The golden eagle has landed

Already firmly established in the Highlands, these majestic raptors are now being reintroduced in southern Scotland. Joe Gibbs investigates their reception and the repercussions

- Joe Gibbs

THE screaming eagles around Loch Skeen in Sir Walter Scott’s Marmion have been silent for some centuries. Yet at the time of his writing, in the early 19th century, the Borders’ skies were still full of their cries. In 1800, there was a score of golden-eagle nests in Dumfries and Galloway alone, with six pairs in the hills around Moffat Water. Many place names in southern Scotland refer to the presence of eagles. Earn, the old English name for an eagle, and its derivations crop up, for example, in Earn’s Craig on Criffel; Bennyellary, or Hill of the Eagle, in Galloway; and Ern Cleuch—Eagle Gully—in Ayrshire.

Such a healthy population of hungry apex predators had consequences, of course. Lambs and other human food sources were gobbled up and a sea eagle that nested on an island in Loch Skeen was improbably reported to have ‘well-nigh carried off a shepherd’s boy. This attrition brought retribution against both types of an eagle and other raptors. ‘It is easy to see how such attitudes led to the persecution of eagles and other birds of prey,’ reflects Chris Rollie, a retired RSPB area manager, and historian of eagles in southern Scotland.