to take them is something which needs examined.

The sea eagle reintroduction is co-ordinated by SNH.

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