White-tailed Sea Eagles on Mull... an amazing bird, even when you don't see them!
A couple of weeks ago, Dave Sexton, who is the RSPB Scotland Mull Officer, announced he is stepping back from the role after 21 years. Last year, I was lucky enough to spend the afternoon with Dave, and his recent news prompted me to the write down the story from that day! |  |
We visited Mull in August 2023, but were introduced to Dave via email by Oli Laurie from the RSPB who we met at Global BirdFair a month earlier. When I told him about our upcoming holiday, he said we had to meet Dave to learn about the White-tailed Eagles! A couple of weeks later, Dave emailed and offered to meet up while we were on the island.
Meeting Dave...
We met Dave on the afternoon of the 24th August 2023 in the Campsite Car Park at the Eastern end of Loch na Keal. This was a spot we had visited a few times already, and had proven to be a good area to see White-tailed Eagles, the bird Dave is most associated with and has helped recover in numbers on Mull and beyond.
As a bit of background, here's a short biography of Dave.
Dave Sexton is the RSPB Scotland officer on the Isle of Mull and has lived there with his family since 2003. His main role is to monitor the island's white-tailed eagles which have made the islands their home since they first bred there in 1985. Prior to Mull, Dave was Head of Reserves for the RSPB managing the Society's extensive land holdings in Scotland. He has previously worked for Aigas Field Centre near Inverness and for the BBC Natural History Unit in Bristol. He studied anthropology at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia and also worked on the reintroduction of peregrine falcons to the Eastern Shore whilst there. He has subsequently worked with the Peregrine Fund on the reintroduction of California condors in Arizona. (https://www.naturalist.co.uk/leaders/dave-sexton)
As well as meeting Dave, we also met Cally, his labrador who accompanied him around the island each day. Sadly, Cally passed away earlier this year.
Dave was really kind and friendly, and started telling us stories straight away. After a little while at the end of the loch, he suggested we take a little drive to somewhere special... I should mention at this point, the weather was horrific, with really low cloud and a lot of rain and visibility was very poor.
The Original Nest Site...
Dave drove us in his truck to the site of the first White-tailed Eagle nest, following the reintroduction of them to Mull. We sat on the other side of the loch from the nest, and waited. While waiting Dave told us lots of stories about the early days of the reintroduction programme.
The original attempts to reintroduce White-tailed Eagles to Scotland actually took place on thge Isle of Rum, near Mull, using birds brought over from Norway. Dave told us about how the birds were transported by the RAF, which was an unusual cargo for the pilots!
When the first birds arrived on Mull, and started to nest, there was a risk to them from Egg Collectors. Luckily, Dave and his band of locals kept watch to keep the nest site safe. Dave told how everyone banded together to protect these special birds. He told us about a lot of different Eagles, including Skye and Frisa, the first breeding pair on Mull.
Eagle watching...
Sat in Dave's truck, with the rain continuing to pound on the roof and bonnet, we scanned the skies and shoreline for Eagle action for a couple of hours without success... however two things kept us entertained, Dave's stories and the mighty Twite!
Twite, if you didn't know, is a LBJ... a Little Brown Job... or just a small brown bird. But this flock of Twite, were ignoring the rain and hopping around the truck. We watched their antics for ages, and I was happy to see them, as I hadn't (knowingly) seen one before!
The Twite is a small, brown finch closely related to the Linnet, but with a shorter tail and stubbier beak. Its back is tawny, heavily streaked with dark brown and is white below with dark-brown streaks on its lower sides. The rump is pink on males but brown on females. Like the Linnet, it feeds on seeds year-round. (https://www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/twite)
Hearing about the reintroductions, challenges and successes, from the person who has been so involved right from the start was amazing, made even better by the location.
Enjoying Birding without the Target Bird...
In the end it didn't matter that we didn't see a single White-tailed Eagle while we were with Dave, he entertained us with facts, stories and jokes. Just spending time in nature is great, and we saw the amazing scenery and we could imagine the birds, people and activities from his stories as if we were there at the time. Good company made up for not seeing the Eagles, and we did see lots of them on our other days in Mull.
Dave very kindly gave me a few presents to take away, including an original style RSPB Pin Badge of the White-tailed Eagle and a copy of the film made about the Eagles on Mull.
Dave says in his farewell post that he'll still be around as he is staying on the island, and I'm sure he'll continue to be a great supporter of Mull and it's Eagles!
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