White tailed eagle

I first began recording in Scotland in 1975, the same year the white-tailed eagle began its slow return.Before that, the bird had been hunted, poisoned and persecuted until it vanished from our skies. Its disappearance was not an accident of nature, but a choice made by people, one shot, one stolen egg, one poisoned carcass at a time. By the early twentieth century, the white-tailed eagle was gone.I didn’t see one on the Isle of Rùm during my early visits, but by 1978 they were there. I remember sitting quietly near a nest, microphones set, watching adults carry fish back to their young, hearing those high, piercing calls once again echoing across the Inner Hebrides. It was worth every second of waiting. Seeing them ride the thermals felt like witnessing something being put back where it belonged.Today there are around 200 breeding pairs in Scotland. A conservation success, yes, but the story isn’t finished. These birds are still persecuted in some places, still unwelcome to those who haven’t learned to share the land.In 2025, I saw them again while filming near Skye. Watching them soar, I was reminded that recovery is fragile. The return of the white-tailed eagle asks us a quiet question: if we can bring this back, what else might we still save, and what will we choose to lose?www.thelisteningplanet.comhttps://www.facebook.com/thelisteningplanet/https://open.spotify.com/artist/0ibpxyRfuKDpHxLbMzji2Y?si=YwW9fhvYQ0GkTSq3Ileo2w