IF the golden eagle is a major icon, the raven can be classed as a minor icon as far as I’m concerned. The history of the golden eagle mirrors that of the raven in the persecution meted out over many years.
Whilst the majority of birds on moorland and hill go south or move to lower ground or to the coast, the raven and golden eagle can be seen at any time of year.
The golden eagle is one of the most studied birds in Scotland, acting as a barometer of what is happening to birds of prey.
I used to survey golden eagle eyries in one of the north-west study areas and it included a range of hills to the north-west of Inverness.
One year I remember going on to the hill early in the golden eagle season and looking at the three nests I knew to be on the cliffs.
Golden eagles often build more than one eyrie and seem to take it in turns which one will be used each summer.
In this case I looked at all the three sites I knew about. Two had obviously not be touched since the year before or even longer.
The third had been built up, and while there was a fresh lining in the nest there was no sign of eggs as there should have been.
I suspected predation, even by human egg collectors that were still around then. I resigned myself to the loss of another clutch for another year and climbed on top of the hill. It was a great disappointment and I was so annoyed.
I had turned to go when I heard a sound that seemed like chicks calling. I could not locate where it was coming from but immediately thought it was golden eagle chicks calling for food.
I walked to the cliff edge and looked over but could see nothing. Then the sound seemed to be coming from behind so I went back and after few yards was surprised to say the least.
There was a depression in the heather with almost no apology for a nest lining and there were two golden eagle chicks.
I even made a note in my book as to the details, saying this was a new nest after the birds had been disturbed at one of the main nests they had deserted for some reason.
Taking a step backwards I tripped over a piece of wood sticking out of the ground. It was the remains of a photographer’s hide from the previous year.
So the nest had been used before and it threw all my ideas of eyries out of the window. Unusually, both chicks survived and I saw them flying in the glen later in the year. It was simply amazing and against all the "rules".
Golden eagles still have problems with changes in habitat, lack of carrion from lower numbers of sheep and deer, and in recent years the effect of wind farms.
The reference book on golden eagles I use most is the second edition of what has now become a classic in monographs, namely "The Golden Eagle" by Jeff Watson in the celebrated Poyser series.
Last week this column looked at ravens in the Highlands in winter but mentioned, in passing, the golden eagle. It is also one of the few birds that can occupy the desolate and often cold and forbidding tracts of moorland and hills, especially in the north and west.
RECORD OF THE WEEK
A strange guest in the house
THE record of the week was a mysterious one in that it was in our house. For years we have had problems with mice getting indoors, especially in winter.
It reached a head one year when wiring in the loft was damaged and nearly caused a fire. A couple of years ago one ran over the bed when we were in it.
So we have traps almost permanently in the airing cupboard in the bedroom and just occasionally there is a mouse in the trap.
I cannot bring myself to kill them so use live traps and then take them down the road to some woodland and release them.
They are always wood mice as for some reason, as mentioned in this diary a few weeks ago, the house mouse is now apparently rare in the Highlands.
So a few days ago when I heard a sound from the airing cupboard I immediately thought woodmouse. I was in for a surprise as there in the live trap was not a woodmouse but a bank vole.
I cannot find any reference in my books to bank voles being in houses and have spoken to Highlands mammal expert Ro Scott, who lives in Cromarty.
There is no mention of the species in houses in the "Atlas of Highland Land Mammals" Ro edited last year, and she has not heard of any such occurrences. A mystery indeed.
