How to see eagles

The tour guide threw a fish out the back of the boat and it landed in the water with a thwack, bobbing about limply.

Up on the rock, the eagle eyed the fish: judging the distance, the proximity of the boat, the tastiness of the snack. Spreading its great wings it took off, and soared down towards the water.

Just a few metres away on the boat, we had the opportunity to marvel at its impressive (approx.) two metre wingspan, powerful legs and wickedly sharp claws. It came towards us, its outstretched legs making it look like a muscular chicken descending from above, but its vast head and beak resembling something from Jurassic Park. Pictures really don’t do this bird justice.

Once level with the water it flapped a couple of times, extended its claws in front of it and snatched up the fish. It took its prize back to the rock and, gripping it in its feet, proceeded to rip it to shreds with its surprisingly nimble beak.

The eagle looked too broad and burley to execute such a manoeuvre with any grace, but it had mooched over and picked up the fish with ease. Like a professional fighter engaging in a playground scrap, you were aware it was capable of much more. The mobbing gulls made a lot of noise but kept a respectful distance.

White-tailed eagles, or sea eagles, are heavier and bulkier than golden eagles. Their wings are broad and rectangular and their tails short and wedge-shaped. The powerful beak is obvious even in flight.

The guide pointed out to see and another white-tailed eagle came into view – the male partner of the female we were watching. The broad line in the sky slowly grew into a sleek torpedo suspended between two plank-like wings, fingers splayed. Every now and then it gave a soft flap that you could imagine sent the air around it swirling in powerful eddies. He swept in and sat atop the rock with his mate. Two white-tailed eagles, side-by-side. Dignified and watchful.

The last known nest site of UK sea eagles, before they became extinct in the UK in the 1920s, was on the Isle of Skye, and it was to this magical Scottish Isle that I had come to attempt to see these magnificent birds. White-tailed eagles were the subject of reintroduction projects as far back as the 60s, but it wasn’t until 1985, four years before I was born, that they bred successfully again in the UK.

In my lifetime, white-tailed eagles have seen a resurgence in the UK. There are now around 106 breeding pairs, and they have recently been reintroduced to the Isle of Wight – just a few miles from my New Forest childhood home.

One of the few wildlife success stories of the last thirty years, it was a privilege to see this incredible bird back where it belongs. We had taken a boat trip from the Isle of Skye town of Portree, with a fairly reasonable expectation that we would see at least one eagle, from a distance. On finding their usual perches along the cliff empty, including an old nest, I felt that familiar creeping disappointment every birdwatcher feels when you’ve set your heart on a particular quarry and you start to think you might not see it.

It was September, and with the breeding season well over I was worried the birds might not be in their usual spots, but fortunately our local guide knew what he was about. Previously a fisherman, the reintroduction of the eagles made tourism a more lucrative job, and this man had known these birds day-in and day-out for years.

As we neared a rock across the Sound of Raasay, towards Raasay Island, a blob perched atop the rocks came into view. Our guide saw it a long time before we did, and I squinted through my bins, desperate to get a glimpse before it flew away. The guide told us the female we saw was a hand-reared chick, released into the wild and thus fairly trusting of people, but her mate was a wild bird. We followed them around the rock in the boat, at a respectful distance with the engine off, watching as they came out to the water to fish again and again.

Heading back towards the harbour, faces flushed with sea breeze and sheer joy, we stopped again at the nest and were treated to the site of two juvenile eagles squabbling over a fish, all the while being mobbed by a hungry raven.

It was a magical experience to see these vast birds, and they more than made up for the fact that we didn’t have any success seeing a golden eagle while we were in Scotland. But with white-tailed eagles now based on the Isle of Wight, and roaming over London, perhaps I will enjoy watching them on my home turf before my next landmark birthday.

Seeing an eagle was one of my 30 wildlife things to do before I turn 30.