White Tailed Eagles

I have just returned from a magical week on the Isle of Mull, and one of the main reasons for the long journey up to this magical Island is to photograph the beautiful White Tailed Eagles. 

After a prolonged period of persecution during Victorian times, when large numbers of the areas birds of prey were shot for trophies, poisoned, or had their eggs stolen, the white tailed Eagle was finally exterminated as a British breeding species in  1916.

As a result of a successful re-introduction programme that took place on the neighbouring Inner Hebridean island of Rum between 1975-1985, the Isle of Mull has become a fortress of White-tailed eagle activity, as the new fledgling population of these impressive birds matures and expands.  

These are truly magnificent birds, that live up to their nickname of 'flying barn doors', with a 2.3 metre wingspan, they are amazing to watch soaring above you.
There is no better place on Mull to see them than out on the open sea, and the photographs below were taken on three trips out onto Loch Na Keal with Mull Charters.
The first series of photographs follows the sequence of an adult eagle soaring in and taking a fish off the surface and flying away...