mcleanscotland of Perth a Scottish tour company mcleanscotland BRING YOU NEWS AND STORIES OF OUR SCOTTISH BIRDS

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New £2.5m cull launched to rid the islands of 10,000 marauding mink

A CULL of American mink is being stepped up in an attempt to wipe out the predators from the Western Isles. Earlier this year, it was confirmed that the species, which has damaged internationally-important bird colonies, had been purged from North and South Uist and Benbecula. The fight against the marauding animals will now continue in Lewis and Harris, where they are most abundant. The first phase of the Hebridean Mink Project, costing £1.65 million, started in 2001 with the aim of clearing the animals from the Uists and drastically reducing their numbers in south Harris. Work will start shortly on the £2.5 million second phase in the rest of Harris and Lewis, which will take place over the next five years. Mink were introduced to the islands in the 1950s and 1960s in attempts at commercial farming in Lewis. When that failed, the animals were released or escaped, and they spread rapidly. Up to 10,000 adult mink are thought to have colonised the islands, with several hundred in the Uists. The voracious animals have been blamed for killing poultry, raiding fish farms and threatening bird colonies in the islands by eating chicks and eggs. The new phase of eradication work is backed by Scottish Natural Heritage, Western Isles Enterprise, the Esmee Fairburn Foundation and Comhairle nan Eliean Siar (Western Isles Council). It was feared that phase two might not go ahead after a bid for the funding was turned down by the European Union LIFE programme, which paid half the budget for the first phase.

The RSPB will undertake bird monitoring and it is expected the Western Isles Fisheries Trust will also carry out monitoring work on fry and parr numbers in mink-affected fisheries. About 230 mink were caught in the Uists and over 300 have been trapped on Harris. A recent report indicated that the purge was working, with evidence of birds breeding successfully again in areas where mink had been eradicated. In December, RSPB Scotland monitoring work found that Arctic terns were breeding more successfully in areas where the voracious predators have been trapped and shot on the Uists. Nest survival of Arctic terns was found to be more than three times higher on the southern islands compared with that on Lewis and Harris to the north. A survey found that the average hatching success for the species was about 40 per cent across the islands. However, there were significant differences for hatching success between islands, with 59 per cent producing chicks on the Uists compared with just 18 per cent on Lewis and Harris. Of 86 nests in which the cause of failure was established, 62 per cent were eaten by predators.

THE iconic white-tailed sea eagle will once again fly over the east coast of Scotland under an ambitious plan to reintroduce one of the world's biggest birds of prey to its former range. Up to 100 of the birds - with 8ft wingspans - will be released in the Forth/Tay (mcleanscotland homeland!) estuary area over a five-year period. The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds has already applied to the Scottish Executive for a licence to release sea eagle chicks imported from Norway. The Executive's adviser, Scottish Natural Heritage, have now agreed to pay half the costs of the £250,000 project. But landowners and farmers fear the eagles, bigger than golden eagles, will prey on livestock along the rich east coast farmlands. Lambs have been taken by the giant birds of prey during a similar successful reintroduction on the west coast of Scotland and the National Farmers' Union Scotland claims releases close to towns and cities could have "unpredictable" consequences. What do I think? (Paul); well, I would love to see the birds back in Scotland, hige things that can gracefully fill our skies and be a wonder to us all, I'm all for it. farmers! Perthshire where the release is to take place is famous for its berries and good soils, so we have less animal stock here than some areas, I don't see a problem. The Executive will launch a public consultation once a site, most likely to be close to a fish-rich estuary, has been selected. Sea eagles were abundant along both the west and east coasts, but were hunted to extinction by Victorian and Edwardian gamekeepers, with the last bird shot on Shetland in 1918. Reintroduction to the west coast began in 1975, with releases on the remote island of Rum, and later on the Letterewe Estate in the north-west Highlands. The birds have spread to west coast islands, including (the Maclean island of ) Mull and Skye, and are successfully breeding in the wild.

Getting up close and personal with a white tailed eagle, also called a sea eagle, is an awesome experience. With an average wingspan of 244cm - that's nearly 8ft - they've been dubbed "flying barn doors" by the bird watching fraternity, and at the world's only live and direct viewing site in Mull, visitors can appreciate first hand the sheer size, power and beauty of these massive raptors. A bird of prey that size has no natural predators to worry about, but human activity involving shotguns, poison and egg-stealing, collectively saw off the last of Britain's native sea eagles around a century ago. The last recorded native white tailed eagle was shot in Shetland in 1917, and to add insult to injury, it was a rare albino. The Northern Isles don't have a good track record when it comes to this kind of thing - the last Great Auk in Britain was killed on Orkney's Papa Westray in the 19th century. A couple of decades later, hunters in Iceland finished off the job completely by slaughtering and stuffing the world's last two Great Auks for collectors. Fortunately, sea eagles survived in areas like Scandinavia and a reintroduction programme began in the mid 1970s, when imported Norwegian birds were released along the west coast of Scotland. Conservationists started off by giving Scotland's newly introduced sea eagles dignified, geographically related names like Skye and Frisa. Three generations on, they sport more down-to-earth monikers. The current chicks are Haggis and Oatie, and last year's fledglings were dubbed Itchy and Scratchy. In Mull, it's all been organised so well that a decision was made to feature one particular eyrie near Loch Frisa as an eco-tourism project, opening it to visitors, with a special viewing hide during the breeding season. The eagle watch project is run by Mull and Iona Community Trust, together with SNH, the RSPB and the Forestry Commission (who own the land round the eyrie.) The well-established breeding pair, Skye and Frisa, don't appear to be at all bothered by their celebrity status (they featured in BBC's Springwatch with Bill Oddie and Kate Humble) and seem to accept the click of cameras as part of their everyday environment. According to the RSPB, these feathered stars have their own 24-hour guard, in the shape of Strathclyde Police, a dedicated band of island volunteers and the latest surveillance technology to protect the nest from illegal egg collectors.

Sea eagles soar to recovery The sea eagle success story was underlined when it was revealed Scotland's population is continuing to soar with a record 29 chicks having fledged from nests this year. The figure outstrips last year's record of 24 chicks. The sea eagle - which goes by the romantic Gaelic name of Iolair suil na greine (eagle with the sunlit eye) - is one of the country's most prized and yet vulnerable species. Scotland's largest and rarest bird of prey has had a chequered history. Revered as a bird of kings in the Bronze Age, but then persecuted to extinction in many European countries, including Scotland, by the late 19th and early 20th centuries, it has recently been on the rise again. Ten young birds took off from Mull where the eagles have now become an established sight for visitors. One pair of sea eagles in Skye has also produced three chicks, a rare event which has been recorded only twice in the past 30 years - although one of the youngsters later died in bad weather. Mull and Skye, the birds' strongholds, now have almost two-thirds of the Scottish sea eagle population of 33 breeding pairs.
Two of the 2006 Mull fledglings, named Haggis and Oatie by local schoolchildren, attract a number of visitors, including celebrities. Veteran broadcaster John Craven visited recently and Oscar-nominated actor Tom Conti saw the island's sea eagles as part of an upcoming BBC series, Saving Planet Earth. The BBC Springwatch programme has also raised interest in the iconic birds. David Sexton, the RSPB's Mull officer, said over 5,500 people watched the birds this year at the Forestry Commission Scotland's Loch Frisa plantation. Sea eagles, also known as white-tailed eagles, were once widespread throughout the north and west of Britain in the early 19th century. But shooting and poisoning wiped out the species, the last pair being shot in Skye in 1916 and the last surviving bird killed in Shetland two years later. Between 1975 and 1985, 82 young eagles were brought from Norway and released on Rum.
Disappearing kestrels on danger list

SCOTLAND'S most common bird of prey has been placed on an endangered species list following a dramatic decline in its numbers, it was revealed yesterday. The number of Kestrels north of the Border fell by 31 per cent between 1993 and 2003, according to figures compiled by the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO). Over the same period, the decline in kestrel numbers across the whole of the United Kingdom was just 4 per cent. The BTO also revealed that kestrel productivity - the number of young the birds produce - dropped by between 25 and 50 per cent over the past year. The decline has now led to kestrels being added to the Nest Record Scheme Concern List, which was published yesterday by the BTO. The kestrel is a member of the falcon family and feeds mainly on small mammals and insects. Latest figures suggest that there are now about 38,000 pairs of kestrels in the UK. The kestrel is one of five species that have been newly added to the concern list due to reduced nesting success. The other four are the tree pipit, whinchat, bullfinch and corn bunting. Sixteen species already placed on the list are moorhen, ringed plover, barn owl, skylark, yellow, grey and pied wagtails, dunnock, wheatear, willow warbler, spotted flycatcher, starling, house sparrow, linnet, yellowhammer and reed bunting.

Future's rosy as Capercaillie comeback really starts to take off
THE capercaillie, one of Scotland's most iconic birds, is making a dramatic comeback in the dense pine forests of the Highlands, Strathspey and Perthshire where the original native populations were completely wiped out three centuries ago. A report released recently (10.12.06) has shown that capercaillie have enjoyed their best breeding season for almost 15 years. And the summer survey revealed that at one breeding site alone - a Strathspey forest managed by the Forestry Commission - 13 hens reared 40 chicks in a remarkable change of fortunes for the threatened species. The huge woodland grouse became extinct in Britain in the 18th century, but capercaillie were reintroduced from Sweden 200 years ago. A census of capercaillie numbers in 1999 found there were only 1,000 birds left in the whole of Scotland. But the last official survey, carried out in 2004, brought the first ray of hope for the bird, indicating that capercaillie numbers had doubled to around 2,000.

PROTECTING BIRDS THE Capercaillie LIFE Project began with an award of almost £2.5 million from the European Commission's LIFE Nature fund. This was backed by £2 million in funding from a range of partners including Forestry Commission Scotland, Scottish Natural Heritage, the RSPB, the Scottish Executive, and the Cairngorms National Park Authority. The project covers 35,000 hectares of woodland in Tayside, Perthshire, the North-east and the Highlands, including 30 privately owned sites. The aim of the scheme has been to improve and expand the areas of ideal habitat by creating glades in some densely forested areas while providing additional cover in other sites, depending on local needs. Deer fencing has also been removed or clearly marked to prevent capercaillie being killed or injured through collisions with the fences and measures taken to reduce levels of predation.

Support soars for plan to adopt the golden eagle as a national symbol
NEW Zealand has the kiwi, Antigua has the frigate bird and Belize has the keel-billed toucan - but Scotland has nothing. A total of 90 countries around the world, and numerous states and provinces, have a national bird. Scotland is not one of them but that omission could soon be reversed thanks to a decision by MSPs last night. The parliament's enterprise and culture committee decided to pursue a campaign for the golden eagle to be adopted as Scotland's national bird, and will commission a series of studies into the viability of the scheme. MSPs want to explore the economic benefits of adopting a national bird and discover who is actually responsible for taking such a decision. By early next year (2007) the committee will analyse its findings, with a view to putting the proposal to the full parliament for a debate and a vote - a process which could see the golden eagle installed as Scotland's official national bird by next year's election in May. The golden eagle was chosen as the iconic bird of Scotland in a poll which ran in The Scotsman in the summer of 2004, the centenary of RSPB Scotland. The eagle beat a number of other birds to the title, including the red grouse, osprey and capercaillie.

THE PEREGRINE falcon is the world's fastest bird. It regularly hits speeds of up to 170mph when diving on its prey, and can catch birds in mid-air. But its deadly efficiency as a hunter is no protection against human malice or greed, as the recent despoliation of nests near Edinburgh suggests. Scottish Wildlife Week (4-10 June 2006), organised by the Scottish Wildlife Trust, will highlight Scotland's natural heritage, but less worthy of celebration are continuing practices of raptor persecution and nest raiding. In combating such abuses, Gavin Ross and Jim McGovern, who have been investigating the recent disappearance of rare peregrine falcon chicks, are members of a growing breed of policeman - the wildlife crime specialist. The peregrine has had a rough passage through the 20th century, and its UK population hit an all-time low during the 1960s. Quite apart from its traditional persecution by gamekeepers and egg collectors, the realisation that this largest of British falcons was laying so many fatally thin-shelled eggs sounded warning bells about dangerous levels of pesticides entering the food chain. The bird's population has grown to an estimated 1,500 breeding pairs in the UK due largely to conservation measures, but it remains a protected species. That "protected" status seems somewhat academic as PC Gavin Ross and I stand at the top of a cliff on Edinburgh's western outskirts, gazing at the muddy and very empty "scrape" the peregrines had created for their nest. This nest has a history of persecution, with its chicks or eggs stolen annually between 1995 and 1999. "There have been adult birds here since then, but for whatever reason, they weren't nesting," says Ross. "This year, though, everything was looking good, they were nesting, there were chicks... then this happens. It's so frustrating." Ross, 32, a divisional wildlife crime officer over and above his community patrol role, was contacted by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds after members of a local raptor group reported the suspected removal of the three to four chicks occupying the nest. He and the raptor study representative visited both sites over the weekend and at this one they traced what looked to be an intruder's footprints through the grass and gorse cresting the rock. Whoever took the chicks was perversely determined to the point of foolhardiness: if they had slipped, they would have plummeted some 50 metres to the foot of the cliff. Ross interviewed local residents and left a police notice at the local golf club, whose early or late-playing members, he suggests, may have seen someone suspicious in the area.

Bird-killing pesticides outlawed in Scotland EIGHT pesticides used to kill rare birds of prey are to be outlawed in Scotland from next month. Those caught with the banned substances face six-month jail terms and fines of up to £5,000, said Lewis Macdonald, the deputy environment and rural development minister. The new law - introduced by ministerial order, without the need for legislation in parliament - aims to offer greater protection to birds such as the golden eagle, buzzard, red kite and sea eagle. The step follows reports over many years of these species being found dead beside the remains of rabbits or other prey which had been deliberately laced with poisons. The Executive said the ban did not include pesticide products commonly used for gardening. Anyone caught in possession of the specified substances, which officials say have a very limited conventional use, would be required to show that they were held for legitimate purposes as stated on the label.

www.turusmara.com on our favourite isle; MULL. We can design a tour around this break on Mull.

Daytime bird tours around Islay Daily tours covering different habitats - sea lochs, sea, dunes, merse, hills and woods dependent on season and tides. These start at 0900hrs until 1600hrs ALSO Family Birding half days - these are specifically pitched at beginners and those who like to learn and have fun as a family. We will arrange to pick you up from an agreed meeting point on the island, or from your accommodation. We can also arrange a simple picnic for you and can supply binoculars if necessary. What to bring: Stout shoes/boots for walking, waterproofs, picnic, drinks and snack, binoculars/scope, note book. Whilst on Islay, why not mix this with a whisky tour? Don't let your visit to this fantastic isle go without a whisky or two! We can arrange this also.

Dawn and Dusk Bird Tours around Islay these tours offer a couple of hours of excellent birding. Oh, and catch the sunrise or enjoy the sunset at the same time! You could hear the dawn chorus, watch the dusk roosting or see Barn and Tawny Owls out hawking. It's an intense experience at either end of the day and can be enjoyed both by experienced birders or beginners who are not too confident about undertaking a full day's tour. We regularly see 40-50 species and have excellent fun in locations well researched for the best birding opportunities.

First for UK as black and red kites produce two young

MONTROSE BASIN Rossie Braes, Montrose, Angus, 01674 676336 www.swt.org.uk The panoramic view from the newly-refurbished Scottish Wildlife Trust centre offers a great chance to see tens of thousands of migrating birds and even seals.

ABERLADY BAY LOCAL NATURE RESERVE Aberlady, East Lothian, 01875 870588 www.aberlady.org On the East Lothian coast, a short drive from Edinburgh, the UK's first local nature reserve offers a mixture of habitats, including the sea shore, a small clump of woodland and the surrounding open fields.

RSPB ABERNETHY FOREST Loch Garten, nr Nethy Bridge, Inverness-shire, 01479 831476 www.rspb.org.uk The osprey hide at Loch Garten offers excellent views of one of Scotland's most majestic birds of prey, either through the windows or via the CCTV cameras above the nest.

MULL The entire island is bursting with wildlife-watching opportunities and the chance to see some of our most exciting species including otters, golden eagles and white-tailed sea eagles.