A young sea eagle who defied the odds to fly again after breaking his wing as a fledgling has been found dead on the Isle of Mull.
Kellan, the white-tailed eagle, survived for four years after a dramatic rescue, which involved the RSPB, the Scottish SPCA, one of the world’s leading wildlife vets and local landowners, who supplied him with deer carcasses to help him build up his strength.
RSPB Mull Officer Dave Sexton, who followed him every step of the way, said he was “heartbroken” to have had to go and gather his remains after they were spotted by a hillwalker.
“You’re not meant to have favourites in this job but he was mine,” he said.
“He was defiant and a fighter and he deserved his second chance back in the wild where he belonged.”
Kellan had his first brush with death as a chick in early summer 2010 when he almost froze after his mother was disturbed and flew off, leaving him alone on the nest.
She returned to keep the weakened chick warm and fed until he fledged three months later, but disaster struck again in late August when a farmer gathering sheep found him injured, starving and seriously ill.
Specialist vet Dr Romain Pizzi mended his broken wing and leg in a series of operations and staff nursed him back to health until he returned to Mull that December and was reunited with his mother minutes after landing on his favourite beach.
Mr Sexton kept a close watch on his progress until the radio transmitter on his tail went silent in the autumn of 2011.
He was treated to one last sighting in April 2013 when the giant bird with the crooked wing reappeared out of the blue, soaring high above Mr Sexton’s head before flying away over a distant mountain ridge.
Mr Sexton suspects it was Kellan’s ascent to maturity which led to his death. He was found close to another active sea eagle nest and, as a near adult male, he would not have been viewed kindly by the resident male.
“He was a gutsy young eagle with his full, long life ahead of him and I wouldn’t be at all surprised if he went into battle as he was at that kind of age,” said Mr Sexton.
“He had four good years in the wild, living life as an eagle should and that’s what matters most.
“He died in a beautiful wild area of Mull, on a rocky headland overlooking the sea. I’ll never forget him and will miss his indomitable presence.”
White-tailed eagles – known as “the flying barn door” because of their 8ft wing span – were reintroduced to Scotland in 1975 after being hunted to extinction in the country in the 19th century.
They are now thriving on Mull and much of the west coast and a second reintroduction has been taking place in the east.