Soaring success as White Tailed Eagles on Mull breed ten chicks

WHITE-tailed eagles on Mull reared ten chicks in last year's breeding season, conservationists will announce today.

• The White Tailed Eagle

The island has ten pairs of the eagles, once extinct in Scotland. Known as "flying barn doors" because of their size, they attract tourists and bring 2 million a year to the local economy.

The birds colonised Mull in 1983 and produced their first fledglings in 1985 after being reintroduced to nearby Rum ten years earlier.

Last year's Mull chicks came from seven nests. Scotland's 46 pairs of the birds reared 36 chicks.

White-tailed eagles eat fish, sea birds, ducks and carrion. Farmers say they also target lambs. The Mull Eagle Watch project attracts about 6,000 visitors a year to its hide on Forestry Commission Scotland land at Loch Frisa.

Scottish environment minister Roseanna Cunningham is visiting Mull today to see the birds and the local community.