Spotting an Eagle on Islay is difficult and I know many who have never seen one or have only seen it flying high up in the sky. You really need some luck to get a “Close Encounter” with these majestic birds and you need to keep your eyes open all the time.
Therefore I couldn’t believe my eyes when I returned home from Ardnave on a sunny afternoon in January 2020 when I spotted a White Tailed Sea Eagle on top of a Barnacle Goose close to the RSPB Gruinart visitor centre.
When we pulled over the Sea Eagle flew off, dropped the Goose which escaped, and landed a few metres further on the grass next to another Sea Eagle!! I couldn’t believe my luck. I’ve never seen such a spectacular display of these majestic birds. It’s already hard to spot one so close by, now I had two of them on the ground in front of my camera. After some 10 minutes or so they flew off scaring some more Barnacle Geese further out towards Craigens. Below are the eight photos I managed to take. Wow, what an experience that was!
