A BIRD fancier had his feathers ruffled when he lost his pet golden eagle during a trip to Aberdeenshire.

Young Odin the eagle vanished while flying on the Glen Muick estate in the heart of Royal Deeside and the Cairngorms National Park last week.

His owner, Les Gibson, from County Durham, said the bird of prey was blown on to the neighbouring Glen Tanar Estate and towards Mount Keen.

As jesses – straps – were attached to the bird’s claws, and two transmitters were on his tail, Gibson had hoped to return for Odin the following day.

The 54-year-old mechanic has now been searching for the bird for days without success and is appealing to the public for help to trace Odin.

He has kept birds for many years and this is the first one he has lost.

Gibson is hoping that his two-year-old bird will be able to survive in the hills by using his hunting and killing instincts. He said: “I had been flying him all week on the hills. He would normally go off for a good distance and come back, but he just kept going.

“I was able to track him for a while – he has transmitters on his tail – but it got dark.

“The weather was so bad the following morning we had to come off the hill.

“As long as he catches food he will be OK. If I can find him then hopefully I can get him back.

If he has not had too much food he would come down to me, but if he’s full of food he would not bother.

“He has leather straps hanging from his legs – you would not mistake him for a wild one.

“The transmitter batteries only last so long.

“It has always been a dream, he would have been my last bird and he would have seen me out.”

The name Odin comes from Norse mythology. Odin was the king of the Æsir and god of war and death.