Concerns are growing over the impact highly pathogenic avian influenza HPAI, also known as bird flu, might have on Scotland’s iconic white-tailed eagle population after a dead chick on Mull tested positive for the disease.
In mid-July, 19 chicks were on the verge of fledging from nests in Mull which would have been just one fewer than the record number in 2021. Then Dave Sexton, RSPB Scotland’s Mull Officer, who monitors the birds, started getting unexpected reports of suspected dead chicks from multiple locations. Such deaths at this stage of the chicks’ lives are unusual...more in the printed issue

Photo: shows a climber swabbing one of the dead chicks in the next. Photo ©  Rhian Evans/RSPB