Southern Scotland’s golden eagle population is increasing, but the suspicious disappearance of one eagle leads to police investigation
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The king of Britain’s skies, with a wing span of up to 2.3 metres and weighing up to a hefty 6.5kg, the golden eagle, Britain’s second largest bird of prey (yes, despite commonly being thought of as the largest bird of prey in the UK, the white tailed or sea eagle actually out claws it) is virtually a symbol of the Highlands of Scotland where it makes its home (it’s also found in some of the Scottish islands).
This fearsome apex predator was once found in many upland parts of the UK but, thanks to the guns of farmers and gamekeepers who mistakenly thought golden eagles ate sheep (anything but a small lamb is too large for them to carry off), by 1850 golden eagles were extinct in England and Wales and just a tiny number hung on in the wildest pockets of Scotland.
But, even in these remote areas, the eagles still weren’t safe. Widely used for much of the 20th Century, organochlorine pesticides led to egg thinning and infertility in adult eagles, and the Scottish population continued to decline. Once these pesticides were banned and stronger protections brought in the population in Scotland started to slowly rise again.
The last official nationwide survey of golden eagles was conducted way back in 2015 when 508 breeding pairs were recorded, which suggested a 16 per cent population increase over a 33-year period. All of them were recorded in and around Scotland’s upland forests (Argyll, Galloway, the islands of Mull and Skye, the Glenmore Forest Park and Glen Affric are its holdouts). In southern Scotland, although they never actually went extinct, by 2018 the population here had fallen as low as three breeding pairs. But then, later that same year, the South of Scotland Golden Eagle project (SOSGEP), a rewilding project, released a number of golden eagles to southern Scotland.
Five years later, in September of this year, it was announced that the golden eagle population of the Scottish Borders, Dumfries and Galloway had increased to around 46. Although most of these were translocated birds from other parts of Scotland, at least two birds had formed a nesting pair.
The news was celebrated by Scottish conservationists, but then, shortly afterwards, one of southern Scotland’s golden eagles vanished. Satellite tagged and known as Merrick, the eagle was last seen on 12 October to the west of Fountainhall.
By late November the disappearance was being treated as suspicious and the police were brought in. Police Scotland’s Det Sgt David Lynn declared that after a thorough search it was believed that the eagle had come to harm. Meanwhile, Michael Clarke, from the South of Scotland Golden Eagle Project said: ‘The project’s translocated eagles have captured the hearts and minds of many people, including children, who will all share in our utter shock, disappointment and sadness at the nature of Merrick’s disappearance’.
At the time of writing police were still investigating the disappearance and have urged anyone with information to come forward.
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