A NEW survey has revealed that golden eagles are nesting in 58 different areas in the moors used for grouse shooting.
The Scottish Gamekeepers Association (SGA) surveyed four key regions covering the Cairngorms National Park and surrounding land lying outside the National Park boundary.
The findings eclipse the SGA’s previous eagle study of 2013, which showed 55 eagle nests on grouse areas managed by gamekeepers.
New figures also include the driven grouse estate in the eastern highlands that hit the headlines in the spring, when three healthy chicks were fledged from one nest.
Eagles usually lay two eggs in a year when breeding has been successful and in 2014, Invermark Estate in the Angus Glens, managed for grouse and deer, also boasted three young from one breeding site.
Scotland is home to the entire UK population of eagles with the exception of one male in the English lakes.
The population numbers about 450 breeding pairs, after it recovered from a sharp decline in the sixties due to pesticides that caused infertility and eggshell thinning.
Ronnie Kippen, one of the four members of the SGA tasked with collating the regional information, said: “It was important to update our previous work from 2013 and it is good to see more eagles nesting on occupied territories where our members are working every day.”
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