Remains of world's oldest ringed golden eagle found in Sutherland

The remains of the oldest ringed golden eagle in the world have been found on a hillside in Sutherland.

The male bird was thought to have died in a territorial battle about six weeks before it was discovered near Inchnadamph.

It was ringed by ornithologist Roy Dennis in 1985, meaning it would have been about 33 years old when it died.

The previous record for a ringed golden eagle was 32 years in Sweden, while the Scottish record was 16 years.

Mr Dennis told BBC Scotland that he had found his diary entry for the day he ringed the eagle.

"My diary tells me that on that day I had my older daughter with me, and Rona and I went up to the glen at Cannich and climbed up through the forest."

Home range

The diary entry, for 30 June, said there was "one young eagle found in the nest" and that it was "well grown."

The bird, which was ringed on its right leg, has never been recorded in the wild during its lifetime.

"I suppose I've ringed 75 eagles in my life and when you put a ring on you rarely hear about them again," Mr Dennis added.

"But to find that that bird is the oldest recorded ringed golden eagle anywhere in the world...

"There will just be one or two percent that go on to be really aged eagles. That bird was very lucky. It moved north to the Inchnadamph area and took over a home range there that was particularly good because it had a lot of rabbits."

Although not fully ruled out, foul play in the bird's death is not suspected.

'More conflict'

It is more likely that it died in a territorial battle over a nest which it had probably occupied for several decades.

Mr Dennis said: "That bird was getting old and young eagles will be looking at that home range and those nests, and thinking 'I'd like those'.

"That bird will (have been) subject to more and more conflict with four, five or six-year-old males.

"I would guess that that bird had a fight, it got injured and then it died and the young male would have taken over. But it probably did that to an old eagle way back in probably about 1990."

Each ring contains a unique identification number with information about the bird held on a central database, in this case with the British Trust for Ornithology.

The previous Scottish record was a chick in Kielder Forest which was ringed in 1991 and found dead in the Borders in August 2007.

Two Swedish golden eagles are on record as surviving for 31 and 32 years.