White-tailed Eagles in Irish Skies.

I was at a conference, yesterday, 17 February 2007, in Dublin, with delegates from Norway, America, Scotland and the UK, of The Annual Irish Raptor Study Group

Before you read any further, there are attempts being made to block this project, and there is a petition for folk to sign at this link. White-tailed Eagle Petition. The Red Kite has been successfully reintroduced to England, with 1000+ pairs now, which is 5% of the worlds declining 20000 pairs. The White-tailed Eagle is being re-established in Scotland, RSPB and The Golden Eagle to Ireland (now 40 pairs), Irish Raptor Study Group. So, why should this project be blocked? Let’s fill the skies with Eagles again…

White-tailed Eagle Reintroduction Project!

Photo by Leirdal, click on picture to visit his Flickr site

This year sees the launch of the most exciting wildlife reintroduction programme ever undertaken in Ireland!

During the summer of 2007, the White-Tailed Sea Eagle, one of the largest birds of prey in the world, is to be reintroduced into Killarney National Park as part of a five-year project.

As part of a carefully researched programme, the Golden Eagle Trust Limited in association with the National Parks and Wildlife Service and the Irish White-tailed Eagle Reintroduction Group will release 15 chicks a year being brought from Norway to specific zones of the Killarney National Park.

It is hoped that after five to six years the birds will begin to breed across the wider coastal and upland regions of Kerry and West Cork. For almost a century people have been deprived of the glory of experiencing these great birds soaring again over our sea and landscapes.

The Facts

Natives

White-tailed Eagles lived in Ireland for thousands of years, before they were driven to extinction in the early 1900’s, due to poisoning, shooting and egg collecting.
Photo by ketch, click on picture to visit his Flickr site


Diet
Sea eagles are scavengers and principally feed on carrion (mainly dead whales, seals, birds, sheep, deer). They will also hunt seabirds, fish that swim near the surface of the water, rabbits, hares and fox cubs.

Breeding
Sea Eagles construct large nests of branches and twigs in trees or on cliff faces. The female lays an average of two eggs, which she incubates for about six weeks before the young fledge the nest after 7-9 weeks. The first breeding of the sea eagles would be expected in 2012.

A Common Myth

Eagles present a serious threat to livestock!

Evidence from abroad in Scandinavia and Scotland along with experience in Donegal where the Golden Eagle has been successfully re-introduced points to very limited interference with sheep and other farm animals. Norway’s 3000 eagles have never been recorded attacking or killing sheep or lambs.

In Ireland, any lambs that would potentially fall prey to the eagles would be negligible compared to those lost due to through poor husbandry, cliff-falls (over a hundred per annum on the Reeks alone) to preying by the estimated 10000 foxes dwelling in County Kerry, dog-attacks, etc.

Ambassadors of the Skies

These Majestic birds are great Ambassadors. Who cannot feel awed and inspired when seeing an Eagle soar. These creatures reconnect us to nature, inspire art and poetry and greater efforts in our daily conservation efforts. Please visit the White-tailed Eagle Petition and register your support for this pjoject.

Copyright honours to the above website at www.aniolair and the (photo contributers at flickr) for the material which I have copied and pasted here for the sake of accuracy. Please visit the site and add your name. Much Respect.

My Irish Roots Discovered!

Here's a turn up for the books... I've always known that the Watson Family, were linked to the Buchanan Clan of Loch Lomond, and recently discovered that our family badge was very appropriate, given my relationship (of "Pretender To The Maalie Throne"). Whilst trying to find myself a more appropriate "Blog Header", I found this wonderful one, complete with Falcons.


With it was a history of the Buchanan Clan and their route into Scotland from Ulster (then still a part of Ireland). It also explains the Watson Family as a "Sept". According to the Buchanan Society...

It is said that, after seven centuries of raiding, the Danes under Swein the Fork Beard took control of most of England and Ireland in 1013 - 1014. His son, Canute, (944 - 1035) was to become King of England. Swein ordered celebrations to be held in Limerick, Western Ireland (now Eire) and instructions were given for one thousand beautiful daughters of the Irish nobility to be present. In their stead the same number of Irish youths were dispatched, disguised in women’s habits with long Irish skeans (daggers) below their cloaks. A massacre of the Danes followed. One of these youths was Anselan Buey OKyan or Ocahan (pronounced Okane), son of the King of Ulster, the Fourth part of Ireland (roughly modern Northern Ireland). In 1016, as a result of this exploit, he fled Ireland and emigrated to Argyll in Western Scotland.


Eventually he acquired lands in the Lennox (to the North of the present day city of Glasgow), either by marriage, or as a reward for services rendered to King Malcolm II of Scotland, 1005 - 1034. Lennox was broadly Strathendrick, but at one time it was known to extend from Glenfuin in the West to Fintry in the East. In addition, Anselan was granted Arms, practically identical to those used by the Buchanan Society today. All records of Irish insignia have long since disappeared.


The Name BUCHANAN is possibly derived from three sources: from the Gaelic Boghchanon, meaning “low ground belonging to the Canon”, Mac-a-Chanonaich, meaning “Son of the Canon”, whilst the place name BUCHANAN, Bothchanian, means “The Canon’s seat”. A simpler derivation is the development of Buey OKyan into BUCHANAN. However, all point to some connection to the Canon. On Inchcailleach, an island in Loch Lomond opposite the village of Balmaha, (the Pass to the Highlands) and near the mouth of the River Endrick, a church had been founded between 650 and 700 AD by St Kentigerna, wife of an Irish Prince Feradach.


It is more than possible that the lands accepted by Anselan had belonged originally to the Canon of this Church, of which the remains are still to be seen. In 1621 the Parish Church of Buchanan absorbed the Parish of Inchcailleach. This United Parish extended from the River Endrick in the South to Inversnaid in the North and the entire area covered today by the Queen Elizabeth National Forest Park. This includes the mountain of Ben Lomond. In 1314 the Clan supported King Robert the Bruce at Bannockburn in Scotland’s War of Independence against England.


Thus, I come from a line of Loyal Irishmen, (and a Son of The King, no less...), Loyal Scots.... and an adversary of the Viking Kings.... Sorry, Your Highness...