Back in Spring 2016 we were lucky enough to have a camera on a golden eagle nest in the Trossachs in South West Scotland.
A five year old mother was on her third breeding attempt and on May 11th 2016 a single beautiful chick emerged from her egg.
We watched her grow up fast and at 8 weeks old she was fitted with a radio tag. This way we could harmlessly keep up to date with her when she fledged, which she successfully did four weeks later.
Freya's early days in the nest
By Springwatch 2017, she had covered a large area of Scotland roaming over no less than 4,521 square km! She had moved between the Cairngorms, the Kintyre and Cowal peninsular. She had been spending a great deal of time in south Argyll, where she seemed to hedge hop between occupied territories.
Today, Freya is alive and well and although not quite old enough to breed yet she's been tracked and is roaming widely.
You might remember another eagle we featured on the Watches - James (Bond), so named as the numbers 007 featured on his ring. James is now paired with a female eagle and they have successfully bred for the last two years - thir current chick is seven months old and is still with them. James is a large male but his female is much bigger than him and their chick is a whopping 1.6 kilos.
Juveniles start to leave their parents from September onwards but satellite tagging is showing that there is much variation and some will stay until they are ten months old.
Here's a on how to film a golden eagle nest.