Angus is the name we have given to a young male golden eagle we have satellite tagged this year on Glenfeshie Estate; he is a brother of Alma, the young female golden eagle which we have tracked by satellite transmitter throughout the past year. The adult eagles chose to use a different nest this year. In view of the snow blizzards in April, this was a wise choice as the nest cliff faced south-east, rather than north-west like last year's eyrie, and thus was sheltered from the northerly blizzard when the bird's were incubating eggs.

On 29th June, we went to the nesting site in the evening and caught the young eagle. He was ringed ZZ1418 and was fitted with a transmitter number 34281. He was in excellent condition and placed back in the nest before we departed. The ringing team was Thomas MacDonell (Glenfeshie Estate Manager), Keith and Catherine Duncan, Lorcan O'Toole and Roy Dennis. Measurements: wing 460mm; tail 255 mm; bill 36.54 x 26mm; tarsus 13.1 x 15.17mm; hind claw 43.5mm; spread foot 115mm. Alma's measurements for comparison: wing 465mm; tail 230 mm; bill 38.7 x 27.56mm; tarsus 16.37 x 18.29mm; hind claw 49.64mm; spread foot 149mm. Males are smaller (at this age the wing and tail feathers are no yet fully grown).

09 November 2008

No further signals have been received for Angus. Examination of the last data from the transmitter showed that the battery had been drained from 3rd at 4pm and the strength was down to 3.66 volts, best at 4 volts, and the last activity meter readings on 5th October, although the same for 1 hour 28 minutes, did not indicate the eaglet was dead. It seems most likely the transmitter had failed. The autumn weather has been very wet (October was recorded as a very wet month) with overcast skies, which has made it difficult for the transmitter's solar panel to collect enough charge.

05 October 2008

There were no GPS fixes on 4th and 5th October; but two accurate non-GPS signals were received at 2.22pm (class 3 - 150 metres) and 4.45 (class 2 - 350 metres) and both were on the high mountain plateau of Conlach Mhor, 2 miles north of Forest Lodge in Glen Tilt.

Angus's last known position on Conlach Mhor, above Glen tilt on 5th October.

Angus's movements 30th September to 5th October 2008

03 October 2008

At 8am he was near Coire nan Cisteachan on south side of Glenfeshie Estate; at 10am he was flying NE at 10km/h at 824 metres over Uchd a'Chlarsair near the Minigaig route in south Gaick. From 11am to 1pm he was on the sides of the river Feshie, north of Coire nan Cisteachan. At 2pm he was on Carn Meall Tionail and then went back SW to be on Beinn Bhreac in North Perthshire at 3pm.

02 October 2008

No signals on 1st, and none until 11 am and midday when he was perched on west side of Glen Feshie; he was near his old nest at 1pm, and from 2pm to 4pm he was to the south on Carn Ealar on the march of Highland, Aberdeenshire and Perthshire.

30 September 2008

30th September Still lots of missed fixes as the transmitter's battery is often low on charge because of poor overcast weather. At midday, Angus was flying north over Sron na Ban Righ , and had then moved south and was in Coire Creagach in upper Glen Feshie at 1pm and 2pm. At 3pm he was flying at 76km/h NNE along west side of Glen Feshie and an hour later was perched on hills opposite nest. That evening he roosted above the waterfall opposite Creag Bheag in Glen Feshie.

29 September 2008

28th -29th September He moved west in to the Drumochter, but the weather was overcast so signals were intermittent due to lack of sun. During afternoon f 28th, Angus flew from North Perthshire to Gaick and the west to the hills to the east of Dalwhinnie; then he flew east back to Glenfeshie, before roosting on the hills at the south side of his parents' home range.

Angus's movements on 28th September

27 September 2008

24th - 27th September Angus stayed in North Perthshire until the 26th, and then at midday he headed back to his own home-range abd by dusk was roosting in his home glen. It would be really interesting to know where his parents were over the last few days - did they go down to Perthshire, or did he come back and meet them again on the home patch on 26th? On the morning of 27th, he spend three hours in his eyrie cliff before ranging out on to the nearby hills.

23 September 2008

21st - 23rd September Next day, the first signal at 1pm, showed that Angus had left his parents and was on the south end of An Sgarscoch (Alma left the home range for the first time last year on 9th September). He then moved further south and spent the rest of 21st and 22nd around Conlach Mhor, and the south facing slopes of Glen Tilt in North Perthshire. So Angus is on the move and it is going to be very interesting to compare him to his older sister.

Angus moving out of his parents' home range 21 - 22nd September

20 September 2008

18th - 20th September Angus stayed in the home range in quite often poor weather, but on the 20th as the weather improved and started to get colder he moved right to the edge of his parents' home range. At 6pm he was flying SE at 84km/h at 884 metres altitude and that evening he was perched and later roosted on the southern sheltered ridge of Carn Ealar on the boundary of Perthshire, Aberdeenshire and Badenoch.

17 September 2008

15 -17th Sep Very poor weather and transmitter not properly charged, but the few GPS positions were from the same area.

14 September 2008

12th - 14th September Angus roosted in the nest cliffs, where Alma was reared in 2007, on the night of 13th - 14th September, and spent his time ranging in an area 3miles by 4 miles to the south of the nesting cliffs.

11 September 2008

10th-11th September On the 10th, Angus was up to seven and a half miles from the nesting cliffs, ranging over a large area of country on the Perthshire border, but on the 11th he returned to the main glen and briefly flew along the nesting cliffs at 8am and then flew east up on to the slopes of Monadh Mor.

09 September 2008

6th- 9th September Angus starting to move out more and leave the nesting area - during this time he was in an area of mountains 7 miles from west to east and 4 miles across, on the southern edge of Glenfeshie estate and across into north Perthshire.

05 September 2008

For the last week, Angus has continued to move around his parent's home range (and mainly will be receiving food from them) and often returning back to the nesting cliffs. On the 2nd - 3rd he ranged up to 4 miles to the NE of his nest site and on the 5th September, he was 4 miles to the south.

29 August 2008

26th-29th August Another break due to lack of signals; during this period Angus was back roosting in the nesting cliffs and ranging up to 6.5 kilometres SE of the eyrie through a band of 2 kilometres.

18 August 2008

16th - 18th August Angus was using an plateau area 3 kilometres south of eyrie, and ranging in an area of 4 kms by 2 kms, and roosted away from the nest.

10 August 2008

After a period with no signals (poor weather), Angus had moved up to 5 kilometres south of the eyrie.

28 July 2008

Evening flight upto 600 metres of cliff top.

26 July 2008

First day recorded on the plateau above eyrie cliff; evening flight upto 300 metres of cliff top.

25 July 2008

25th July Up to this date, all movements were within 100metres of the eyrie within the cliffs.

22 July 2008

First recorded flight recorded by GPS, but the weather was often so poor that the solar panel was not charging, so signals were intermittent.

29 June 2008

29th June Angus ringed at eyrie